"Our vision is to make TVA better. Our independence allows us to provide objective recommendations to TVA management to enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency, as well as prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse. As we help TVA fulfill its mission, we also serve the more than 9 million ratepayers served by TVA throughout the Tennessee Valley."
Ben R. Wagner, TVA Inspector General
The OIG Act and Building Trust with Stakeholders
Created by the TVA Board of Directors in 1985, the TVA OIG became statutory under the Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988 (IG Act). The authority to appoint the TVA Inspector General (IG) was transferred to the President in November 2000 by Public Law No. 106-422.
The work of the OIG is one of the most complex in the federal government due in part to the often competing interests of OIG stakeholders. In enacting the IG Act, Congress structured the powers and responsibilities of the IG so as to require intense communication not only of the "what" but the "how." In other words, both TVA and Congress are as interested in "how" the IG conducts audits, evaluations, and investigations as they are in the types of audits, evaluations, and investigations that we do. At the heart of this communication both with TVA and with Congress is often an unspoken question around what the intent of the IG is in allocating resources to one area of audit or investigation but not another.
Mission and Service
After nearly 40 years of working to make TVA better, we pause to consider the difference that having an independent OIG has made in TVA history. Whatever value the OIG has added has been possible through a collaborative effort with the TVA Board and with TVA management. We have been privileged to serve with very dedicated and proficient Board members and TVA employees who have worked alongside of us to make TVA better.