SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Change the default option for rental cars used during TDY travel to alternative fuel vehicles. This will increase the demand for these vehicles which will reduce the cost per vehicle to produce. This will in turn increase the demand by the general public. This will reduce consumption of imported petroleum products.

Here are three ideas to give an incentive to spend less on travel:

1) You can pay for the flight as usual (through a travel contractor) or you can make your own arrangements and be reimbursed 50% of the ticket price.

2) You can have the government pay for your hotel (pay using a government credit card aka travel card) or you can be reimbursed 50% of the per diem rate for the hotel if you find your own lodging.

3)... more »

There is a glut of foreclosed properties across the US, including in high per diem cities where many DoD, HHS, and other agency personnel travel for training and meetings. The cost of hotel lodging can be quite high.
There is also a high unemployment rate in many US cities.
Establishing a program of "Navy Lodge" type facilities using foreclosed properties, and town houses, could provide employment (maintenance personnel,... more »

Overseas we are forced to use only US airline carriers or their equivalent for TDY. In Germany this means Miles and More partners of which United is a partner. These airlines are the most expensive. The inability to use other options cost the government to use more expensive flights. The ability to use other, cheaper airlines is not possible with this policy.

I propose that when military members are sent TDY they be required to share quarters or hotel rooms with one other member, providing they do not have to share the same bed, are of equal rank and the same gender.

When my unit was sent on a mission for a few weeks, we stayed at a hotel and each member got their own room which was equipped with two beds. My brother, also in my unit, was sent TDY with us and we decided to... more »

There is an average amount (or more appropriately, percentage of the maximum) employees spend on travel expenses. This amount is almost certainly extremely close to the maximum allowed (or 100%), and certainly not the minimum possible. Employees should be compensated for spending less than this average amount, for instance, 50% of the savings. As an example, if I spend $60/night at a hotel instead of the average $90/night... more »

Work on making Space A travel for active duty and possible retired military families more available. Establish a easier booking system and allow these members to pay much smaller fees but be able to use flights accordingly to get from point A to point B with agreed sacrifices that comes with flying on Space A flights. This allows money to be spent back into the flight syaytem and allows members to use a service otherwise... more »

The current structure does not provide any incentive for reducing travel expense by finding a hotel under the per diem rate. If the rate in a city is $90 per night but there are hotels offered for $60, the traveler would not select the lesser expensive hotel.

There should be a system in place to split the savings between both the traveler and government. 50/50 would suffice, but this could be adjusted. Using the above... more »

The federal government spends an exorbitant amount of funds every year on travel and TDY. Most of the funds spent on TDY missions could be used to offset other costs for more pressing issues. There are reasons that many directors and leaders need to travel in order to satisfy mission requirements, but a majority of TDY missions for many others were/are unnecessary. Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal monies can... more »

Current department of defense policy pays very high per diem rates for travel, particularly overseas. This proposal would incentivize staying below per-diem, often at culturally immersed local market facilities, by returning a portion of the money saved by staying below the per-diem cap back to the traveler. For example, if the lodging per-diem rate in Berlin is $300, but I find a German Gasthaus for $100, I would get... more »