Federal Reports

TVA provides biweekly vehicle allowances to eligible officers and key managers in accordance with Vehicle Allowance Guidelines that were put into effect April 1, 2006. Additionally, TVA maintains a light fleet of about 2,900 vehicles, which are available for assignment to any TVA employee with a business need. Business units with an assigned vehicle pay a monthly fee to TVA Fleet Services for use of the vehicle. In fiscal year 2011, TVA paid $648,050 in vehicle allowances to 65 employees. Also, business units paid approximately $9.66 million in monthly fees during fiscal year 2011 to Fleet Services for use of assigned vehicles.The Office of the Inspector General audited TVA's vehicle allowance and assigned vehicle programs to determine the cost effectiveness of the programs and if proper controls were in place to ensure program eligibility guidelines were being met. Our specific audit objectives were to determine if (1) TVA employees receiving vehicle allowances met established eligibility requirements and if proper controls were in place to determine eligibility criteria were met, (2) TVA employees with assigned vehicles met established criteria for having an assigned vehicle and if proper controls were in place to determine eligibility criteria were met, and (3) the cost effectiveness of both the vehicle allowance and assigned vehicle programs.Our audit found TVA does not document how officers and key managers who are paid vehicle allowances meet the "business need" eligibility criteria specified in TVA's Vehicle Allowance Program Guidelines. Based on the available data, it appears a large percentage of the personnel who receive vehicle allowances may not meet TVA's stated criteria of significant business related travel. We also noted several administrative matters within the guidance that were not followed.TVA's Fleet Service management did not maintain adequate documentation to validate the adequacy of TVA's controls over vehicle assignments. Additionally, we were unable to determine which program is more cost effective because data obtained during the audit indicated the cost differential between the two programs was small. However, overall cost savings may be available, because there are individuals who either receive a vehicle allowance or have an assigned vehicle who do not appear to have a business need for the allowance or vehicle.We made five recommendations that pertained to (1) documentation of vehicle allowances, (2) periodic review of those receiving an allowance, (3) maintenance of the Vehicle Allowance Guidelines, (4) coordination between those with vehicle allowances and those with assigned vehicles, and (5) review of all employees currently receiving an allowance. We made three additional recommendations that pertained to (1) maintenance of TVA Form 9314A, (2) documentation of vehicle replacements, and (3) review of all employees currently assigned a vehicle.

The marketplace for traditional Postal Service products is increasingly competitive. In addition to the long term trend toward electronic media, Postal Service products face intense pressures brought about by the Great Recession. This paper explores an open question raised by these disruptive trends: Are Postal Service customers becoming more price sensitive? Though intuition may suggest that growing competition would have this effect, the answer to this question is best found by letting the data do the talking.

The audit objectives were to determine whether program funds were managed in accordance with the ARC and Federal grant requirements

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This report summarizes work we initiated and completed during this semiannual period on a number of critical departmental activities. Over the past 6 months, our office issued 18 audit, evaluation, and inspection reports addressing programs overseen by the Economics and Statistics Administration, International Trade Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the Department itself.