Browse Ideas with tag 'consolidation':

• Recent Ideas (16)
• Popular Ideas (16)
• Hot Ideas (0)

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  3 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Consolidate Shared Info Simplify Structure/Delivery

  One source, easy retrieval and usage. Information shared agency-wide or even inter-agency can be shared and delivered to end users or applications in a standard structure agreed upon by a consortium. Instances of information can be stored or cached at multiple nodes and refreshed regularly. An example: NASA can host science publications and author information as searchable XML in a structure web developers agency-wide ...more »

  One source, easy retrieval and usage.

  Information shared agency-wide or even inter-agency can be shared and delivered to end users or applications in a standard structure agreed upon by a consortium. Instances of information can be stored or cached at multiple nodes and refreshed regularly.

  An example: NASA can host science publications and author information as searchable XML in a structure web developers agency-wide agree upon. This information can be displayed by any website or application with access to the XML feed.

  Currently, this kind of information is entered by any number of authors to any number of websites or applications. The result of this is a vast, disjointed collection and likely inconsistent information that takes much effort to normalize, alter or ingest into other systems.

  Centralizing and standardizing by consortium would allow the development community to spend more time on development, maintain control over delivery vehicle, and have easy to use consistent data at their disposal. Developers can focus on new personal innovations instead.

  Successful example of consortium-derived standards: RSS Feeds, HTML, CSS, Wordpress, et. al.

  Possible areas that could be improved: medical records, personnel listing / records, publications, research highlights, training materials, education / outreach resources, inventory, procurement, logistics, intelligence, etc.

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Consolidate Shared Info Simplify Structure/Delivery

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  9 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Incorporate National Weather Service and the FAA

  The FAA pays substantially for weather services, including a "contract" which has National Weather Service technicians maintaining FAA-owned weather observation equipment. Most NWS equipment and most of the field offices are at Airports. For good reason, that's where weather observation is most critical. Save the taxpayers millions by folding the NWS into the FAA so the FAA doesn't have to keep subsidizing the NWS "under ...more »

  The FAA pays substantially for weather services, including a "contract" which has National Weather Service technicians maintaining FAA-owned weather observation equipment. Most NWS equipment and most of the field offices are at Airports. For good reason, that's where weather observation is most critical. Save the taxpayers millions by folding the NWS into the FAA so the FAA doesn't have to keep subsidizing the NWS "under the table."

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Incorporate National Weather Service and the FAA

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  10 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Consolidate National Weather Service Engineering Services

  Some of the National Weather Service engineering, regarding weather radar in particular, is done at Norman, OKlahoma in coordination with the FAA and the US Air Force. Some engineering is accomplished at a main engineering facility in Silver Spring, MD.. Still other engineering is accomplished at the 6 regional headquarters offices and here and there and everywhere. The National Weather Service Logistics Center is located ...more »

  Some of the National Weather Service engineering, regarding weather radar in particular, is done at Norman, OKlahoma in coordination with the FAA and the US Air Force. Some engineering is accomplished at a main engineering facility in Silver Spring, MD.. Still other engineering is accomplished at the 6 regional headquarters offices and here and there and everywhere. The National Weather Service Logistics Center is located in Kansas City, MO. The National Weather Service, National Repair Center (NRC) is located in Kansas City, MO. The National Weather Service Training Center is located in Kansas City, MO. The Severe Storms Center is located in Kansas City, MO. The Central Region Headquarters is located in Kansas City, MO. When you think of where you could consolidate engineering services, Kansas City, MO comes to mind. It's not rocket science: if you have a highly-fractured engineering service, it's gonna probably be more ineffective and inefficient than it could be. I believe if NWS Engineering Services were to consolidate in KC, MO it would save millions and make our engineering services more, "productive".

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Consolidate National Weather Service Engineering Services

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  14 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Equipment CONSOLIDATION and ReUTILIZATION

  Equipment CONSOLIDATION and Re-UTILIZATION First come first served. Someone’s trash or excess is someone’s treasure (items needed for another office / or site.) We need to start sharing our knowledge of what we have in excess and what we can donate, exchange, or give away; this could be done within the organization we all resides / or working with…. 1- Each department can provide an equipment list of excess, unused ...more »

  Equipment CONSOLIDATION and Re-UTILIZATION First come first served.

  Someone’s trash or excess is someone’s treasure (items needed for another office / or site.)

  We need to start sharing our knowledge of what we have in excess and what we can donate, exchange, or give away; this could be done within the organization we all resides / or working with….

  1- Each department can provide an equipment list of excess, unused or not desire equipment.

  2- This list can be consolidated as a good faith estimate for property disposal - but not to be disposed of as scrap or as unserviceable items to your local supply or DRMO (Demilitarized Reutilization Marketing Office) or via disposition under form SF120, or disposal of to “Area 51.”

  3- Have 2 Goods-Assets Offices (a logistics office or a Central point of distribution):

  a- a Non-Information Technology (IT) or Office Furniture -- Have an office to store or coordinate the excess of furniture equipment - for utilization whiting the Agency; and after 6 or 12 moths the equipment can go on a SF120 for other agencies to take advantage.

  b- An Information Technology Equipment -- Have an Office in charge of reporting all of the excess Information Technology Equipment. There is so many unopened or boxed up electronic equipment, cables, parts, magnetic media, ect out there that it can be realigned.

  Example 1 --- Maybe someone has a piece of switch / router equipment, or let said a Printer or keyboard, for example it could be transferred to someone in needs of printers or networking communication equipment. And this could start within the office Organization. The cost related to this scenario; as stated before someone needs a $25,000 or $65,000 Cisco 4600 Switch with 192 Giga-Ethernet ports and fiber ports. The equipment could be transferred to the office needing the upgrade without the need of spending almost $80,000 on Switches and this kind of sort of equipment.

  Example 2 --- Someone is conducting a program and there is a project of changing cables on the switches and converting this old Cat5 to Cat6 cabling, because the new technology is booming and the office is going to have Voice-over-IP technology. There was an office down the street that has excess of Cat6 cables and connectors sitting in a corner for the last 2 years. The IT Office Reutilization tapped and has the knowledge of this equipment, and then the Cable could be transferred to the NEW Project office for optimizing the network with Voice-over-IP system. The cost scenario here, someone needs 300 patch cables at approximately $15.00 a piece. The total here is $4,500 in just cables (upgrading the infrastructure to CAT6 only.)

  Remember some of this part can last a long time; cables, parts, magnetic media (usually this magnetic storage media is good for 30 or 40 years.)

  The question is: How many of you have some of them, knowingly that someone could benefit from it.

  see other ideas here:

  http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Control-AC---Heating-and-1-hour-turn-off-for-SAVING-ENERGY-/123166-13060

  http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Eliminate-Government-Vehicle-for-permanent-Domicile-to-Duty/122824-13060

  http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Wind-turbine-and-Solar-Panels/122931-13060

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Equipment CONSOLIDATION and ReUTILIZATION

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  26 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Consolidate IT Services for Massive Savings $$

  There are people that collect data for whatever reason and there are people that store and analyze data. In between, there could be numerous "nodes" or "servers". Anywhere there is a "server", that "server" needs to be managed and it is very costly. Usually a GS-12 or 13 Information Technology (IT) Specialist is required. The problem is, most of these servers are truly unneccessary! With today's wideband communications ...more »

  There are people that collect data for whatever reason and there are people that store and analyze data. In between, there could be numerous "nodes" or "servers". Anywhere there is a "server", that "server" needs to be managed and it is very costly. Usually a GS-12 or 13 Information Technology (IT) Specialist is required. The problem is, most of these servers are truly unneccessary! With today's wideband communications and massive storage capabilities of main servers; all the little servers in between that may have at one time been legitimate "nodes" or "tokens" in Wide Area Networks (WANs) are probably all waste at this point. We need to gut the IT bureaucracy, the data empires, the "web farms" and consolidate Information Technology services.

  « less full details »

  2 comments for Idea: Consolidate IT Services for Massive Savings $$

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  12 votes

  This idea is active.
  Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »

  Consolidate National Weather Service; Move HQ to Kansas City, MO

  For much better effectivity and efficiency, we should consolidate the National Weather Service. Eliminate the 6 regional headquarters and move the national headquarters to Kansas City, where the NWS Logistics Center; Repair Center; Training Center; and Severe Storms Center already exist. For an agency as geographically dispersed as the NWS a geographically central HQ makes sense.

  3 comments for Idea: Consolidate National Weather Service; Move HQ to Kansas City, MO

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  7 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  SBIR Consolidation

  Consolidate the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program so that it is run from a single office, perhaps in the Commerce Department, instead of having separate SBIR programs spread across nearly every agency. The current process makes it almost impossible for agencies to verify whether proposals and awards are duplicative and small businesses cannot easily see the full range of topics of interest to the government. ...more »

  Consolidate the SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) program so that it is run from a single office, perhaps in the Commerce Department, instead of having separate SBIR programs spread across nearly every agency. The current process makes it almost impossible for agencies to verify whether proposals and awards are duplicative and small businesses cannot easily see the full range of topics of interest to the government. Making a single organization responsible for this effort would give it more visibility and also reduce duplication of personnel and resources across agencies.

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: SBIR Consolidation

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  39 votes

  This idea is active.
  Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »

  Get all of the government on the same computer platform!

  There is too much diversity of computers among all the departments and agencies. It is an embarassment that the FBI is just now upgrading to Windows XP in 2011 whereas the Treasury is on Windows 7. The amount of savings for a uniform computer platform across the government is immense. Maintenance would be cheaper, security would be easier, people would be up to date across all agencies, and training would be easier. ...more »

  There is too much diversity of computers among all the departments and agencies. It is an embarassment that the FBI is just now upgrading to Windows XP in 2011 whereas the Treasury is on Windows 7. The amount of savings for a uniform computer platform across the government is immense. Maintenance would be cheaper, security would be easier, people would be up to date across all agencies, and training would be easier. To give an example, take Southwest Airlines who has one model of plane. Their reduction in maintenance costs alone gave them a competitive edge.

  I would suggest using laptops with docking stations as this would be the most flexible for all concerned. You would need to make them powerful enough for the graphics designers and videographers, the most intensive users.

  Standardized the basic software: WIndows 7 operating system, Microsoft Office 2010 Ultimate, Microsoft Project 2007, Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional, Current Anti-Virus software, Internet Explorer 8 or 9 (if released), and Winzip current version.

  Users may need additional software such as the Visual Information Specialists, intelligence community, etc. The specialized software would be put on as a per user basis. SES, GS15 & 14's, AND MANAGERS DO NOT NEED A SPECIAL WORKSTATION!

  Using the available biometrics, PIV/CAC cards, and encryption technology, the systems can be made very safe for any agency. Use the fingerprint scanners along with a PIV/CAC card for logging into a system would ensure that non-authorized personnel would have a very difficult time breaching the security.

  One Computer for everyone! Specialized software for some! Security for all! IMMENSE SAVINGS FOR TAX PAYERS!!!!!

  « less full details »

  5 comments for Idea: Get all of the government on the same computer platform!

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  14 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Consolidate Computer Training Government Wide

  Computer training for things like Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Windows operating systems should be consolidated across the government. Too many agencies have different training sources. DOD, DHS, and Treasury are all examples of different agencies having different training sources for the same subjects. If you consolidated the training and printing of materials for the entire government, the government would save ...more »

  Computer training for things like Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, Windows operating systems should be consolidated across the government. Too many agencies have different training sources. DOD, DHS, and Treasury are all examples of different agencies having different training sources for the same subjects. If you consolidated the training and printing of materials for the entire government, the government would save hundred of millions of dollars per year.

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Consolidate Computer Training Government Wide

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  10 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Property Management Consolidation

  Consolidate and Integrate property management systems accross all agencies and within agencies. Currently NASA KSC has numerous independent databases and property management systems that were developed due to independent funding sources creating an isolating system. This independent arrangement has created significant duplicate purchases for similar uses such as: generators, meters, test equipment, etc... Millions ...more »

  Consolidate and Integrate property management systems accross all agencies and within agencies. Currently NASA KSC has numerous independent databases and property management systems that were developed due to independent funding sources creating an isolating system. This independent arrangement has created significant duplicate purchases for similar uses such as: generators, meters, test equipment, etc... Millions can be saved by a "shared use" approach allowing for multiple users using these resources from a common depot at each of the NASA centers and I am sure within other goverment agencies as well.

  « less full details »

  1 comment for Idea: Property Management Consolidation

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  16 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Reward Agencies that Reduce their Leased building footprint

  Allow agencies that can reduce their Leased building footprint through telework, restacking to make use of reduces workstation sizes, implementing space standards in new space leases, and return of vacant or underutilized space by supporting their effors with the ability to use savings to fund move and replication cost funding for consolidating of many small leases in a city into a larger lease that meets sustainability ...more »

  Allow agencies that can reduce their Leased building footprint through telework, restacking to make use of reduces workstation sizes, implementing space standards in new space leases, and return of vacant or underutilized space by supporting their effors with the ability to use savings to fund move and replication cost funding for consolidating of many small leases in a city into a larger lease that meets sustainability requirements,

  « less full details »

  1 comment for Idea: Reward Agencies that Reduce their Leased building footprint

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  5 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  OMB and GSA need to enforce a space allocation standard

  All agencies have more leased and GSA assigned office space than people to go in them. Some locations average nearly 400 rentable square feet per person others have 800. Make getting to a reasonable 200 rentable square feet per person a budget performance measure. Consolidation may be costly initially but will pay off.

  Add your comment for Idea: OMB and GSA need to enforce a space allocation standard

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  13 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Consolidation of Statistical Services

  A number of federal agencies conduct research and surveys for their various purposes. in many cases similar information is being collected by different agencies which places additional burden on the citizens and businesses of our nation. Agencies use different procedures and policies to collect the data which makes it somewhat incompatible from each other. A consolidation of statistical services would consolidate the ...more »

  A number of federal agencies conduct research and surveys for their various purposes. in many cases similar information is being collected by different agencies which places additional burden on the citizens and businesses of our nation. Agencies use different procedures and policies to collect the data which makes it somewhat incompatible from each other. A consolidation of statistical services would consolidate the best survey/research folks in the same location and allow us to be more efficient and consistent in our statistical activities. it would also eliminate duplication of efforts.

  « less full details »

  1 comment for Idea: Consolidation of Statistical Services

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  10 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Eliminate 'Manager of The Few' Supervisory Positions

  With the mortgage and economic crisis in play, HUD finds itself at the forefront of increased work and dwindling staff (i.e., increased retirements of "worker bees".... and many more coming soon). This is particularly true in Region IX as it concerns increase in homelessness, record number of homes in foreclosures and many defections of staff due to retirements/poor management practices. It doesn't help that we are at ...more »

  With the mortgage and economic crisis in play, HUD finds itself at the forefront of increased work and dwindling staff (i.e., increased retirements of "worker bees".... and many more coming soon). This is particularly true in Region IX as it concerns increase in homelessness, record number of homes in foreclosures and many defections of staff due to retirements/poor management practices. It doesn't help that we are at the bottom of federal "best places to work' either. Having HUD on our resume needs to become a badge of honor if we want to retain and attract talent. Given these realities, we need to focus on getting more "worker bees" in the field and not just more "queen bees" in Regional offices or HQ. One potential solution lies in the consolidation of the multi-layer org chart & management chain. At HUD there are many supervisory positions where managers have a team of 1, 2 or 3 employees. Most of these teams include teleworkers or off-site employees (thus, on-site supervision not required for either). These management positions should be reviewed for true effectiveness & need and management oversight should be streamlined (including consolidation or elimination of redundant management levels). Team management component should be consolidated so that managers are managing true teams and not "solo" practitioners. Eliminated management positions should be returned to the bargaining unit. We need all hands on deck doing work, not just shuffling papers and approving time and attendance.

  « less full details »

  1 comment for Idea: Eliminate 'Manager of The Few' Supervisory Positions

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  12 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Combining/Streamlining Idea #100,000,001

  I think on whole we break down the branches farther than we need to. I work for the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service, Livestock and Seed Market News. There are also a Poultry Market New, Cotton and Tobacco, Fruits and Vegitables Market News, and Dairy Market News branches. As these various branches are shrinking and consolidating more and more over the years ANYWAY, why not combine into one or two? Who are just ...more »

  I think on whole we break down the branches farther than we need to. I work for the USDA Agriculture Marketing Service, Livestock and Seed Market News. There are also a Poultry Market New, Cotton and Tobacco, Fruits and Vegitables Market News, and Dairy Market News branches. As these various branches are shrinking and consolidating more and more over the years ANYWAY, why not combine into one or two? Who are just creating administrative waste by OVER diversifying. Cotton, Tobacco, Seed/Grain, Fruits and Veggies can all be in one branch while Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry can all be in one branch. I hate to eliminate jobs, but this is very wasteful. Maybe have one branch chief and two or three assistant branch chiefs since they will have more employees to oversee. Also, someone should evaluate the difference in Market News vs. NASS. In my opinion these two branches are very similar. In fact, as a market reporter, I often get questions from the industry asking what the difference in our numbers vs NASS numbers. Other times we use the data NASS collects to create or enhance our reports. Again, this duplication only creates more overhead that aggravates taxpayers. Happy budget trimming.

  « less full details »

  Add your comment for Idea: Combining/Streamlining Idea #100,000,001

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

• I agree

  Voting is Disabled

  8 votes

  This idea is active.
  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Elimate wasteful diversification of training within CBP

  Combine the shared elements of the Border Patrol Academy, Field Operations Academy and Air Marine Basic Academy (PT, Firearms, tactics, etc...) into a unified "basic training" similar to the model used by all branches of the military. Then have them move on to their specialty training. This would streamline the process and save CBP and DHS millions.

  5 comments for Idea: Elimate wasteful diversification of training within CBP

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

Displaying all 16 Ideas