All Reports

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) drawing program is designed and maintained to document the configuration of TVA’s systems, structures, and components. Drawings are utilized for a variety of reasons, including plant operation, maintenance activities, troubleshooting, and to establish clearance boundaries for isolating equipment so that work can be performed safely. Modifications to configuration should be captured through TVA’s Design Change Notice (DCN) process to ensure configuration control is maintained and drawings are updated to reflect the changes.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Transmission Operations, Reliability, and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (TORS) organization to identify operational and cultural strengths and risks that could impact TORS’ organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths within TORS related to (1) organizational alignment for the majority of TORS’ personnel, (2) teamwork within departments, and (3) leadership of first-line supervisors.

Due to the importance of maintaining equipment in good operating condition and concerns raised during past Office of the Inspector General reviews, we conducted an evaluation to determine if (1) Coal Operations fully implemented the work management process improvements recommended by Reliability Management Group (RMG) and (2) performance metrics indicated the changes had improved work management. We were unable to determine if Coal Operations fully implemented work management process improvements recommended by RMG because there were no formal recommendations made for coal plants.

The Office of the Inspector General conducted a review of the Information Technology (IT) Corporate Solutions organization to identify operational and cultural strengths and risks that could impact IT Corporate Solutions' organizational effectiveness. Our report identified strengths related to (1) organizational alignment in two departments, (2) positive interactions with management in one department, and (3) teamwork within and outside of Corporate Solutions' departments.

Based upon concerns regarding the reliability of data in Maximo, we conducted an evaluation of inventory data in Maximo to determine if (1) data entered into key inventory fields in Maximo was valid and (2) key inventory fields were utilized consistently. We found most key inventory fields were utilized; however, some of the key fields contained invalid data. Specifically, we determined there was invalid data in fields related to (1) quality assurance levels, (2) inventory status, (3) item descriptions, (4) units of measure, and (5) sites.

The Office of the Inspector General previously conducted an evaluation of Materials and Transportation Management (M&TM) (Evaluation 2016-15586, July 27, 2017) to identify strengths and risks that could affect M&TM's organizational effectiveness. Our report identified several strengths and risks along with recommendations for addressing those risks. We subsequently completed a follow-up evaluation (Evaluation 2018-15578, September 28, 2018) that assessed management's actions to address risks from our initial organizational effectiveness evaluation.

Due to the importance of an effective response in the event of an emergency, we conducted an evaluation to determine if (1) emergency response plans at gas plants were up to date and (2) required systems were available and functional.We found 10 of 17 emergency response plans for gas plants were not reviewed on a timely basis based on TVA’s requirement for an annual review, and all contained inaccurate contact information. We also found some systems required in emergency response plans were not available or functional.

Due to the importance of having qualified personnel in safety-sensitive positions, we initiated an evaluation to determine if minimum job requirements for safety-sensitive positions in Power Operations were met at the time of promotion or hire.We reviewed minimum job requirements for 56 of 141 employees who were hired, rehired, or promoted to safety-sensitive positions in Power Operations during fiscal years 2017 and 2018. We determined some employees did not meet minimum job requirements for safety-sensitive positions upon hire or promotion.

The Office of the Inspector General audited TVA’s information systems categorization process to determine if TVA’s information systems categorization process was effective and in compliance with Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 199 and National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication (NIST SP) 800-60. We determined that portions of TVA’s process were effective. However, we found gaps with implementing NIST SP 800-60 guidance. TVA management agreed with our findings and recommendations.

Due to the importance of an effective response in the event of an emergency, we conducted an evaluation to determine if (1) emergency response plans at coal plants were up to date and (2) required systems were available and functional.We found the majority of emergency plans for active and retired coal plants were not reviewed on a timely basis or were not up to date.