Time is Running out to SAVE

As many of you know, on July 8, President Obama launched the second annual SAVE Award contest, a chance for federal workers to submit their best ideas about how to cut waste and improve government performance. To date, the response has been impressive, with 11,000 ideas submitted in just over a week. A new feature of this year’s contest is that federal employees also have the opportunity to vote and comment upon their fellow workers’ ideas, and already more than 95,000 votes have been cast -- yet another sign of how federal workers are getting into the saving act.

There are now only 36 hours left to the contest, and I urge you to take a moment, think hard, and send in your best idea -- or just go to the site -- www.SAVEAward.gov -- and check out what your colleagues from around the country have submitted and vote. But do it fast!   The deadline is tomorrow, Thursday, July 22.

Just as with last year’s contest, the winner will get the chance to present the winning idea to President Obama in the Oval Office, and it will be included in the FY2012 federal budget.   (You can learn about last year’s winner, Nancy Fichtner, and her idea here.) And even the ideas that don’t ultimately win have the potential to be implemented. Two ideas that originated with the 2009 SAVE Award contest, to switch from paper to electronic paystubs at DHS and to choose cellphone plans for the Air Force that better reflect usage patterns, have become realities this year, saving millions.

So go to SAVEAward.gov to learn more about the contest, submit your ideas, and take a look at the ideas other federal employees have already recommended.  Thank you!