Save Award 2010 Ideas

Implement more cost-effective training requirements that are to met by each agency. For example, require agencies to utilize web-based training programs in lieu of in-person training seminars. The costs for in-person training are exponentially larger compared to the costs of conducting trainng over CENTRA or an equivalent, web-based program.

Not only are the costs of travel quite large (to include airfare, hotel,... more »

Each federal agency should consolidate its training offices and institutes to reduce travel and staffing costs, and take advantage of synergies. The Dept. of Labor, for example, has separate training institutes for OSHA, MSHA, VETS, EBSA, etc. Yet many courses teach the same thing: how to investigate a claim, document a case file, establish that discrimination or retaliation has occurred, etc. The OSHA training institute... more »

Cross-training and seeing a job from a new perspective makes people more effective and efficient.

Establish guidelines to cross-train people. There should be a method where a person hired to do 1 job must complete a mandatory "rotational" assignment, doing a similar or related job - or 2 jobs. For example, somebody hired to develop software can do a rotation as a software tester, and a 2nd rotation as a configuration... more »

Implement more frequent, smaller scale, cheaper, local training like the lunch-and-learn programs used in the corporate sector.

 

Provide a sack lunch (from a local vendor) and spend one hour on bite-sized trainings. It keeps informaiton fresh in your employees' minds, doesn't require travel, is much cheaper, and allows trainers to respond quickly to current needs.

Reduce employee mandated training costs by a) establishing standard guidance that limits excessive mandated training, b) requiring e-learning courses, c) allowing students to get credit for prior knowledge with a test-out option, and d) centralizing course development, implementation, and tracking. With over 1.9 million federal employees, 1.4 million active-duty, and 1.2 million reservists, we train far too inefficiently... more »

the gov't needs to issue cross-agency sharing of training resources.

many people work in offices and use information systems that are not native to their agency (i.e. an FAA employee temporarily working at a DOD installation). in such cases, all involved agencies require their own branded training to be completed by the employee (ethics training, IS training, PII training...), meaning he/she will have to complete... more »

After a recent stint at one of the FLETC, it became blatantly obvious exactly how much in government funds is wasted via the government's contracts with travel agencies such as Sato/GetThere. An attempt to book a flight from New York to Charleston, which included a layover in Georgia, netted the contracted travel agency $1299+ taxes/fees, while a direct flight could have been booked through the airline's website at $180+... more »

Eliminate duplicitous training. Rather than requiring officers do SOS via correspondence and then in residence, require one or the other. Rather than requiring ACSC correspondence then in residence, do one or the other.. Same with AWC. Why do they need to do the program twice? This doubles the cost for the Government and provides little benefit to the person - only do them once. It is nice to network with your peers in... more »

Annual military weapons training at every training installation worldwide produces thousands of tons of expended brass cartridge cases, which are generally sold through DRMO on the open market - a process that is currently hemorrhaging money (estimated at over $20M per year in real dollars for Army alone). Over the past four years China has been one of the largest buyers of this material. Because of its alloy, this... more »

Training has always been an issue throughout our organization. So many people want to attend and gain knowledge, and budget just doesn't allow for it. However, at NASA there is a vast amount of knowledge and expertise that needs to be shared across team members. My proposal is to have in house training sessions and allow our experts to share their knowledge to others. When expertise doesn't exist in a field needed,... more »

Send employees to the private sector to learn best practices and then bring them back to the federal government.

Centralize and mandate use of federal career management and training under one organization that provides government-wide workforce management; providing federal career ladders, succession planning, and internships to ensure that appropriate skill sets are available and agency managers are fully qualified and capable of managing large government programs. Mandated selection of these individuals would ensure candidates... more »

This is in regard to civil servants in most of the countries with a strong autocratic power.

Enormous number of trainings in the United States for those people provided by Department of State and other USG agencies by the 99% turn into a waste of money.

We should take into account that these public servants in any case will not change their work style and behavior in society - their work style is to be controlled... more »

Go electronic! Save money from travel have webinars instead if possible. Cut down on paper, e-file documents. If you need to print, do not use color and print two sided. Train and educate, to keep up with all the latest technology and new software have training in every government building on all and any work related topics. The more federal employees know the more we can help the public. Get more updated technology and... more »

NASA currently spends millions of dollars on both internal and external training for its employees. When an employee attends external training, NASA pays not only for the training costs, but travel and per diem as well. Often times the travel and per diem costs are triple the cost of the actual training. There are times when an employee is not able to attend training that they have registered and paid for, resulting... more »