The 2012 SAVE Award Winner

The results of this year’s SAVE Award voting are in!  This year’s winner is Department of Education program officer Frederick Winter of Arlington, Virginia.  Frederick’s idea received more than 19,000 votes, out of more than 46,000 ballots cast. 

Frederick proposes that all Federal employees who receive public transit benefits shift from regular transit fare to the reduced senior fare as soon as they are eligible.  In the D.C. area, this change would lower the cost of the employee’s travel by 50 percent, with no loss in the effective benefits for the employee.

Frederick will have the opportunity to meet with President Obama in person in the Oval Office to discuss his winning idea.  And as in past years, each of the finalists’ ideas will be incorporated in the President’s Budget, and all other Save Award submissions will be reviewed for potential inclusion. 

These SAVE Award ideas, along with others submitted over the last four years, won’t solve our Nation’s long-term fiscal challenges, but they represent common-sense steps to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our government, and they are saving the government hundreds of millions of dollars.

We thank everyone who submitted ideas for this year’s SAVE Award and congratulate Frederick Winter, our 2012 SAVE Award winner.  All those who submitted ideas embody the commitment Federal employees have to improving government performance, providing better value to the American people, and ensuring taxpayer’s dollars are spent wisely.

Jeff Zients is the Deputy Director for Management.