SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Prior to working for the federal government, I spent approximately five (5) years employed in the private sector. A growing practice was the implementation of faxmail. The idea is simple: an individual is assigned a phone number, and when he/she receives a fax, it goes directly into his/her email inbox.

With the goal of creating a paperless work environment, the receipt of an electronic fax will create an instant savings... more »

The current budget model to fund operational units based on operational hours is flawed. While specifically addressing Coast Guard aviation, this concept applies across DHS and DOD. At a typical unit, funding is primarily based on number of flight hours that the unit will fly. The budget is split between operational costs and fuel costs. As an example for a single unit, $3M to operational costs and $7M to fuel costs,... more »

I feel in this age of technology and emerging administrative and office functions we can reduce waste and become increasingly efficient without a huge monetary demand.

I suggest that all Federal agencies revamp administrative and managerial practices to include Microsoft Sharepoint as the backbone for this efficient and cost effective and environmentally friendly initiative.

The Microsoft Office Sharepoint intranet/internet... more »

For 2 similar programs in different agencies, let the primary site of one program be the secondary site for the other program, and visa versa. This will reduce or avoid investment and operations & maintenace costs from 4 sites to costs for 2 sites. Each site must be a little more robust, better documented, and scalable in time of disaster to temporarily take on the work load of the other program. Each program will... more »

For agencies requiring 5 day coverage and who are working 5/8 hr shifts. Split the crew into two crews. Change the shift to a 4/10 hr shift. One crew will work M-Th, the other crew work T-FR. This will increase coverage to 10 hrs a day, for 5 days a week without increasing labor cost. It will reduce fuel consumption and green house gas emissions for crews that travel to remote sites driving government vehicles by... more »

We spend billions of dollars on background investigation for Federal employees (including soldiers leaving the service going to Federal employment) with current clearances by the Federal Government, due in part to disconnect. A Federal employee going from one Federal Agency to another should take no more than a month. However due to redoing (Cleared Employee) the extensive background investigation it takes more money,... more »

Background:
Coast Guard guidelines for vessel transit planning are intended to maximize operational effectiveness. Each vessel in the fleet is expected to transit at a speed that uses fuel efficiently; enabling the unit to spend more time in the operating area, reducing wear on engines and saving money. Regrettably there is not an effective monitoring and enforcement mechanism to ensure personnel adhere to these standards.... more »

In today’s’ world everyone searches for data. Everyone has a laptop, not a desktop… an iphone, blackberry, or android phone, and everyone loves a simple conservative interface. Our dependency on Microsoft products offers no fiscal reward regarding cost, productivity, training, maintenance and growth.
The data our federal government warehouses in contracted networks is ridiculously hard to navigate. I spend more time... more »

To save paper and allow us to work most efficiently, we could install software that would permit faxes to be sent directly to our e-mails. Foremost, this would facilitate the President's telework initiative as it would permit the receipt of faxes through e-mail. This software would also save us from printing faxes into hard copy and allow us to have electronic versions of the documents that would permit us to store... more »