Federal Reports

We audited $3.8million of costs billed to TVA by a contractor for providing reclearing and maintenance for transmission line right-of-way areas. In summary, we found the contractor could not provide support for an estimated $33,521 in labor costs. The contractor agreed with our finding and explained that on several occasions employees had been paid in cash. TVA management plans to recover the unsupported costs.

As part of our annual audit plan, we audited $11.3million in costs billed to TVA by a contractor, to design and install hydrated lime injection systems at various TVA fossil plants. Our audit objective was to determine if the costs the contractor billed to TVA were in compliance with the provisions of the contract. In summary, we determined the contractor billed TVA an estimated $310,818 for costs that were unsupported or not in accordance with the contract provisions. TVA management stated that discussions with the contractor are currently underway to reach a final resolution of all the audit issues and to address each of the recommendations.

Our review of TVA's compliance with FISMA of 2002 determined that among improvements made during fiscal year 2007, TVA completed revisions to align the security program with NIST FIPS 199 standards and implemented measures to ensure personnel complete security training. While TVA continues to make progress in implementing information technology controls required by FISMA, we noted additional controls are needed to improve (1)oversight and evaluation of contractor systems, (2)the Privacy Program, and (3)consideration of e-authentication risks at TVA.

We conducted a review to assess the procedures in place at TVA to ensure that new hires meet physical job requirements. In summary, we found TVA has a policy in place that requires all new hires to have a medical screening before starting work. However, the TVA Medical Examiners Guide and Health and Safety Practice 1, Occupational Health, do not specify (1)who is responsible for providing examiners with job descriptions to be used in their examination and (2)that examiners are required to utilize the job description information in conducting their physical job requirement evaluation. Management agreed with our findings and recommendations and has initiated or plans to initiate appropriate corrective action.