Administration announces finalists in cost-cutting contest
Four proposals to boost efficiency make the last round; President Obama will include the winning idea in his fiscal 2011 budget.
President Obama on Monday announced the finalists in a contest for federal employees to help improve government efficiency.
The Securing Americans Value and Efficiency Award originated in April with Obama's call for an "all-hands-on-deck approach" to help federal agencies perform better and save taxpayers money. From Sept. 23, when the contest opened, until the Oct. 14 deadline, federal employees submitted 38,484 ideas. Office of Management and Budget staff reviewed each proposal and narrowed the list to a final four:
- Let veterans take home unused medications that would otherwise be thrown away upon discharge from Veterans Affairs Department hospitals, from Nancy Fichtner, Colorado;
- Allow Forest Service personnel to deposit revenue from park fees or campground passes locally rather than sending it through a unit collections officer, from Julie Fosbender, West Virginia;
- Schedule Social Security appointments online, from Christie Dickson, Alabama;
- Have a single inspection for subsidized housing units, even those with multiple funders, from Huston Prescott, Alaska.
"This administration is committed to providing better value for the American taxpayer," OMB Director Peter R. Orszag said. "The SAVE Award is about improving how government operates by drawing upon the wealth of knowledge of our front-line workers who are seeing day in and day out what's working and what's not."
The SAVE Award wasn't the only fall competition. The White House in October also launched the GreenGov Challenge, a call for federal employees and military members to submit their best clean energy ideas. The contest generated more than 5,300 responses, some of which were presented to the steering committee on federal sustainability in early November.