SAVE Award 2011 Small Business Administration

Our property people generally sort surplus office equipment such as desks, chairs, and file cabinets into two groups: those that are in perfect condition and can be used by our agency again, and those that are "not suitable" for use by the agency. Often these items very serviceable but have issues like mismatched colors, missing keys, or nicks and scrapes. Why don't we find a way for the SBA to use this furniture to ...more »

As a complement to the Electronic Official Personnel Folder system- rather than having me print out each document to provide to my Administrative Officer, they should be able to access all of my information so that a paper copy is not required at my office for each document.

Additionally, leave forms should be able to be submitted online with the use of electronic signatures rather than printing these out every time.

Rather than have separate offices for federal agencies across the nation; co-locate more together, and enable those agencies to share (1) rent expense, (2) support staff, (3) office equipment, (4) GOVs and most importantly (5) ideas and customers.

Except for correspondence, I believe all economic develop-based literature by federal agencies (Ex-Im, SBA, DoC, et al) should migrate to web-based. Savings would be in expense to purchase, ship and stock; and less space needed to store all that stuff.

Instead of paper forms, we should be using PDF files for applications and required documentation. The costs of sending and storing these files could be saved with a centralized data collection point. Any paperwork could be scanned and stored. Tax forms and financial statements could be uploaded instead of being sent reducing the risk of unauthorized personnel seeing Personal and/or Company information. The application ...more »

My agency insists upon an abudance of paperwork to cover me when I travel on Government business, event when such work does not require compensation (mileage, per diem, etc.) I can understand detailed documentation when I am asking for reimbursement, but to do when all I am doing is driving a Government-owned vehicle a short distance, then returning, is time consuming and a distraction from other duties. A simple brief ...more »

Performance Award system should be simplify. Instead, implement a Christmas Bonus of $250.00 (not subject to an income tax deduction) for all employees that Annual Performance was rated above "Meets Expectation" level. We all get paid for our work, there is no need to attach the level of performance with the incentive amount. This will save not only in the total bonus amount paid, but also on the administrative cost ...more »

I want to recommend total recycling within the federal government. We currently do paper recycling and I know the toner cartridges are recycled. But we should do more than just this... such as bins in the breakroom/cafeteria for cans and plastic bottles. In my office must people just trash these items. If the federal government isn't 100% behind this effort, then how can we be a leader to the rest of the citizens ...more »

Stop printing hard copies of the budget. It is available online. Allow congressional offices and departments to use money out of their budgets to print it.

Marketing and Outreach employees are writing their own paychecks. Some events are questionable about the value they provide at some events. I would suggest instead of paying over time, that the job description stay true to the "may require time away from the office, and may require evening and weekend work." 80 hour pay period can be scheduled to include evening work and weekend work. Employees are already telecommuting, ...more »

Employees are required to use the eTravel reservation system to make hotel reservations. To do this, there is a transaction fee of $14 and an online booking fee of $4.25 each time we make a reservation. If we could book the hotel on our own, either by calling or on-line, we could save $18.25 for every hotel reservation that is made. I agree that this system is ok to use for plane reservations, but not hotel reservations, ...more »

My idea of cost reduction is to convert our paper data to digital data and to store in a central database. This solution would eliminate the need for paper retention and excessive annual man hours while providing proficiency coupled with substantial cost abatements. Beginning with the Time Manager Form for Payroll: Install designated boxes for both the employee and manager to check and/or initial. This process would eliminate ...more »