In July 2010, the Attorney General’s Advisory Council for Savings and Efficiencies (the SAVE Council) was established to direct and oversee an on-going Departmental effort to identify and implement best practices for saving taxpayer money, realizing efficiencies, and monitoring the department’s savings progress. The SAVE Council ensures accountability for performance improvements resulting in cost savings, cost avoidance, efficiencies and best practices. The SAVE Council institutionalizes the Department’s pilot savings and efficiency efforts begun in June 2009.
The SAVE Council evaluates potential savings and efficiency initiative recommendations. The recommendations can stem from but are not limited to: employee suggestions, President’s SAVE Award suggestions; and suggestions to support the Executive Order 13576: Campaign to Cut Waste and Promoting Efficient Spending. Potential initiatives are evaluated for feasibility of implementation and potential savings.
Through the third quarter in Fiscal Year 2012, the SAVE Council initiatives saved $95 million.
Some of the successes are:
Administrative Notices on Forfeiture.gov – An initiative is underway to publish administrative asset forfeiture notices on the Internet instead of in newspapers. This initiative simplifies the noticing process and increase the availability of information to the public --ensuring that more of the ill-gotten gains from criminal activities will be available to fight crime.
Permanent Change of Station Reform – The department has revised a longstanding policy that provides benefits to employees when they are reassigned from one duty station to another. The new policy limits the number of days an employee may be reimbursed for temporary quarters expenses.
Debt Collection – The department administers a Nationwide Central Intake Facility where federal agencies can refer delinquent debt in accordance with the Debt Collection Improvement Act, for judgment or enforced collection. The department is the collector of last resort, and most claims referred to the NCIF have undergone multiple collection attempts. The department has negotiated an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that will increase our efficiency in locating debtors and collecting the money that is owed to the Treasury and various federal agencies.
