SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

I am new to the government and was shocked to find out that I will have my own printer on my desk. This is a totally unnecessary cost to the taxpayers. Not only does it encourage excess printing using paper and ink since it is so "convenient", but it discourages healthy movement by employees by asking them to get up out of their chairs to retrieve something they printed. Providing a printer to every employee is not a... more »

Routinely the DOJ and US Attorneys Office will subpoena Federal employees to testify in cases outside of the employee's geographical work area.

These cases can often be cross country in nature as currently my office on the West Coast is working to find funding to send an employee to the East Coast for under one hour of general background testimony.

A cross country flight and hotel for less than one hour of general testimony.... more »

SWAG

Stuff We All Get

You have seen it in your unit’s storage or at a recruiting event. We give it out to visitors at trade shows or at an unit open house event.

Coffee cups, calendars, key chains, pens, challenge coins, you name it and the only thing in common is the sticker on the bottom; Made in China.

It is time to impose immediate legislation that will prohibit the purchase of foreign made items for official... more »

By scanning and posting copies of reports on line (i.e., H: drive) for Resident Posts (RP's), rather than copying and mailing; it would save the cost of paper, postage, toner, and equipment wear-and-tear. In addition, scanning rather than mailing reports would save many man hours (labor costs), as well as preparation time for mailing. On the receiving end, it would save labor costs by eliminating the amount of filing,... more »

Currently; Border Patrol, CBP, FPS, ICE, TSA and the US Coast Guard have their own facilities, policy, processes, and specialist personnel to handle seized property and contraband.

By consolidating all of these facilities and processes into one DHS seized property system, cost savings and efficiency will occur.

Why does ICE need a seized property vault in the same geographical location as CBP?

Consolidate these facilities... more »

Currently IRS and the Federal Government are loosing as much $100 million or more a year from payment of fraudulently filed electronic returns. The problem seems to be that in an effort to quickly process the return, IRS pays any refund due before they compare it with any information they have available. Often paying someone who is not even the legitimate taxpayer. Recommend that IRS adjust their system so at the very... more »

Senators and Representatives currently receive reduced retirement benefits after just a few years in office. This should be changed so that they will only receive retirement benefits if they serve at least 20 years in the House or Senate or a combination of both and only after age 62. Additionally, any member convicted of a felony while in office, should immediately forfeit any retirement pay.

Members of the House of Representatives should have their pay set by their state and be paid by the state. Too many are coming to Washington and loosing touch with their state and its financial problems. Having their state set their pay would reduce Federal Government expenses and keep them in touch with the people of their state. If necessary the Federal Government could provide a percentage of the pay to the states.... more »

It is time to encourage employees to save on travel expenses by sharing a percentage of the savings they have on their travel. Use the average price of hotels, rental cars and air travel for TDY location and give the employee a percentage (say 10 or 20 percent) of the amount they save the government. By doing this, the Government could develop a culture of looking for the best price and most savings.

A majority of the energy cost in my home is due to heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. I would assume that a massive amount of federal money goes to heating and cooling office space.

Current dress codes and customs suggest that a person should dress exactly the same in both winter and summer. This requires more heating/cooling costs for buildings as they try to reach 70 degrees for every work day. Instead,... more »

Currently few if any TSA airport sites use working dogs. Instead of spending millions on technology that cannot find everything, start placing trained bomb sniffing dogs at all airports. At the same time train TSA personnel to watch for signs of people reacting nervously to the dogs. These individuals, and any the dogs alert on, could then be rapidly pulled aside for enhanced security inspections. Utilization of properly... more »

A need for a federal mandated teleworker policy is needed. The savings using tele-working has been substantiated across the board. With todays technology, working from home is a no brainier and the cost and employee moral savings alone is extensive. Consolidated federal work space should be the norm and workers should be encouraged to work from home on a normal schedule.

Our workdays are frequently interrupted by "blast" emails intended for broad audiences. These emails serve as random interruptions that break up the rhythm of our work-tasks, and reduce our attention span and productivity. There are many peer-reviewed scientific journal articles supporting the negative effects of random distractions on attention and productivity, including reductions of our energy and efficiency. This... more »

Its time that TSA begin profiling potential threats. It is taking too long and costing too much for TSA to treat everyone as a threat. Use of proper profiling techniques to focus on specific individuals will more efficiently and effectively use TSA resources, reduce delays for most travelers at security checkpoints, reduce overall operating costs, and most importantly - provide more security for air travel.

Eliminate End of year spending. Allow money to cross fiscal years. This would eliminate the need to do new Purchase orders every October 1 for contracts from the previous years. If money can flow across the FY then it has the ability to save the government time, money and energy. There should be an incentive to return any unused portion of an agencies budget to the treasury.