SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

It should be obvious to everyone that renting a U-Haul and moving yourself is a much cheaper option than spending enormous amounts of money to have professional moving companies move household goods when federal employees transfer to a new duty station. The governemnt should offer to cover the costs associated with moving your possesions yourself along with a cash incentive for doing so. The self moving costs even with... more »

The military ,every year moves hundreds of thousands of members just for career advancement.The taxpayer not only foots the bill for the expensive move but also in the 2-3 months of lost productivity Cut these permanent change of station moves by 2/3. Raise the time on station limit to 6 years before someone can move to another base.

The USCG has a wasteful and inefficient policy that initiates a permanent change of station (PCS) move every time an active duty member is promoted to the next rank. This wasteful policy covers enlisted, Chief Petty Officers as well as officers.

There have been cases of enlisted members reporting to their next duty station, being promoted shortly thereafter, then immediately executing another PCS move, all within... more »

A more restrained and thoughtful PCS and move cycle would achieve immediate and substantial cost savings. The military in particular has adopted the mentality that members 'have to' move every 2-3 years. Many commanders, senior staff or those selected for special programs are moved even more frequently. This not only costs the tax-payer many thousands of dollars per move in direct costs but many more in associated expenditures.... more »

Due to weight restrictions for certain overseas assignments, the government currently pays for household goods storage. This includes items being packed, transported, and stored for the duration of the assignment. Currently members are authorized reimbursement of self moves of household goods for a savings to the government known as dity moves; my recommendation is to authorize members to find their own storage in which... more »

Currently the PCS Travel function for Civilians is extremely overtaxed. Most of the travel is paid for by the civilian itself (already taxed money) and reimbursed at a later date. This reimbursement has taxes withheld just like a regular paycheck. Then every year come March & April the DoD-DFAS Civilian PCS Travel Department must spend thousands of man hours processing a particular claim called the "RITA claim."... more »

When the government fills job vacancies, everyone who applies, regardless of their geographic proximity to the duty station is given equal consideration. If extra points were given to those who would not require a PCS relocation (and the expenses that are associated with it) then millions could be saved each and every year by allowing those who already live close by to fill vacancies. This would also be a great way for... more »

The FAA sends the National Weather Service (NWS)a ton of publications that the NWS does not want. I have tried to get the FAA to stop sending, but they keep sending anyway.

The government pays way too much money in Permanent Change of Station (PCS) costs for the FAA and NOAA. These packages costs each agency millions of dollars each year. Why not offer employees 2 different packages to choose from (based on circumstances)... more »

Allow optional increased tour lengths of military assignments. Many military members are stationed stateside when they’d prefer to be overseas, and vice versa. Allowing members wishing to reside in the CONUS long term stability would increase home-buying and reduce millions in relocation costs long term.

A guy walking around with his hand down his pants, belching, and complaining that he was too old to move heavy stuff as he dropped a box marked “FRAGILE” . . . That is what the Army got when they hired a local company for a PCS move.

A rental car agent asking “why do you care, it isn’t your money?” . . . That was the response to a complaint that I was being charged too much for a car while traveling on official Government... more »

Change is a constant. However, I see no point to the constant PCSing, PCAing, management rotations, etc. that causes a loss of corporate knowledge! It is occurs for the "sake" of a military or civilian's career, but it seems like it happens at the expense of the mission and taxpayer.

Each time a person moves, corporate knowledge is lost and so much time is spent training and bringing a new person up to speed. It... more »

Instead of having PCS costs submitted with every single receipt and then filled out on a gathering sheet, and then on to a paper voucher, and then sent hard copy mail to AOC, for someone to then audit each voucher, then eventually reimburse a portion thereof to the employee, just permit agencies to authorize a flat PCS amount. There is so much labor time spent on filling all this out and calculating WTA, then again with... more »

I have made 5 international Permanent Changes of Station (PCS) in my 12-year military career. Each move, I am allowed to move ~1k lbs of "express" goods (called "unaccompanied baggage") which are allegedly shipped via air cargo to my new location. However, these shipments take 6+ weeks to arrive...what plane takes 6 weeks to get to the new location?

Of course, there are other nodes in the transportation chain, but... more »

Ban car companies & dealerships from selling vehicles to military members, if they will not allow those same active duty members to PCS (permanent change of station) overseas with the vehicle. this has put allot of active duty soldierss in a bind, when they are forced to serve overseas while paying for a car they cant use.

Require all PCS moves to be via the fixed (per diem) rate and for all costs of the move to have a fixed rate component. Include a fixed cost option for housing associated costs such as closing costs based on the part of the county the employee lives in (similar to the cost of living adjustments). This will simplify the payment and auditing process while also simplifying the process for the employee as no receipts would... more »