SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Recently the Office of Head Start launched its Head Start Enterprise System (HSES). It's a great green tool for OHS and its grantees, allowing us to share files through a singular source.

I propose a similar tool for the Office of Grants Management. Rather than mailing hard copies to the Regional Office, grantees can simply upload documents for OGM to archive accordingly. This would reduce filing, use of stationary,... more »

If the GPO was required to print government documents only in the English language their budget would shrink to manageable levels. This is a hot button political question right now, but it's a win-win-win. 1.) GPO budget shrinks 2.) interpreters / translators get work 3.) New arrivals are compelled to learn the english language and better integrate into the United States.

Eliminate requirements for hardcopy presentations and travel authorizations when electronics versions can be distributed. Also eliminate the numerous hardcopy fliers that are distributed, esp. to those employees that have access to online versions. As an example, for an installation of 10K employees, conservatively assuming an average of 3 fliers per week would mean a savings in paper of over $10K per year. Besides toner,... more »

I don't understand why I am mailing in documents that the IRS has already received from my banks, jobs, and etc. Why not allow individuals and companies to login to their account and see what documents the IRS has already received? Then permit them to upload the documents that are needed. Why mail in a document the IRS already has?

We receive multitudinous memos, bulletins and decisions, procedural information, updates, reports, messages, directives, etc. Each of us is expected to read this material, process it, use it in our work. C'mon. Thought needs to be put into what is sent to us so that we get the information we need, it is clear and concise and understandable. Imagine the savings in man hours if only one designated individual went through... more »

At nearly every military command or defense agency I have worked for, every night watch floors and staffs set to the task of printing hundreds of pages of documents for executive readbooks. Most senior officials only have time to review a fraction of the documents, which are subsequently shredded. This wastes reams of paper and thousands of dollars in labor costs. These documents are already posted online and are readily... more »

A good portion of government office real estate is taken up by paper documents storage. In addition to implementing electronic documents today, we need to capture information on paper documents generated before electronic means were available. Machines are now available that rapidly convert nonbound documents to PDF format. Recommend mass-purchase of such equipment for manned agency libraries government-wide. Suggest... more »

I propose switching to a fully electronic system for archiving paper forms. I recommend that Records Management policies should be redesigned with the intention of storing only electronic versions of the required documents, with a single electronic archive storage system for each agency. Network storage space is cheap, and offers numerous benefits over hardcopy storage:
•Low cost - Depending on scanner capability/settings,... more »

I propose the development of an electronic leave request system. Most, agencies use some version of OPM’s form 71 for leave. A high percentage of our employees are in the 6 or 8 hours/pay period category for annual leave, which leads to a LOT of leave usage just to avoid use-or-lose status. I don’t have access to agency-wide statistics, so I’ve generated an estimate based on the breakdown at my location. Out of 241 current... more »

DOE lacks a document management system that would facilitate collaboration and approval routings across the entire Department. Such a system would save much time expended individually routing documents and soliciting feedback. The right system could replace RevCom, the antiquated directives review system. This would hasten reviews and responses to comments.

PROBLEM: typical Construction Documents Sets (like drawings, specifications, contracs, bid packages, etc.) are very large and heavy weight in nature, consuming a lot resources and money from the agencies & customers.

SOLUTION: to establish a centralized Digital Vault, so all sets can be submitted, saved & shared in a digital manner, reducing cost of production, cost on filling, shorting access time to all their users,... more »

All agencies can benefit from secure document collaboration spaces, similar to Google Docs. The collaboration space could be made more secure for classified or sensitive documents. This would save server space required for E-mails, as people would no longer have to E-mail large files to eachother. The cost for purchasing, housing and maintaining servers would significantly decrease. This would also prevent printing of... more »