SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

The Superfund Records Center at the EPA currently requires paper copies to be submitted with a paper routing/approval system. The printed documents are then scanned into the electronic records system. So much time and money can be saved at the EPA by making this archaic process fully electronic as the original documents are already electronic and must be printed out along with an approval sheet that has to physically... more »

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 »

All court documents are filed electronically in our district. When a document is filed by either the Court, the Defense, or our office (the US Attorney's Office), an email is sent to the AUSA and the support person assigned to that AUSA. The support person opens the email, prints the pleading, and then saves the electronic .pdf version of the document to the "virtual file" for that specific case. We waste so much paper... more »

I believe that the NWS could save thousands of man hours as well as thousands of pieces of paper if they fully utilized CAC capabilities like the DoD. Currently for all appraisals in the NWS they must be signed by hand to become official. If appraisals would be electronically signed that could save 8000 pieces of paper. Also when doing business with other offices and paper work needs a signature the signee could "electronically"... more »

Printing each immigrants file is very time consuming and great amount of paper and ink is spent. If each file can be transmitted electronically to the courts and judges can utilize some type of smart laptop to view the same file as coordinated with the prosecution, this would alleviate alot of headaches and large amount of money that is being spent on printers, paper and ink. Thousands and thousands of files are being... more »

The CFC program spends money on "gifts" for those participating, and spends money printing and mailing booklets and forms for every employee.

The booklet information is available online. Why spend all that money to print and ship booklets for every employee?

Why not have paperless sign up? This would further eliminate costs.

The purpose of CFC is to give back to the community. So why are we then buying and giving... more »

Currently an average of 10,381,314 and 275,726 Spanish of paper copies of notices are produced and mailed out to recipients/inquirers per MONTH.

Offering the electronic copy option of notices would yield enormous savings associated with printing and postage. In additon,it would help in attaining a greener environment.

40 CFR Part 22 governs the administrative adjudicatory proceedings. Rule 22.5 requires the filing of an original and a copy of a document. In addition, during the process copies of all documents are also served to the Presiding Officer and the respondent. At this time an original and at least 4 copies have been generated. If the case goes to a hearing, the EPA attorney is required under Rule 22.22(e) to submit an original... more »

SSA Policy GN 02410.017 requires that an IRS form W4-v (request for voluntary tax withholding) be filled out before SSA can process a VTW request. SSA then is instructed to destroy the form and not retain record of the document. I believe it would be more advantageous to the agency if the request for VTW could be done verbally and attested, rather than requiring a paper document that is not retained. This change could... more »

Let's face it,
No matter how ingenious the paperless idea --- unless employees are rewarded for compliance --- Joe Q. Government will continue to print out his emails...

So, reward good old Joe Q.'s paperless compliance with promotion points.

Track Joe G’s printing --- i.e. every time he prints, his "print number" goes up. During employee evaluations, this “print number” is scored and used as a criteria for evaluation.... more »

Personal Printers are, quite possibly, the single biggest waste of government resources.

It costs $9.44 annually to power one small desktop printer used at a minimal rates. *

In my office alone I count over 100 personal printers, and this is in addition to the two dozen or so massive laser printers (which, themselves cost around $100 apiece annually)

By eliminating all of the personal printers in just this office... more »

There is no need to print out paper receipts of electronic file transfers. This is common practice in most mail rooms, HR and filerooms. Everytime a piece of mail, file, personnel record or anytype of electronic file is moved or updated, a paper receipt (or some variation) is printed for either the supervisor's or empoyees record.

It is important to document the transaction --- however, this can just as easily be backed... 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 »

It's called email.

 

We all have it.

 

It's easier than faxing --- and uses 0 sheets of paper.

 

Nix the fax machines already.

It is unnecessary to print a file only to send it to another office where they scan it and input it into their system --- and then print it to send to another office, and so on and so.

 

This process can be just as easily done through email attachments or file server databases. The issue isn't utilizing new software --- but rather, mandating the use, by all employees, of current software.