SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Currently all department employees must fill out paper time sheets and SF-71 leave requests. These have to be then typed into a computer system which takes 1 FTE per 400 employees (takes our office staff 1 day per 40 persons for data entry). There are about 1,000 different pieces of office software designed for this function and I'm positive that it would cost less in paper and time to use even the most expensive software... more »

People have cell phones, watches, computers, radios, even the telephones show the time. From where I am sitting right now, I can see the time from six different sources.

How often has it take you multiple tries and reschedules to get a meeting set up because not everyone uses or keeps their electronic Outlook calendar up to date? This can turn what should be a simple five-minute process into an ordeal that takes multiple tries and 20 minutes or more of hassle!

Scheduling a meeting with multiple people should take no longer than 5 minutes if everyone has their calendar up to date. Too... more »

Every Department has different rules and different systems for doing time and attendance. When I was with DoA my time sheet was simple, If I worked over 80 that was comp/overtime, and the software kept track. With the DoI I have to enter time into a excel spreadsheet and a software program, and do all the math myself being careful not violate any of the rules. I am on Maxiflex and travel a lot for my job. If I work... more »

With move to paperless offices, it is astounding how many people print and then scan hard copies back to make them into e-documents. Users are often not aware that they can "print to PDF" format direct from their desktops, and have the "scanned" document immediately available.

What a waste of time and paper, not to mention additional hardware support and maintenance to the required scanners and printers.

Save paper... more »

Reduce government travel expenses, employee time, fuel consumption, and air emissions by finally establishing a nationwide high-speed surface transportation system. Such a system would also relieve the current traffic burden on both runways and highways, and can offer comparable door-to-door travel times particularly for regional service. Workforce productivity would increase, thereby helping to improve GDP and the overall... more »

Lower the cost of office furniture by standardizing office furniture across all government agencies. Why does a desk in one office need to look any different than the desk in the next room, floor, building, or agency? This will reduce the time personnel spend selecting furniture, allow ubiquitous transfer of furniture from one office/agency to the next, and drive down cost by encouraging competition in industry.

I once read a stat that said 62% of people in prison/jail have not been convicted.

I understand that a large portion of this probably also includes stat and local prisons/jails.

I also understand that there are varying circumstances with due process.

I also am aware there are many ideas for lowering Government costs related to prisons.

BUT this is a serious problem. Why don't we cut down on spending by fixing the... more »

Everything should be rounded to the nearest dollar. With 2.15M employees, the time saved by not typing in an extra two digits would really add up.

The US Government wastes millions of dollars on unnecessary printing by Federal employees. Not only are paper, toner, and printer maintenance expensive, but storage, destruction, and time searching through hard-copies costs money.

We need to use the print servers to track and report usage by user/branch/department/command. By shining a light on current and historical usage, users will adjust their habits and save money.... more »

If u don't have time to read my idea..it's good lol NO MORE SENDING LETTERS!

This idea can be spanned into many departments. Just speaking for the edu dept, we send out more letters than anyone could count e.g. 1 case: Development ltrs when we need more info from the claimant, Certificate of eligibility, award ltrs for enrollments, many correction ltrs from amendments from school hour reductions or inc, withdraws,... more »

A significant reduction in government salaries can result in substantial cost savings. Ask employees if they would like to volunteer for a reduction in hours.

This is a win-win situation for employers and employees. I would want to work for an employer that offered this opportunity. Of course the employer and employee would have to consent to the time off and it would be dependent upon the workload.

I have worked... more »

Simply reduce the total chargable work hours to 37.5 hours per week. New York State did it long ago. It could painlessly reduce the Federal payroll budget by millions. Some can't complete tasks within the currently prescribed 40 hours and for good reason. As these are most likely not an overwhelming majority, make appropriate adjustments on a case by case basis. Overall, if the general workforce were reduced to 37.5... more »

In this day and age of electronics, the federal government should be taking advantage of such an opportunity to utilize more electronic media to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Everyday I see documents that our office has requested from other federal agencies, as well as financial and non-financial institutions, and the requested documents are received in paper format. Why?
If documents were burned onto CDs, it... more »

There are two major issues I believe can save the government not only money, but on the amount of security violations.

1. The current process of processing citizenship applications within United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is archaic. The current process requires hard-copies of applications, personal information and other information to be physically mailed out and stored for applicants. This... more »