Federal Reports

Purchase Card Assessment and Review of the Charge Card Program for Fiscal Year 2025

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is initiating a risk assessment of the U.S. AbilityOne Commission’s Charge Card Programs. The “Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012” requires the Inspector General to conduct periodic assessments of the Commission’s purchase and travel card(s).

The objective of the risk assessment is to analyze and identify the risks of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments within the Commission’s charge card programs to determine whether an audit is warranted or make recommendations and identify areas of risk that the Commission could improve to strengthen its charge card programs.

To enhance the operational efficiency of mission support services, such as information technology, financial resources, human resources, legal services, and infrastructure management, NASA initiated the Mission Support Future Architecture Program (MAP) in 2017 to move from a center-focused approach to an interdependent agency-wide model. While MAP consolidated Agency mission support services and enabled a more strategic view of Agency operations, implementation remains incomplete despite NASA declaring the initiative complete in 2021.

We performed an audit of costs billed to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) for energy efficiency services provided in support of TVA’s EnergyRight® Services for Business and EnergyRight® Services for Industry under Contract No. 15361. Our audit objective was to determine if the costs billed to TVA were in accordance with the contract terms.  Our audit scope included approximately $43.56 million in costs billed to TVA from January 1, 2023, through March 31, 2025.

In summary, we determined TRC billed incentives in accordance with the contract terms.  However, we determined TRC overbilled TVA $251,352 in time and material costs.  Specifically, we determined:

• TRC overbilled $242,985 in labor costs, including (1) $230,831 due to incorrect rate escalation, (2) $9,230 in time and material rates that exceeded the contract rates, and (3) $2,924 for subcontracted personnel in excess of the actual costs paid.  
• TRC overbilled an estimated $8,367 in travel costs, including (1) $4,792 in ineligible travel booking fees and (2) an estimated $3,575 in overbilled mileage costs.  In addition, meals and incidental costs and lodging costs associated with travel were not billed in accordance with the contract, resulting in a net immaterial overbilling.

In accordance with the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010, this report presents the results of the OIG's work over fiscal year 2025 in meeting its performance goals.

We are pleased to present our oversight plan for the 2026 calendar year. This risk-based plan 
intends to serve as a roadmap for independent and objective oversight of the U.S. AbilityOne 
Commission’s (Commission) programs and operations through reviews, audits, evaluations, and 
investigations. Our audit, evaluation and investigative teams prioritize oversight of nearly $4 
billion funds that are disbursed through the AbilityOne Program (Program) and the AbilityOne 
Commission. The goal is to prevent and detect fraud, waste and abuse, and enhancing economies 
and efficiencies in AbilityOne and its programs.

Throughout the oversight cycle, the OIG will continue to focus on high-risk areas in the program 
and operations. Our process to assess and prioritize the planned work include but are not limited 
to, assessing the top management and performance challenges, congressional interests, key risks 
for which the Commission and other stakeholders expressed concern, and the results of our prior 
work. We then used this information to inform the design of our oversight reviews for usefulness 
to the Commission for its work and operations. 

During the oversight cycle we may reassess and adjust this plan to ensure that we continue to focus our resources on the highest risks and impact areas.