Browse Ideas with tag 'gsa':

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  Wind Turbine and Solar Panels - Green Energy for Feds Buildings

  Wind turbine and solar power plant for Government offices owns by Government agencies and / or GSA and contracted out to Government agencies. This can also be applied to Military and other general buildings. The implementation of Solar Panels and or Wind Turbine could be of benefits to the organization, the installation would be an example of future enterprise or local business to the area, military, and other federal ...more »

  Wind turbine and solar power plant for Government offices owns by Government agencies and / or GSA and contracted out to Government agencies. This can also be applied to Military and other general buildings.

  The implementation of Solar Panels and or Wind Turbine could be of benefits to the organization, the installation would be an example of future enterprise or local business to the area, military, and other federal buildings.

  The Gov office could set the example by assign a pilot program especially to a NEW CONTRUCTION offices and or business. This pilot can be set and studies can be used to compare conventional usage of energy versus new Wind Turbine and / or Solar Panel.

  I have seemed the Corp of Engineer along with the local agency organization conducting and planning 2 or 3 years ago having the implementation of outdated R22 refrigerant (this Freon is being banded by the EPA effective 2008) versus Eco-Friendly R410a.

  Additionally:

  Military building can benefit from this in the long run instead of warhead expenses; by diverting some of the tomahawk and other missiles strategy cost to this Solar and Wind Turbine energy. It’ll pay back.

  See other ideas.

  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/Equipment-CONSOLIDATION-and-ReUTILIZATION/123337-13060

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  GET RID OF GSA AS A LEASING AGENT

  This old dinosaur of an agency has outlived its usefullness. It provides terrible customer service and they charge a large fee. Let them compete with the private sector. When we were allowed to get our own leases, we could do so quickly and usually cheaper than having GSA get in the way.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Utilize the Site

  Mandate that the top 100 ideas at a minimum are forwarded to the involved agency executive for review and comment. There are an extensive amount of valuable ideas here that may not score number one. It would be tremendous waste of effort if those below number one were not reviewed for consideration. We all have an idea or two here, we all put effort into this, what a waste if the ideas were simply deleted. Mandate ...more »

  Mandate that the top 100 ideas at a minimum are forwarded to the involved agency executive for review and comment.

  There are an extensive amount of valuable ideas here that may not score number one. It would be tremendous waste of effort if those below number one were not reviewed for consideration. We all have an idea or two here, we all put effort into this, what a waste if the ideas were simply deleted.

  Mandate that they are reviewed and not thrown out with the trash.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Eliminate Government Vehicle for permanent Domicile-to-Duty

  Eliminate Government Vehicle for permanent Domicile-to-Duty (D2D) to Supervisor or high top management (Directors, Deputies, Chiefs, Supervisory-in-charges, or other in position that can be justified via the ranking and privilege hierarchy) 6 or 8 years ago all GS13-GS15 and some Senior Level Management in the SES executive position used to ride its own POV back and forth to work. Now every Supervisor Agent, Director, ...more »

  Eliminate Government Vehicle for permanent Domicile-to-Duty (D2D) to Supervisor or high top management (Directors, Deputies, Chiefs, Supervisory-in-charges, or other in position that can be justified via the ranking and privilege hierarchy)

  6 or 8 years ago all GS13-GS15 and some Senior Level Management in the SES executive position used to ride its own POV back and forth to work. Now every Supervisor Agent, Director, or Deputy in Charge in all Customs and Patrol Offices use Unmark Government unit (or GOV Vehicle) to go home and work everyday.

  The cost per week is roughly (25 gallon tank x $3.00 = 75.00  assuming the gas would be or stay at 3 bucks, so this is a full tank of gas. Now, 75.00 x 52 weeks is = $3,900.00 for a year in GAS ONLY)

  This expense along with the service and maintenance can run or add to about $6,000.00 (just adding the maintenance cost of $2,100, which is an average per year)

  This would be an approximation expense of a single -user driving a Government vehicle to Domicile-to-Duty. THIS IS NOT taking in consideration the ACTUAL COST of the UNIT (how much a unit would cost $35,000 plain vanilla without any add-ons?), some of these units are 4-wheeled Trucks or suburban, typically a 15-20 miles per gallon vehicles, or new 4 doors V6 Sedans.

  Now if you add all of the Domicile-to-Duty USERS for each Area. Let said 100 (just to round it up on a comfort zone), I would recommend for the agency to do an assessment / survey and to determine how many D2D users are in the office). This is 100 x $6,000 = $600,000 and this is not taking in consideration the Actual Cost of the vehicle, WOULD the vehicle needed for the mission or for D2D?

  Now this figure could be as much as double if the personnel using the GOV Vehicles for longer trips or maybe an hour one way driving home back and forth (it could be as twice or as 3 time this cost.) The estimation would be a saving of 1.2 to 1.8 Million of dollar per year on ONLY 100 users driving Gov back and forth as domicile-to-duty.

  Remember all Top Management, Directors, Deputies and Station-in-Charges officers can delegate their duties, there is always someone, especially at the 24/7/365 sites that are working and can conduct business for the office and can use the duty vehicle at the time if needed for official business.

  Remember they all making the extra 25% increase payment and other incentive. We need to do a research or agency survey and find out who has a vehicle to take home, start cutting back and you’d see how much the Gov can save (At least a million per year)

  With all due respect this Top Management / Directors should set the example to other on energy saving and cost effective reduction to the organization outfit, the Department of Homeland Security and the US Government programs.

  See other ideas.

  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/Wind-turbine-and-Solar-Panels/122931-13060

  http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Equipment-CONSOLIDATION-and-ReUTILIZATION/123337-13060

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Model The Zip Car Program for GSA Vehicles

  In areas where there are concentrations of Federal employees consider implementing a program similar to the Zip Car program for the GSA vehicles. For example have a pool of cars which are available to be reserved online by multiple organizations instead of every organization having there own group of cars. This could significantly reduce the number of required vehicles, thus reducing the cost of providing GSA cars throughout ...more »

  In areas where there are concentrations of Federal employees consider implementing a program similar to the Zip Car program for the GSA vehicles. For example have a pool of cars which are available to be reserved online by multiple organizations instead of every organization having there own group of cars. This could significantly reduce the number of required vehicles, thus reducing the cost of providing GSA cars throughout the Federal Government. This reduction in the number of GSA vehicles would also reduce greenhouse emissions.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  A Trillion Dollar waste - WELFARE,section8 ,low income housing

  http://www.hud.gov/complaints/fraud_waste.cfm -section 8 and low income housing encourages dependency and complacent behavior. Why work when you can get a house for practically free and keep collecting entitlements. ILLLEGAL squatting and unauthrized people live with a legal tenet often and this is a criminal offense since changes in family size and income are required to be reported. the section 8 system and low income ...more »

  http://www.hud.gov/complaints/fraud_waste.cfm -section 8 and low income housing encourages dependency and complacent behavior. Why work when you can get a house for practically free and keep collecting entitlements. ILLLEGAL squatting and unauthrized people live with a legal tenet often and this is a criminal offense since changes in family size and income are required to be reported. the section 8 system and low income housing system is a complete failure which has drained the US economy of trillions of dollars and maintained tenets in social and financial bondage. there is no incentive to leave section 8 or low income housing. why work or attend college when you can get housing for free or low cost. This encouranges drug abuse and out of wedlock births and tenet abuse by housing squatters and unauthorized people living in the units. section 8 and low income housing also reduce local taxpayers home values and create blighted neighborhoods with loud music and cars with dark windows and dirty messy yards often with dirt as a yard.. SECTION 8 and LOW INCOME HOUSING TENETS NEED TIME LIMITS of 1 to 3 years then they must be evicted from the units since they are living on free enititlements and have no incentive to Raise themselves out of the free benefits. WAKE UP AMERICA! WE ARE TRILLIONS IN DEBT and giving away FREE BENEFITS . remember that all secion 8 and low income housing authoritys are TAX FREE and you pay the costs of educating the people and their rents are susidized and food and insurance are subsidized and paid for. its like the midlle and upper class is paying triple to live, we all have to pay for everyone else.. its not fair..http://www.hud.gov/complaints/fraud_waste.cfm

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Retain GSA Vehicles For Longer Terms

  Consider keeping the GSA vehicles for longer terms. It seems our office gets new vehicles approximately every three to four years or when the vehicles reach about 50,000 miles. This doesn't not seem to be a cost effective approach and a close review of this practice should conducted.

  1 comment for Idea: Retain GSA Vehicles For Longer Terms

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  KEEP YOUR CARS

  GSA standards must be based on 1970's data when it comes to turning leased vehicles back to GSA. I think it is around 50,000 or 60,000 miles. They claim their resell value is better.

  Vehicles these days last more than 100,000 miles and don't require as much maintenance other than oil, and tires.

  GSA needs to upgrade their requirements for turning back perfectly good vehicles.

  1 comment for Idea: KEEP YOUR CARS

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Stop printing T-n-A and other doc-file them online.

  Instead of printing any Time and Attendance (TnA) document, some time even 3 sheets time 3 or 4 times (for distribution), adding any SF71 to it.... Do them electronically, store them and process them online. Some organization has and can process them via the mainframe financial institution or online secure services. There is no need to print them out, they all can be processed, verified and certified ELECTRONICALLY; ...more »

  Instead of printing any Time and Attendance (TnA) document, some time even 3 sheets time 3 or 4 times (for distribution), adding any SF71 to it.... Do them electronically, store them and process them online.

  Some organization has and can process them via the mainframe financial institution or online secure services.

  There is no need to print them out, they all can be processed, verified and certified ELECTRONICALLY; here is the amount an employee can print every 2 weeks:

  1- One copy for the employee,

  2- Make another copy for the supervisor

  3- And then another for the Admin or budget person to verify the entries.

  4- If there is one error the cycle starts again, and you end up 2 or 3 time the initial amout printed originally.

  ONE PERSON could generate 12 sheets or more just for each pay period (this assuming there is no mistake and the forms need to be printed again).... you can do the numbers, if you have 1000's employees.

  Save more,,,,do less waste... Lets go paperless….

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  GSA Contracts that make sense or none at all

  A key board tray from office max's website costs 130$. Through GSA it costs over 200$. That makes no sense.

  5 comments for Idea: GSA Contracts that make sense or none at all

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Get Rid of GSA or take away the Mandatory 1st stop to shop rule

  This is an out dated method used to spend more money on items than we need. Not only are the prices nearly a third more than in the private sector (or more), but the waste of time it takes to go through the ordering system is ridiculous. Today you can find anything you want FAST and use competitive retailers. Allow us to go where we want to get what we want!

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Fuel Efficiency in Federal Auto Fleet

  Discourage the purchase of the ubiquitous government Suburbans in favor of smaller, more efficient vehicles.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Remove Dell, AdTrav & GSA As Mandatory Purchase Agents

  Significantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions. First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best ...more »

  Significantly reduce the role for the contract computer company (Dell), contract travel agency (AdTrav) and government purchasing agency (GSA) to restrict agencies purchasing decisions.

  First, these archaic purchasing schemes are obsolete in the internet era. While they may be useful for remote locations where UPS/FedEx do not deliver, they hinder many agencies purchasing ability to use the internet in finding the best deals for the government.

  Secondly, they produce inferior products.

  For example: GSA sells snow shovels that are so poorly designed ... our office staff would almost rather shovel snow with their bare hands than use the GSA supplied equipment.

  Another Example: Our agency ordered a flight through AdTrav. Weeks later there was no confirmation. The week of the flight our admin staff contacted AdTrav again for confirmation. Apparently a $400 round trip flight half way across the country suddenly became a $2,100 flight...probably because the contractor AdTrav failed to make the booking until the last minute. If you allowed each agency to use online sources such as Kayak.com the result would be a big government savings.

  Additionally: No one and I mean NO ONE should be Entitled to First Class Airfare (Generals,Admirals, SES positions). You think you deserve first class airfare... pay for it out of your own pocket !

  Finally, Dell is not the worst computer company to order from...but its on the bottom 5 of my list. Give agencies computer purchasing rules...do not hamstring them in finding the best online deals/sources for high quality computer needs. This solution would be agency dependent as not all federal employees are computer savey.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Take top 25 submissions and top 25 contributors for discussion

  I like most ideas on this website. I think that most ideas have come from somebody who is trying to do a great job at what they do. It has become so difficult to navigate through that, I have decided to take 15 minutes out of my day to dedicate to this at home on my own time. I believe that the top 25 contributors and top 25 idea submitters should be invited to bring their heads together and discuss what is really ...more »

  I like most ideas on this website. I think that most ideas have come from somebody who is trying to do a great job at what they do.

  It has become so difficult to navigate through that, I have decided to take 15 minutes out of my day to dedicate to this at home on my own time.

  I believe that the top 25 contributors and top 25 idea submitters should be invited to bring their heads together and discuss what is really important to their agency and to the federal government as a whole.

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  5 comments for Idea: Take top 25 submissions and top 25 contributors for discussion

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Set an Example

  Provide only electric or hybrid autos for all GSA needs

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Reduce airline travel costs

  The airfares that Government agencies are required to use for federal travel, from the General Services Administration website, are extremely high. For example, to fly round-trip approximately 500 miles from Washington, D.C. to Columbia, S.C. costs the Government $1,394 on the designated "contract carrier." For that price, a private traveler can fly to Europe. The GSA should adjust its formula for designating an airline ...more »

  The airfares that Government agencies are required to use for federal travel, from the General Services Administration website, are extremely high. For example, to fly round-trip approximately 500 miles from Washington, D.C. to Columbia, S.C. costs the Government $1,394 on the designated "contract carrier." For that price, a private traveler can fly to Europe. The GSA should adjust its formula for designating an airline as a "contract carrier" to reduce fares. For example, if a city has two airports and flights to one airport are much less than flights to the other, it may need to require that most travel be to the cheaper one. Or it may need to consider airlines with slightly less convenient connecting flights. The present airfares are often little more than a subsidy/gift to the airlines.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Audit GSA

  The processes in GSA are not cost-effective to the agencies with whom they work. GSA decides when our lease is up and decides how much we pay for rent. So, in our case, our lease is up and GSA has us spending time justifying and re-justifiying our additional space needs (we have grown out of our current space). The same is true for vehicles. They decide how much we pay and then when we cant have the vehicle anymore. IT ...more »

  The processes in GSA are not cost-effective to the agencies with whom they work. GSA decides when our lease is up and decides how much we pay for rent. So, in our case, our lease is up and GSA has us spending time justifying and re-justifiying our additional space needs (we have grown out of our current space). The same is true for vehicles. They decide how much we pay and then when we cant have the vehicle anymore. IT all just seems a little circular.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Controlling of AC /Heating-turn off AC and cut off 1 hour daily

  I am bringing this idea because I have seen government electric bills running too high- exceeding the $15,000 per month average for a 30,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. building. The current setting for government office air conditioning (AC) is set too low. Some offices have the AC too low in summer and too high in winter. Employees have to wear jackets in the summer at the offices and remove their sweater or dress coat in winter ...more »

  I am bringing this idea because I have seen government electric bills running too high- exceeding the $15,000 per month average for a 30,000 to 40,000 sq. ft. building.

  The current setting for government office air conditioning (AC) is set too low. Some offices have the AC too low in summer and too high in winter. Employees have to wear jackets in the summer at the offices and remove their sweater or dress coat in winter because the heat setting is too high.

  Even today, in these days, the civilian and local business offices have controlled their HVAC to appropriate temperature without affecting operation.

  Here is how to save energy and government funds by controlling the AC / Heating (HVAC) temperature and cutting off one hour of AC/Heating a day. When the operation of the office is not a 24/7 operation, the HVAC could even be turned off for 3 to 4 hours at night and /or Saturday, Sunday and holidays. The energy consumption would drop, thus savings in the energy bill would be reflected dramatically. This technique has been tested by some public energy services in different cities across the nation.

  My recommendation is to have this tested at different government offices at different zoning areas and analyze the trend and production when controlling the AC and heating to different moderate temperatures. Below is a check list with some but not limited key points:

  1—Set AC to 79 -81 degrees in summer or very warm temperatures.

  2 – Set heat to 69-70 degrees in winter or very cool temperatures.

  3 – Provide 1 hour per day to turn off the HVAC for major consumption areas. Some energy companies offer these services in exchange for a new remote control thermostat. Why not bring this to the government buildings?

  4 – Turn off HVAC system for 3 to 4 hours at night for offices that are not 24/7 and 16 hours for Saturday, Sunday and holidays on offices that are not 24/7/365.

  5 – Power buildings to high temperature cooling system and to low temperature heating system when building is not occupied.

  6 - Ensure computers and LAN rooms (requiring a colder environment) operate on a dedicated AC unit system. These areas may be excluded for the 1 hour power-off – energy saving program.

  See other ideas.

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

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

  http://governmentreform.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Equipment-CONSOLIDATION-and-ReUTILIZATION/123337-13060

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  4 comments for Idea: Controlling of AC /Heating-turn off AC and cut off 1 hour daily

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  One Day Off and rotation starting from the TOP DOWN.

  One Day Off or Furlough for one day starting from the top down to military and civilians. This idea would save the Government and the U.S.A. Nation funds on a yearly basis. The idea is spreading the furlough to all Government and Military but NOT at the SAME TIME. For God sake what is this government Idea on FURLOUGH EVERY ONE AT THE SAME TIME. I am putting this on bullets for simplicity, so the idea can be escalated ...more »

  One Day Off or Furlough for one day starting from the top down to military and civilians.

  This idea would save the Government and the U.S.A. Nation funds on a yearly basis. The idea is spreading the furlough to all Government and Military but NOT at the SAME TIME. For God sake what is this government Idea on FURLOUGH EVERY ONE AT THE SAME TIME. I am putting this on bullets for simplicity, so the idea can be escalated accordingly and steps can be added or removed.

  1- Spread the furlough to Government employees and military to only one DAY (a day off without pay) but distributing the load to different employees at different time frame (not all at the same time.)

  2- Starting from the President down to the Vice-President, Congressman, Senate everybody would received a day off without pay.

  3- On the other hand, the same for all Military branches, starting from the top down, one day off without pay for generals, commanders, officers, and enlisted. Everyone will take it but not at the same time.

  4- PAY Roll has to be set up to accommodate for this day off ensuring the day is not pay accordingly to the proposal. And not like few years ago when EVERYONE was off and EVERYONE still received payment for the days off. A nice free vacation with payment included.

  5- We all need to remember, even if the president does not receive pay for one day, he is still the president with decision to make on HIS DAY OFF. And same thing with every military commander, pretty much they all giving a day off without pay but their executive officer or next in the change of command will be incharged.

  6- There is always a backup plan when 25 or 50% of an outfit organization is off duty, the other 50% takes over and performs the function of the office. As the norm when a supervisor is off the next level supervisor takes charge until current supervisor comes back.

  7- Do this for one year, equally shared to all branches of the government and military. Analyze the cost saving and if it works and does not hurt anyone, make it a proposal and mandate to future years.

  8- This also can be implemented to States Government hierarchy.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  GOV FLEET DATABASE

  Before our agency buys a new vehicle, we check our database to see if there are any that can be moved internally. It's much cheaper to move a vehicle on a semi-truck than buying a new one.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Extend the life of the PRINTER – no refreshing in 3 years

  Extend the life of the PRINTER – no refreshing in 3 years is needed. The life spam on printers is actually measured by the amount of printouts the printer do in its life, and not because the printer is 3 years old and it needs to be replaced. YOU CAN ENVEN doubled this timeframe, and save cost for the office, the government and the tax payers. For example high-end and network printers has a life spam of 500,000 printouts, ...more »

  Extend the life of the PRINTER – no refreshing in 3 years is needed.

  The life spam on printers is actually measured by the amount of printouts the printer do in its life, and not because the printer is 3 years old and it needs to be replaced. YOU CAN ENVEN doubled this timeframe, and save cost for the office, the government and the tax payers.

  For example high-end and network printers has a life spam of 500,000 printouts, this is approximately 100,000 per year for a total of 5 years. This is assuming the offices print 8350 pages per months. The printer even could last longer that the specified life spam stated by the manufacture. Parts can be replaced, and if the cost of repair exceed 40% of the cost of the printer, then it would not be economical to repair.

  On another note, on today’s economy saving there is no need to print as mush as in the way we used to 5 or 10 years ago.

  Save energy, do less waste, go paperless and save tax payers money

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Model real estate practices with the rest of the industry

  Most people don't realize that when they see a Government Office the space is leased from the private sector the majority of the time. GSA has more leased space than it does Governemnt owned property. GSA is the Governments Landlord, yet they do numerous and multiple things that are conveluted, wastful, and just plain bad business. The GSA seems to want to reinvent the wheel on everything they do instead of using the ...more »

  Most people don't realize that when they see a Government Office the space is leased from the private sector the majority of the time. GSA has more leased space than it does Governemnt owned property. GSA is the Governments Landlord, yet they do numerous and multiple things that are conveluted, wastful, and just plain bad business. The GSA seems to want to reinvent the wheel on everything they do instead of using the common practices that are used industry wide. Millions of dollars in man hours spent and vast amounts of paperwork is produced when procuring these facilities. Policies, systems, and practices are adopted and approved by people that do not perform the process. The individual man hours used by GSA personnel and contractors are not given any consideration when developing policy. The concept of easier and more efficient is foriegn. The theory of time is money used in every business is not even considered. It takes GSA 18 to 24 months to award a lease that is awarded in 90 days or less in the civilian world. The GSA's idea of reengineering the process is to create new forms not get rid of redundancy or streamlining the process for efficiency. The GSA's accounting is a joke. Lessors have been overpaid for years before it is even discovered. How is it possible that there is any resemblance of a budget if a lessor can be over paid by $2 million dollars for two years if there is any accountability? There are so many problems a book could be written. A complete audit by an outside and independant entity is necessary.

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  2 comments for Idea: Model real estate practices with the rest of the industry

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »

  Purchasing- Comp Time Earned for finding best price

  One of the basic principles of Economics: People respond to incentives. Rather than buying everything through GSA vendors who inflate their prices to line their pockets with government gold, there should be an incentive program for employees to research and find a better price on the same product carried through the limited GSA vendors. Government vendors know that their prices don't necessarily need to be competitive, ...more »

  One of the basic principles of Economics: People respond to incentives.

  Rather than buying everything through GSA vendors who inflate their prices to line their pockets with government gold, there should be an incentive program for employees to research and find a better price on the same product carried through the limited GSA vendors.

  Government vendors know that their prices don't necessarily need to be competitive, which allows them to price gouge government credit card holders with no remorse.

  Solution:

  Reward employees for finding cheaper prices on government purchases while saving government money.

  Employees would earn Time off / "Comp TIme" in incremental hours , as this is a cost-effective method compared to rewarding employees with a monetary bonus.

  If applied, employees would be able to research better priced GSA-alternatives in their off-time, and not while on duty hours.

  Benefit: Government saves money on their purchases, Civilian employees are motivated to save government money by being rewarded with time off, and GSA vendors lower their prices in order to be competitive with other companies.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Increasing Trade, Exports, and Overall Competitiveness »

  St Elizabeth campus and DHS – reconsider long term feasibility a

  Please reconsider the long-term practicality of placing 14K employees in a facility and area that is designed from the outset for far fewer than 14K. Transit, local facilities, local roads and so many other factors are stacked against this plan even over the long term. Vast amounts of money can be saved by locating DHS-HQ or operational staff in some other location besides St Elizabeth’s. Just one example, support ...more »

  Please reconsider the long-term practicality of placing 14K employees in a facility and area that is designed from the outset for far fewer than 14K. Transit, local facilities, local roads and so many other factors are stacked against this plan even over the long term. Vast amounts of money can be saved by locating DHS-HQ or operational staff in some other location besides St Elizabeth’s. Just one example, support the Metro line to Dulles by placing DHS offices in already built or easily remodeled or affordably, newly built office space along that line.

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  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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  Ideas to Make Other Parts of Government More Efficient and Effective »

  Use All-Agency Check Before Travel Expenses

  The $5M wasteful spending for "training" in Atlanta was a black eye for government work. It wasn't the first time it happened for one thing and for another, that kind of "training" is totally ineffective. The cost was exposed by an ABC news story, but it SHOULD have gone reported by many others who, in one way or another, had a hand in the flagrant abuse of authority. There must be an all-agency checkpoint. Anything ...more »

  The $5M wasteful spending for "training" in Atlanta was a black eye for government work. It wasn't the first time it happened for one thing and for another, that kind of "training" is totally ineffective. The cost was exposed by an ABC news story, but it SHOULD have gone reported by many others who, in one way or another, had a hand in the flagrant abuse of authority. There must be an all-agency checkpoint.

  Anything over a certain dollar amount must be pre-approved by a board outside the agency. No one should limit actual peer training and collaboration, but spending this much money for powerpoint and a big party is flagrant abuse. If a proposed training event can be done better/faster/cheaper closer to home, or with use of webinars and teleconferencing, then those suggestions must be made. Simple design, let the proposal request go via an email form to GSA or OPM, and let it be approved at that level. The people who let this happen should have been disciplined and Travel for this agency should be severely curtailed. If you missed the story, use your home computer to view:

  http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/party-time-faa-critics-question-million-gathering/story?id=9390933

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  1 comment for Idea: Use All-Agency Check Before Travel Expenses

  Submitted by Community Member 2 years ago

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