Save Award 2010 Department of Education

Eliminate the $5 fee provided to car rental agencies every time a car is rented by a government employee. This is a waste of taxpayer money, since it's paying the car rental agency more than it charges the average consumer, without any added services being provided.

Bureaucracy does not run efficiently when big bosses constantly come and go. They don't know how their dept/agencies run and and should leave purely managerial/bureaucratic decisions to career workers. Less politicals means more managerial authority is vested in bureaucrats who know the system inside and out. How many times has a career worker had a good suggestion shot down by the chain of command invariably linked to... more »

Implement single USER ID and Password for all internal systems logons.

I suggest you...implement a 2 day a week telecommuting policy. A telecommuting policy would save energy costs (e.g., fewer computers running in offices), reduce transportation expenses (including by lowering subsidies for employees), and increase employee productivity.

I suggest you implement a 2 day a week telecommuting policy. A telecommuting policy would save energy costs (e.g., fewer computers running in offices), reduce transportation expenses (including by lowering subsidies for employees), and increase employee productivity.

Institute a feedback loop (beyond the anonymous agency-wide surveys) by which employees evaluate peers and supervisors. Regular, structured feedback (both for reinforcement and improvement) helps people do their jobs better. Doing this formally and as a regular part of business minimizes awkwardness. Such a feedback loop could be written and could be anonymous; however, results should be available at the individual... more »

Government Agencies when purchasing supplies should use vendors who can quote the lowest prices instead of vendors on the GSA schedule or those that have built a "rapport" with the buyers. The agencies could save lots of money if they shopped around for the lowest prices for items, particularly big purchases such as paper and IT equipment. Those on GSA schedule do not necessarily provide the lowest costs.

I think that the Department of Education should establish an amnesty period for holders of federal student loans so that they can:
1) pay their loans in full without interest and collection fees
2) consolidate their loans at the lowest (housing) interest rate possible.
There are so many student loans defaulted every year costing the Department as well as taxpayers billions of dollars each year. The only people that benefit... more »

I suggest that federal agencies reevaluate the need for sending letters via overnight mail. With the advanced technology of email, scanning, etc., there is no need to send letters via overnight mail incurring additional mailing costs. If a letter must be sent right away, it can be scanned and sent via email to the recipient. The original letter can then be sent via certified mail. This would reduce the mailing cost... more »

When a Federal Employee reaches the maximum retirement category and working longer does not impact their retirement pay, they should be forced to retire and make room for lesser paid new employees. They might even be offered a small incentive to do this. Government would save $$ and get the same work done with fresh, creative idea-bearing employees.

Government-wide programs that are implemented in each civilian agency require immense duplication of effort, resulting in fragmented and non-standardized interpretations and processes. For example, OMB has mandated three Federal Acquisition Certification programs. Every civilian agency must implement these three programs - designing their own policy, procedures, applications, workflows, and tracking systems. Consolidating... more »

Agencies throw away, recycle, and otherwise surplus supplies that schools would be happy to receive. One example is the hundreds or thousands of three-ring binders that many contracting offices receive each year from contractors competing for contracts. These binders could be donated to schools, reducing the schools' costs for this supply. Another example is contractor-acquired property that must be disposed of at... more »

Eliminate the Department of Education and its entire budget. Leave this as a State requirement as the10th amendment to the constitution mandates.

 

Education does not appear once in the Constitution of the United States.

In an effort to support the Presidential initiative of building a high performing government, and improving inter-agency data collection and management between agencies, as a Budget Policy and Coordination Staff (BPCS) member, I propose the acquisition and implementation of a business process management (BPM) software system. The BPCS’s utilization of a BPM software system will incorporate technological innovation that... more »

Find a way to have employees take pride and ownership in their federal building, landscape, etc. Somehow see which (if any) employees are interested in using their personal interior decorating and/or landscaping skills for ideas and to do the work. This would increase morale as well as give personal satisfaction. You could also incorporate this into the new "green" recycling age and/or incorporate with Earth Day and/or... more »