SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

The Federal Bureau of Prisons wastes most likey millions of dollars each year on floor wax, buffing machines, buffing and stripping pads, and floor wax stripper. The idea is to have beautiful shiny waxed floors. However, at the cost of millions of dollars a year this seems unnecessary and a waste of money. Administrators claim that it is a necessary component of a "clean and sanitary institution." The reality is that... more »

You can reduce the amount of printers that are used throughout the Federal Government. I see people complain because they have to walk 10ft to get a printed document. Some will use the excuse that nobody can see what I am printing. To resolve that would be to purchase larger copiers that require codes to be used for each employee to print. This will reduce the TCO and should see an immediate ROI. It will reduce paper... more »

One of the largest issues is the complexity in getting to purchase materials/office equipment etc. locally. We are essentially forced to order from the corporations such as Unicor and GSA that charge ridiculous prices for their items. While perusing the website in order to purchase a lamp, I came across a 1300.00 lamp! Now I ask, what lamp is worth 1300 when you could easily drive to a local store, purchase an effective,... more »

We provide inmate with pencils, soap, body wash, writing paper, envelopes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, shaving gel, and razors. We should only provide these things to inmates that are indigent. Most of the inmate wastes these items. I find all of this stuff in the trash can, un-used or wasted. Most of the inmate can afford to buy these things but don’t because they are free from us. Stop the handouts.

The case to halt minting the Presidential Dollar Coin is well documented in the media. http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137394348/-1-billion-that-nobody-wants

and

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/13/137795995/how-frequent-fliers-exploit-a-government-program-to-get-free-trips


First, the minting Presidential Series dollars has cost $300 million since it was mandated by Congress in 2005. Minting money like this is... more »

In order to be a Trusted Traveler according to the news reports you have to do several things.
1. Have a background check conducted.
2. Get fingerprinted.
3. Have a secure Identity card issued.

Hmmmmm Who has all that? We do. I was fingerprinted had a background check and I have a secure Id card issued by the federal government. So do most federal employees and contractors. This could save goverment workers time and... more »

We cannot afford to provide duplicate services that are not profitable. I suggest that we close and demolish all non-profitable (total revenues must be greater than total expenses including overhead such as utilities, building maintenance, and all soft costs no matter the color of money) service buildings on military installations within the United States where comparable services are offered within a nearby community... more »

The federal government is being a bad parent. It sets policies and then does nothing to enforce the opposite from happening. For example, we are told that we need to be more sustainable by demolishing facilities that are utility and maintenance wastes, so that we can control our long term costs. The policies match this thinking. The problem comes in when the decision to demolish the buildings is put off for another... more »

Each department of every governmental agency has an expenditure budget dedicated to office supplies/items/furniture. The EPA’s Region 9 spends around $50,000 per year on office items. That’s approximately $500,000 for just the EPA on office supplies. During our summer internship, we sighted one way that federal dollars could be used more efficiently, support American companies, and spur the green economy: by leveraging... more »

Many agencies, including ours at EPA’s Region 9, have moved to digitize documents, making it possible to retrieve reports and forms online. During our internship this summer, we recognized a way to improve government efficiency while reducing waste: making electronic tablets available for rent or checkout at the agency library/communications center.

We are cognizant that people will have different learning styles and... more »

It is very nice that Trudy Givens got to meet the President and now the Fed Gov is going paperless, but there are other good ideas being brought to your attention. More than one of these suggestions should be reviewed, studied and implemented. Waste, fraud and abuse are being identified and should be acted upon. The Federal Government is a massive burden that ‘we the people’ are having difficulty supporting and things... more »

Hire accountants to look at our government spending that are independent from the political parties to make suggestions to change the budget.

 

Basically, how would you run a business to break even? Or with a little surplus to take care if something happens?

I work in the Veterans Affairs as a staff nurse. Every day our printers use up 1-2 reams of paper, and that is only in our department. Much of the paper is wasted on normal lab values, orders that we already know about, or negative microbiology reports. All of this in a supposed paperless work environment. Each ream of paper is costing around $40. Not to mention the cost of replacing an ink-jet cartridge.

These... more »

Make Congress and the Senate stick to the issue when passing bills into law. This would save alot of money by cutting out the riders they tack on that have nothing to do with the bill being passed other than to reward campaign contributions or benefit their local constituents in an election year. For example: Teaching grade school students in Tunisia to speak English was a government grant I found when searching for... more »

I suggest Congress be required to read every one of the comments in this Congress tagline so they can get an idea of how they are currently doing in the eyes of their constituents.

 

The next required reading should be the entire SAVE list of ideas so they can be shown where the money really is.