SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

The government spends thousands to millions of dollars making plastic IDs for their government employees each year. When these IDs expire or their beholder leaves his/her position, they are then tossed into the trashed and disposed as waste; waste destined to sit in a landfill. Why not recycle them? By making IDs out of recycled plastic and then recycling the IDs themselves after use, the government could not only increase... more »

This agency currently does not charge for scanning FOIA information or work done on cancelled FOIAS. A person can spend hours on a FOIA that is almost complete, and will not be able to charge for any of the costs if the requester cancels before completion. If you cancel a work request with any other business, they are going to charge you for work already done. Requesters are allowed to ask for documents in electronic... more »

It would save considerable money if all General Counsel offices across the federal government stopped using printed refernece materials. These are all available electronically -- both the most up-to-date versions and prior versions. In order to allow attorneys the portability of a book, however, one option would be to purchase several e-reader devices (such as a Kindle, Nook, or something similar) that would have subscriptions... more »

Have a lottery for the National Debt .

My idea is to have one security clearance, or background check to cover all, or at least most agencies. For example right now a person can already have a Top-Secret clearance with the Department of Defense, and they would have to start a background investigation all over again if they were to apply with another agency, even if it’s only for a Secret clearance. They would have to fill out the same SF-86, the same eQip... more »

Require all federal agencies to turn in to Congress a one page document explaining what article(s) of the Constitution authorizes their existence. Eliminate those agencies that do not have clear and specific authorization in the Constitution.

The cost of training each and every employee is extremely high and I believe that there is a better, more cost efficient way of doing things. Currently, the Government sends each employee to their required training, paying for their flight, hotel and per diem. For a two week course, this can easily be $5000 per person. If there are 20 people in this class, then the cost is $100,000 plus the cost of the instructors... more »

We may be using Fluorescent light bulbs, but we should continue to alternate bulb use like we did prior to using Fluorescent light bulbs. We should keep some lights bulbs Off while others light bulbs are On (alternating bulbs). Thus still providing enough lighting to do the job while conserving Electricity; Reducing lighting where necessary.

I love having two monitors on my desk so that I can work on a Word document and look at an Excel spreadsheet at the same time. But come on... if the Government is looking for ways to save money, that's a pretty easy place to start. Just limit everyone to a single monitor. The dual monitors are convenient but let's not be greedy.

Turn off computer monitors at night. Computer monitors can always be turned off at night. Computer upgrades can occur with monitor screens switched off. Leaving computer monitors on at all times is a huge waste of energy and dollars. It is completely unneccessary!! Let's save those dollars! Let's save that energy! It will also cut our greenhouse gas emissions!

When vehicles are replaced, buy the most efficient vehicles that are available at a reasonable cost. This will save operating costs in vehicle fleets.

Stop making nickels and pennies. The production costs of these two coins far outwiegh their usefullness.

There is also a large percentage of these fixed costs that goes to raw materials.

When using FedTraveler, you get to request and submit your travel voucher online but you have to fax your receipts which get scanned in by someone else. Allow employees to send scanned receipts as attachments to the submitted voucher. This would save on paper (faxes received), man hours (second person entering receipts already compiled), and other expenses (toner, repair bills, etc.).

Not only would employees be able... more »

Currently only one mysteriously selected winner in the SAVE program gets to meet the President. Recommend that this be changed so that the Top 5 or perhaps the Top 10 winners would meet the President. This could help increase participation in the SAVE program and lead to more money saving suggestions from someone who would not have participated.

Allow carry-over with incentives. As every fiscal year winds down, we are challenged with spending out our accounts with the mentality that you “use it or lose it”. Losing it means it gets sucked back into some government void, never to contribute to the local level again. Instead of this negative and wasteful mentality, localized “savings” accounts could be established such that when projects, offices, regions, etc.... more »