Bureau of Prisons employee wins cost-cutting contest
Federal workers will have to opt-in to receive the Federal Register in paper form.
Ending automatic delivery of Federal Register hard copies to government employees was the top cost-saving strategy in a contest to curb federal spending, Obama administration officials announced Monday.
Trudy Givens, a Bureau of Prisons employee from Wisconsin, submitted the suggestion to the Securing Americans Value and Efficiency Award contest, now in its second year. The award asks employees to share ideas to help federal agencies perform better and save taxpayers money. Givens will meet with President Obama to present her idea for inclusion in the fiscal 2012 budget.
Federal employees this year submitted more than 18,000 cost-cutting ideas. While in 2009 Office of Management and Budget staff reviewed the proposals, the 2010 contest rules allowed employees to rank the submissions, after which administration officials narrowed the list to four finalists. The public then voted on the winner.
In a blog post, OMB acting Director Jeffrey Zients wrote all SAVE Award submissions have been distributed to agencies for consideration.
"Each of us in the federal government has the ability and the responsibility to pitch in to make every tax dollar count, not just during the SAVE Award competition, but all year round," Zients wrote.