EMPOWERLINE:
Got Concerns? Or Maybe Just Suspicions?
Contact Empowerline anytime, day or night, to let OIG know

Employees, contractors and the general public now can report suspected fraud, waste or abuse affecting TVA to the Empowerline, a new system sponsored by TVA’s Office of Inspector General.
And if you choose, you can report your concerns anonymously or request confidentiality. You also can use the Web-based system to track the outcome of a concern you reported or to provide additional information.

The Empowerline is administered by a third-party contractor and can be reached by phone or over the Web 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Why we Developed Empowerline

During the past year, OIG compared its hotline with others at both private and public entities. We also conducted a TVA-wide survey to determine employee and contractor perceptions about reporting concerns to the OIG.

The Results of These Endeavors?

We found we needed to make the OIG reporting system more convenient and that we needed to do a better job of communicating OIG’s independence and purpose.

We learned that you want additional assurance that you may choose to remain anonymous when you contact us.

Empowerline Features Include Continuous Availability, Confidentiality

Empowerline offers several new features, as well as enhances others.

Here are some of the key features:

• Because not everyone can call between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays – the usual business hours – Empowerline will be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week to receive your concerns.
• When you call Empowerline, you will talk with a third party contractor. No one at TVA will know your identity unless you consent to disclosure.
• Because you want to know what happened to your concern, you will be given a protected password when you contact Empowerline by phone or through the Web. You can use your password to track the resolution of your concern and, if you reported your concern anonymously, to check for any follow-up questions OIG may have.
• Empowerline will provide trending and tracking data to OIG to identify potential problem areas based on the numbers and types of concerns.
• Empowerline provides information about the types of concerns you should report to OIG and contact information about where to report other TVA-related concerns.

How to reach the Empowerline

You can report a concern to the Empowerline online at http://www.OIGempowerline.com or by calling 1-877-866-7840.

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The OIG Survey Said . . .
Your feedback will help us serve you better

During November 2005, TVA’s Office of Inspector General asked approximately 17,000 employees and contractors to respond to a baseline survey about their perceptions of OIG.

About 4,400 individuals—almost 26 percent—responded and provided more than 700 individual comments. While the responses generally were positive, concerns were raised in several areas – including independence, reporting issues to OIG and understanding OIG’s role.

Not Enough of You are Convinced of OIG’s Independence

A majority of responders know that OIG is independent of TVA management. We are concerned, however, about the number of respondents who did not view OIG as independent. We recognize from these responses the importance of better communications regarding our work and purpose.

As a first step, the Inspector General, Richard Moore, gives his thoughts about OIG independence in this debut issue of OIG Connection. Another article in this issue answers questions about our independence.

Highlights of the survey responses on OIG independence included the following:

• Roughly 61 percent agreed OIG is independent from TVA management; 22 percent were neutral; and 17 percent did not view OIG as independent.
• Almost 29 percent indicated their belief that the OIG was not independent from TVA management would prevent them from reporting a concern, while about 50 percent disagreed with that statement.

Increasing Your Level of Comfort in Contacting Us

Because OIG effectiveness depends in part on your willingness to report concerns, several survey questions asked for your views on reporting issues to OIG. While a sizeable majority of you do feel comfortable reporting fraud, waste or abuse to OIG, the minority responses – in particular, those on OIG independence – illustrated a need for more open communications with our stakeholders, including TVA employees, to ensure they understand our role.

One thing that’s very important to note is that we have never revealed the identity of a confidential source to anyone at TVA. And we will vigorously investigate any credible allegation of retaliation against anyone who raises concerns to OIG.
Here are some additional highlights of your survey responses:

• Almost 69 percent of those who responded would be comfortable reporting fraud, waste or abuse directly to OIG, while about 64 percent would be comfortable reporting an incident through their supervisor.
• Similarly, 73 percent indicated they would be comfortable calling the toll-free OIG hotline number; nearly 63 percent would be comfortable calling an OIG staff person; and 55 percent indicated they would be comfortable submitting a Web-based OIG Hotline form.
• About 53 percent agreed OIG would keep their identity confidential at their request, but about 17 percent disagreed. (29 percent were neutral.)
• According to the survey results, the biggest impediment to reporting a concern to OIG is fear of retaliation. Thirty-four percent agreed fear of retaliation would prevent them from reporting a concern to OIG, while 42 percent disagreed.

Is OIG Independent?
The short answer is “yes.”

People often ask, “Is the OIG really independent?” It’s an important question, and the answer is “Yes". TVA’s Office of Inspector General operates independently of TVA management. That’s the law. In practice, however, a number of factors can affect perceptions about our independence. Many individuals raised concerns about OIG independence in response to our November 2005 survey. I thought it was worthwhile to respond to concerns regarding OIG independence here in our first issue of OIG Connection.

1. Who appoints TVA’s Inspector General (IG)?

   I’m appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate. Simply put, that means the President nominates an IG, and the Senate then either confirms or denies the appointment.

2. Who sets the IG’s salary?

   My salary is set by law, currently at $143,000; TVA has no say in what I receive. Also, I’m not personally eligible for any other form of compensation, including executive bonuses or Winning Performance payouts.

3. Who sets the conditions of the TVA IG’s employment?

   Congress set the conditions of my employment in the IG Act. The act requires the President to appoint IGs without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration or investigations. In addition, only the President can remove me from office and then must report the reason to both houses of Congress.

4. Has anyone in TVA management tried to influence or control OIG audits or investigations since you’ve been IG?

   No. Although TVA management can and does request some OIG reviews, I have the legal authority to conduct whatever audits or investigations I judge are necessary or desirable. TVA can’t prevent me from conducting any audit or investigation or issuing any subpoena.
   
   Also by law, the OIG has access to all records, reports, audits, reviews, documents, papers, recommendations or other material available to TVA which relate to its programs and operations. I haven’t had a problem with this since coming to OIG. TVA management understands OIG’s powers and responsibilities and works collaboratively with us.

5. What influence does TVA have on OIG hiring and pay decisions?

   None. The IG Act gives me the power to select and employ the officers and employees necessary to carry out IG functions, powers and duties.

6. Do OIG employees participate in Winning Performance?

   Yes. However, OIG establishes its own Winning Performance measures and goals, separate from TVA’s. As the Inspector General, I approve the measures and goals for OIG. As with TVA Board members, who also are appointed by the President, I do not receive any Winning Performance money.

7. Can TVA management control OIG communications?

   No. I express my views about TVA to Congress, the Administration and the media as I deem appropriate. TVA has no control or oversight over those communications. By the same token, we value cooperation with the TVA Board and TVA management, and we solicit their views about a number of subjects from time to time. Ultimately, we make our own decisions independent of TVA management or the Board about how we communicate the results of our work. We currently enjoy a healthy level of mutual respect.

8. Can OIG order TVA management to take specific action?

   No. The TVA Board and TVA management – not the Inspector General – are charged with running TVA. They make policy.
   OIG audits, inspects and investigates. We make recommendations for change, which TVA management generally follows. Sometimes OIG and TVA management disagree about what action TVA management should take, and sometimes TVA management chooses not to follow our recommendations, but that is infrequent.
   
   Congress requires us to file written reports with appropriate Congressional committees twice a year. These reports must include, among other things, descriptions of significant problems, abuses and deficiencies relating to the administration of programs and operations at TVA, as well as descriptions and the status of OIG recommendations. If TVA management has agreed to make changes but does not do so, we report that to Congress as well.

9. How has OIG demonstrated its independence from TVA management?

   Look at our work. Our audits, inspections and investigations speak for themselves. In our reports, we routinely identify areas of needed improvement in TVA programs and operations, and we are now making many of our audits and inspections publicly available by putting them on our Web site.
   
   We encourage everyone to read our reports. Unfortunately, we cannot disclose all the details of our work, such as investigations and pre-award contract audits, due to laws that protect privacy and proprietary information. For example, if a TVA employee reports fraud or abuse to OIG, we generally are bound by law to protect that individual’s identity unless he or she consents to disclosure.

10. Why should TVA employees report waste, fraud and abuse to the OIG?

    Simply put, it’s the right thing to do. It’s also required by TVA policy. We need any information you may have about waste, fraud or abuse to better perform our responsibilities to TVA stakeholders. You are in the best position to know when things may not be right, and we rely on you to tell us where we should be looking.

Message From Richard Moore
Who he is and how you can help OIG do its job

During May 2003, I became the first Inspector General (IG) at TVA to be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. In making the TVA IG a Presidential appointment, Congress noted that “independence is vital for an Inspector General to function effectively,” and having the IG appointed and removable only by the President “would enhance the independence necessary for the TVA Inspector General to properly investigate waste, fraud, and abuse within the agency.”

The change from allowing the TVA Board to appoint the Inspector General to making the position a Presidential appointment has some significant history. Congress acted to make the IG a Presidential appointment as a direct result of a very public dispute in 1999 between former TVA IG George Prosser and former TVA Chairman Craven Crowell. Essentially, the Chairman attempted to remove the IG under circumstances that suggested the Chairman was infringing on the independence of the IG.

Senators and Members of the House of Representatives from Tennessee acted to prevent a recurrence of this problem by enacting legislation to give only the President the authority to essentially hire and fire TVA’s IG.

While this change was needed and while it provides greater independence for TVA’s IG, the real test of whether an IG is independent is what he or she actually does. Borrowing from an old Quaker saying, an IG must be able to “speak truth to power.”

Before becoming TVA’s Inspector General, I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Alabama. As a federal prosecutor, my primary focus was prosecuting white-collar crime, including political corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and government program fraud.

I also served as criminal chief for the Southern District of Alabama, supervising the work of more than a dozen prosecutors. This work also included coordinating task-force initiatives with federal and state law-enforcement agencies, and serving as the Anti-Terrorism Task Force Coordinator for the Southern District of Alabama immediately after the events of 9-11.

After working nearly 20 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, I came to TVA with a prosecutor’s mentality. As a federal prosecutor, I was accustomed to a role that required seeking the truth and working for justice.

Likewise, as the Inspector General for TVA, I value aggressive and independent fact finding, which OIG does through its audits, inspections and investigations.

I am pleased to say that since I have been the Inspector General, there has never been an attempt to block or unduly influence any of our audits, inspections or investigations. The TVA Board and management have worked cooperatively with me over these nearly three years now, and I fully expect TVA’s new Board will do the same.

In November 2005 I engaged the services of Intercede, Inc., a North Carolina company, to conduct a survey of the attitudes of TVA employees about our office and its functions. The results of the survey are reported elsewhere in this newsletter.

Before I asked for the survey to be done, I had reached the conclusion that OIG could be better connected with TVA’s employees. The results of the recent OIG survey confirmed that for me.

I was surprised, however, that many of you question whether OIG is really independent of TVA management. To address this perception, we are doing the following:

• First, we will publish quarterly the OIG Connection, a newsletter designed to inform you about us and our work.

• Second, we intend to significantly increase our personal contacts with you in order to hear your concerns and to report to you on OIG’s work.

• Third, our new hotline (called “Empowerline”) will enable you to make reports to a company not affiliated with TVA. It also will provide you the capability to track the status of your concern.

An independent Inspector General is good for TVA and often is able to say what no one else in TVA is in a position to say.

However, OIG staff members – including me – are limited in what we can do ourselves. We need you.

We need you to be our eyes and ears across the Valley. If you suspect TVA is being cheated, let us know by phone or e-mail. If you see evidence of someone abusing his or her position in TVA, let us know. If you see where TVA resources are being wasted, let us know.

You have a stake in TVA, and we want to work together with you as stewards of TVA’s resources.

If you have something to tell us, here’s how to do it. Phone:877-866-7840; Web site: www.OIGempowerline.com.