SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Based on the success of the President's SAVE Award, this approach should be replicated within Departments, such as at the Department of Energy, as a way for employees to suggest institutional innovation and to vote on one another's ideas. This could include ideas to save money, promote Department efficiency and effectiveness, enhance transparency, and promote broader engagement with the American people.

One great way... more »

Agancies should post their financial information in real time in the public. This would be true transparency, and would allow people to understand exactly what is being spent where.

There are too many employees in the federal government that are not getting the job done! A new people strategy needs to be implemented in the federal government to encourage hard work. What ever happened to 'working hard and doing your best, or else you'll be replaced'? Do we want to be a competitive country? Why do we continue to tolerate mediocrity?

I propose the following strategy, with the goal of placing the... more »

Provide an online system that allows the public access to our releasable documents. This would be simialr to the ADAMs database the Nuclear regulatory Agency operates and the public document database operated by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. Allowing the public access to documents will reduce the time and cost it takes to respond to FOIAs, supports government transparency initiative, allows the... more »

A major bottleneck we have had at NIH for YEARS is the lack of communication between contract officers & scientists regarding the preparation of proper requisitions for purchases over the micro purchase threshold. Procurement is the fuel needed to maintain laboratory production & move scientific research forward daily. The ordering process for competitive & sole source purchases involves scientists, purchase agents, &... more »

I have worked in five of the ten regions of FEMA as a Stafford Act Employee, Public Assistance Project Specialist. The regions interpret several areas of the Stafford Act differently and therefore there are some unnecessary inconsistencies with the way the program is administered. I suggest that a formal interpretation database should be developed where any employee or citizen could send a request with their reason why... more »

To reduce overlap in tasks and increase productivity, have every agency/department list their projects by keyword into a master database (i.e. refuge + surveys) to get a true view of where the redundancies lie. There can also be web access that is available to Federal employees and contractors so we can view things like what other research is being conducted simoultaeously and formulate interagency teams and build off... more »

Prove that high ranked (highly liked) ideas are submitted to agencies by posting the results of the 2011 SAVE Award campaign to the White House website.

If the Paperless program used by processing centers was expanded, and made accessible by field offices, teleservice centers, and all employees, it would reduce duplicate materials, save on material and non-material resources (specifically time), expand accountability, and reduce miscommunication.

As it is now, if a form is sent to a field office, and someone calls the teleservice center to see that it was received, the... more »

Stop the historical waste of monies not spent during the budget year. Stop protecting our image of not being able to budget properly and allow moneies to be returned rather than spent or wasted. We are often required to budget large sums of money for a specific lease or contract that for many reasons, does not get completed. Rather than return that money, we are required to spend it. This happeded last year and we... more »

Contractor rates should be based upon the General Schedule. This will allow for the government to be able to equate a contracted position to a FTE, and create greater transparency with determining how much monies are being paid in the contractor domain. Too much budget emphasis is being placed on government employee pay and not enough on contractor pay.

Communications, Clarity of Purpose, and Transparency are key elements of any successful mission/organization.

Develop a robust communication strategy and implement it. It is a dynamic and living thing that should be giving top priority for the success of the mission.

Utilize every tool, strategy and idea available in this realm. If you do not have it, develop it. Again, clarity of purpose and transparency are... more »

Laws should be limited to a single subject. Eliminate riders and bills that have nothing to do with the topic. This allows for straight up debate, faster, more efficient legislative process, funding that is not hidden and can be supported in its own right or not funded. Allows the public to better understand the process and the votes. End the endless arguments and debates to add to transparency and more efficient administrative... more »

There should be 1 Web Site that shows where all Federal Tax Money is spent every year.

Just like a business, the investors (taxpayers) deserve to know how their business (government) is performing.

The expenditures should be broken down as:
Medicare/Medicaid $XXXXXXXXXXXX
Social Security $XXXXXXXXXXX
Defense Spending $XXXXXXXXXXX
etc.

The Taxpayer could click on the above category and get specifics within that category.... more »

How does one assist its agency with reducing federal spending, when a subset of the agency’s leadership forces subordinate federal employees to violate the Anti-Deficiency Act and retaliates against the subordinate employee(s) by issuing them a notice of suspension for Insubordination/Refusal to Obey Orders/Defiance of Authority for the alleged non-compliance of violating 31 U.S.C. 1314 (a)(1)?

Are the following options... more »