SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Provide a Flexible Spending Account debit card, that employees can use to pay for co-pays, prescriptions, and other out-of-pocket medical expenses. This will eliminate the need for employees to submit claims, and reduce the processing required by the FSA program, thus saving operating expenses.

The government makes a lot of purchases from computers to cell phones. If the government were to hire a full time buyer, his sole function would be to look for the best products at the best prices. He would spend 8 hours a day everyday scouring the Internet and sales ads looking for the best deals. It may be true that frequently the government purchase in bulk quantities. However that full time buyer could buy in chunks... more »

We should be using vendors who offer the best price on the same product. We spend alot of time shopping emall for the item when the price turns out to be significantly higher than from a local vendor. We should give back to our community through local purchases whenever possible.

Since FSA is on such a tight budget, I think we should be purchasing certain items in bulk. I suggest we do it district wide but it could also be done state wide. Items like toner & paper would be a good place to start. Most items you need to have a minimum order anyway and it usually gets cheaper the more you buy. The District Director could have a Credit Card just for those type of purchases.

There is a suggestion for personal finance management that says to freeze your credit cards (literally put them in a block of ice) so when you want to make a large purchase, you are forced to wait until the ice melts. This gives you time to think about your intended purchase and whether it is absolutely necessary. Similarly, I suggest all large government purchases should have a "waiting period" so those involved can... more »

The Department of Justice (DOJ) could save from $300,000 to $500,000 from consolidating anti-virus software purchases. Currently DOJ uses at least 5 different anti-virus software products across the DOJ Component organizations. If that were replaced with 1 or 2 enterprise licenses, the advanatages would be significant cost savings as well as standardization of software.