Cut waste with common sense and IT, feds suggest

Three of the four final proposals for the 2010 Save Award urge the government to save money by using more IT.

Jeffrey Zients, the government's chief performance officer, announced the finalists today on his blog. The suggestions are: 

-- Stop mailing thousands of Federal Registers to government employees and let them read the publication online instead. The book of public notices and regulatory proposals is currently mailed to nearly 10,000 federal employees every workday.

-- Post the public notice of seized property online, not in newspapers.

-- Require mine operators to submit reports online. Today, operators are mailed paper forms for reporting quarterly data. Online reporting would save money on production and postage, reduce input errors, and facilitate faster analysis of the data.

The other suggestion is for agencies to ship empty lab sample containers via regular ground service rather than next-day delivery.

The Save Award gives federal employees on the front lines and those outside Washington a chance to suggest ways agencies can save money. Federal employees submitted more than 18,000 ideas this year.

Now, members of the public can cast their votes for one of the four finalists. To vote, visit SaveAward.gov.

The winner will present his or her idea to President Barack Obama at the White House.

Politicians always want to reduce waste, fraud and abuse, Zients said in a new video about the Save Award. Too often, the efforts never get past the rhetoric stage, but the Obama administration is trying to change that, Zients added.