SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Add software to government laptops so that calls can be made using the microphone.

 

This would take away the need for purchasing phone plans, allow a seamless transition for work at home, and remove the need for physical landline telephones.

Mimic industry and (except where required for security reasons) allow employees to use personal cell/smart phones for government business. Allows elimination or consolidation of supported infrastructure, support personnel, phone purchases, upgrades, etc. Allows employee to carry fewer devices. Allows nearly all employees to have cell phone access to work. Facilitates teleworking. Reduces the "I left it at the office"... more »

In one hand is my personal smart phone. I love it. I pay for unlimited voice and data with this phone. I can surf freely and without guilt that I'm wasting government money when I do so. It's also faster and more flexible than...what I hold in my other hand, my blackberry. I hate it. I only use it for government business which is largely viewing e-mails when I'm off site. So I carry two of these devices around.... more »

Let's use a VOIP system that uses the internet for telephone calls. Once the system is in place, all phone calls would be nearly free of charges. Let's do this on a government-wide scale to save us money!

Enable Phone Call feature in the Chat program (as Communicator) that already exist and are authorize for use in the DoS. The call feature is at present disabling and it could be used for phone calls, saving millions of dollars in calls that are done in regular phone lines, most of the time more susceptible to information. I pretty sure that there are very few minor technological issues, but I am also sure they can be... more »

Negotiate federal-wide contracts with telephone and cell-phone carriers (possibly by region) that any qualified federal entity can "piggy-back" onto. Volume discounts could result in considerable savings. Years ago when I was a contractor, I worked on a consulting engagement with a large county-funded hospital that followed a similar approach. Essentially, the hopsital piggy-backed off of a county contract for land-line... more »

The VA already has a robust data network. This network could be leveraged using Voice Over Internet Protocol to provide calling within the VA avoiding all long distance cost. This system is already in place in several VISN's and could be expanded throughout the VA and maybe the Goverment in total. example: x (entry digit) xxx (station code) xxxx (extension) xxxxxxxx calls anywhere in the government bypassing the telephone... more »

Ask the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the organization how much they pay for telephone service?

A lot of times the CIOs are focused on the data network side and does not put much oversight on telephone services. A telephone bill audit – removing lines that are no longer needed - can result up to a 25% reduction in telecommunications costs. GSA as an agency can assist agencies in conducting a telephone bill audit... more »

The NIH prints an internal telephone book about an inch thick and distributes it to everyone. Stacks of these sit around until they are recycled when the new telephone books are delivered. Eveyone uses their email telephone book with updated NED to find current room and telephone numbers. Stop printing these, please.

Put all the toll-free telephone conference lines into a pool and allow employees to reserve one for a period of time just like we reserve a conference room. I don't know what the actual savings would be but instead of having a 1:1 relationship in the number of bridgelines for those that use them, we could probably reduce to a 1:10 or 1:20 or more. The reservation system should be able to track usage, so if some are... more »

Problem: There are long waiting times for claimants in the field offices, waiting to complete applications for retirement, survivor, Medicare and disability claims.

Cause of problem: As the baby boomers are reaching retirement age, the number of retirement and Medicare claims has been increasing, while the number of employees available to help them is decreasing. (Many employees are baby boomers themselves and are also... more »