Tech's Role in SAVE Awards

The Obama administration on Monday announced the finalists for the second year of its SAVE Award program, which solicits ideas from federal employees on the front lines to make government work smarter and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.

More than 18,000 ideas were submitted this year, and federal employees weighed in with 164,000 votes to help pick the four finalists, the White House noted in a blog post. It's no surprise that three of the four winning ideas rely on technology to improve service and boost savings.

Thomas Koenning of Littleton, Colo., who works in the Mine Safety and Health Administration's information technology center, suggested requiring mine operators to file their quarterly reports online to help reduce the cost of form production and postage, reduce input errors and decrease the time it takes to analyze the data.

Paul Behe, a paralegal specialist for the Homeland Security Department in Cleveland, Ohio, suggested advertising property seized by Customs and Border Protection online instead of in newspapers.

Trudy Givens, who works at the Bureau of Prisons in Portage, Wis., noted that the Federal Register is currently mailed to her workplace and nearly 10,000 federal employees every workday, even though most of the employees who are interested can access it online. She suggested that the Register allow recipients to opt-in for hard copy delivery, which could yield savings associated with printing and postage.

While it appears that this year's cost-cutting ideas would result in modest savings for the government, they're still a positive first step. And it's interesting to see how technology is increasingly playing a role in soliciting employee ideas and cutting costs. What is your favorite idea? Click here to vote.