Federal Reports

So what does the generation born and raised in the age of the Internet think of something like regular mail? Do so-called Digital Natives, who have little experience with life pre-World Wide Web, have any interest in it? Did they ever? The questions raise critical implications for the future of the U.S. Postal Service, as mail volume has plummeted with the rise of digital communications and the postal reform debate continues. Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

Top Performance Challenges

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) contracted with the independent public accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP (EY) to audit the balance sheet as of September 30, 2013, and the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income (loss), changes in proprietary capital, and cash flows for the year then ended. In addition, the contract called for the review of TVA's fiscal year 2013 interim financial information filed on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The contract required the work be performed in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. The objective of our review was not intended to enable us to express, and we do not express, an opinion on the TVA's financial statements or on management's conclusions about the effectiveness of its system of internal control. EY is responsible for the auditor's reports dated November 15, 2013, and the conclusions expressed in those reports. However, our review disclosed no instances where EY did not comply, in all material respects, with generally accepted government auditing standards.

The OIG audited the subcontracting process used by URS Energy & Construction, Inc. (URS), under contract numbers 66777 and 72142. Under the contracts, URS was to provide design, engineering, procurement, delivery, installation, and construction management services for TVA's (1) combined cycle combustion turbine or simple cycle combustion turbine projects and (2) various equipment for selective catalytic reduction and dry flue gas desulfurization precipitators. Our audit included subcontracts and related change orders for $256.3 million in subcontractor costs URS billed to TVA from December 14, 2007, to June 27, 2012.In summary, we determined URS (1) did not obtain TVA approval for some subcontracts and circumvented requirements for TVA approval, and (2) overbilled TVA $168,623 in the markup costs applied to costs for services and equipment provided by TVA under subcontracting agreements. Summary Only

This report was withdrawn, revised, and reissued as OIG-SBLF-14-002R on June 26, 2015, to reflect changes made on pages 2, 13, and 14 of the report. The changes clarified the amount of administrative costs that were reviewed by the Office of Inspector General as part of a sample. The corrections did not affect the findings, conclusions, and recommendations as reported.