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Old Jul 28, 2011, 8:14 pm
  #1  
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Attn Reporters: TSA Employee Suggestions on "The President's SAVE Award" Website

The "The President's SAVE Award" 2011 Website is currently open and accepting submissions until tomorrow, Friday, July 29, 2011. Federal employees and contractors who have suggestions on how to save money and work more effectively are supposed to submit their ideas and ratings via this website.

The bad news is that the website appears to only accept submissions and ratings from federal agency email addresses. Unfortunately, this means that FTers will not be able to rate TSA-related suggestions.... unless you are a FTer that happens to have a federal email address (hint! hint!)

The good news is that the suggestions and ratings are publicly visible... so FTers can get a good idea of what TSA employees are themselves suggesting. I haven't figured out a way to search for "TSA", but I was able to click on a tag that said TSA... this should be the link to those suggestions that have been tagged TSA: Save Award 2011 - suggestions tagged "TSA"

There appears to be a lot of fodder for funny news reports in these employee suggestions. For example, one employee suggested that the government "eliminate TSA TV". While I can't find the link to it right now, that particular suggestion said that TSA employees did not actually have time to watch TSA produced television programming. (I hadn't heard of "TSA Television" before, so it would be a great if someone else could find that particular suggestion and link to it.)

Remember, whoever submitted these ideas had to use their government email address to do so, so these suggestions are coming from actual federal employees and actual federal contractors!

Here are some examples; one suggestion is about the gloves: Save Award 2011: Color coated officer pat down gloves by size
The description of the problem:
I noticed that when we TSO's change our Blue gloves, sometimes when we pull them out of the box and they all pop out all over the drawer. Then when we try to organize them, we can't tell what size goes in what box, so a lot of the gloves are thrown away. I think if we had colored gloves for the different sizes, that would be more efficient. Or maybe a colored band around the top of them to identify what size is what.

We could do small in light Red, medium in light blue, large in white, extra large in navy and so on.... depending the preferences. When I swab another colleagues gloves after a pat-down, I like to bring them a new pair of gloves to change into and take the dirty gloves with me and throw them away as I'm testing the swab at the ETD. If I see the color that my fellow officer is wearing, I won't have any question as to what size to bring to them. I also believe that if they get mixed up in the drawers, they can easily be sorted in their prospective boxes because the colors will match.


Another telling suggestion: TSA Management is Top Heavy w/no idea how to manage
I know this for a fact as I was a Manager, but I was so desperate to get out from under that organization, I busted down from a GS-12 to a GS-5. I worked at two locations and the Management was the same way. There are absolutely too many of these managers who have no clue on how to do the job. There is too much favoritism from the top up. There were managers I worked with that didn't understand the concept of how to manage people. This organization was started too fast and didn't want to learn from agencies that were established. Too many high officials that came from different entities, military, enforcement, private sectors, etc and each knew the best way to proceed, but didn't want to work together. That is the way it started and this is the way it continues.
And another: TSA - excessive traveling instead of hiring what they need
The TSA inspectors are traveling probably 30 to 40% of the year. The costs for flights, per diem and time away from where they were hired to work is very costly. The money spent must be extremely high.
And another: Eliminate FSDs
TSA has to be streamlined. When they originally formed, there were many issues which needed to be addressed locally. Today most issues are on a larger scale. The government does not need such oversight today.You have Regional Federal Security Directors in place. This practice mirrors those of other agencies which have been around and operate efficiently and effectively. The local Federal Security Directors (FSD) are only points of contact for local agencies. Their Assistant Federal Security Directors perform most of the work product and could be assigned to attend various meetings if necessary. I believe there are at least 125 Federal Security Directors working for TSA. Take that number and multiply it by $200,000.00 (minimum) and the government can save 25 MILLION dollars with no loss in productivity. The Coast Guard, Customs Border Protection, and many others operate in this manner. We are approaching the ten year anniversary of 9/11 and most of the FSDs can take their ten year retirement from TSA along with their other pensions which they carried over from their prior Federal Service. It is time to take a hard look at standard practices. Agency operations that have been effecient for a long time (Coast Guard) are proof that streamlining works. This is just one example of how past practices are not neccessarily valid after ten years.


Next is a "you gotta be kidding" suggestion: Telework for TSA Inspectors
Allowing for Inspectors to Telework will reduce or free up the need for additional office space (and the associated costs). A majority of time spent in the office is for data-entry of inspection reports which can be done from anywhere. Inspectors are equipped with laptops capable of tethering for intra-net access. Allowances for Inspectors to bring home assigned vehicles would have to be made. I have worked on assignments where an Inspector commutes an hour and a half from his residence to his assigned office to pick up his GOV ride and than travel back past his home for another 15 minutes (1.75 hr travel) to conduct an inspection, and than spend another 1.75 hr plus traffic to return the vehicle back to the assigned office. Teleworking would allow for the Inspector to spend more of his/her time in the field conducting security inspections and also eliminate the waste of fuel to travel 3.5 hrs total over .50 if Teleworking..


I wonder how much "SSI" is included in this suggestion: TSA Airport Category Reevaluation
I currently work at the CVG (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International) Airport with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration); TSA is under the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). Some of our high-ranking management officials admit that our airport is no longer deserving of its Category X classification status. However, they purposely won't report this information to TSA HQ nor DHS HQ (for fear that, with a reduction in category status, some, if not many, management officials will either lose their jobs or be forced to relocate). This, in my opinion, is a gross waste of taxpayer dollars and I believe that CVG's, along with every airport in the nation's, airport category status needs to be reevaluated to see where management officials are needed and where they're not. I assume that if an airport, like Detroit, had relatively recently ago received a higher passenger and bag count throughput, then they would be requesting that their airport category status be increased; decreasing an airport's category status seems to be another story--but it shouldn't be; an airport's management should have the courage to report that their location doesn't deserve such a high airport category status--even in light of some people potentially losing their jobs; management officials owe it to taxpaying individuals to report such information. I believe that TSA and/or DHS HQ should reevaluate every airport's category status to save taxpayer money where it needs to be saved.


And a suggestion that is hard to argue with, despite its relative lack of specifics: Stop the Waste in TSA
Have an efficiency expert look at the waste in TSA and bring the abusive wasteful practices out into the light of day. Just one small example is the TSA practice of using government vehicles that are far bigger than needed and far bigger than other government agencies.
There are several other interesting TSA-related suggestions on the website, both bad and good: for example, one person suggested more TSA dogs on trains, while someone else suggested that TSA install gravity-powered tray returns at its checkpoints.

I hope follow-up posters will spend a few moments looking at that website sand posting any other telling suggestions they find -- the more eyes we have looking at that website, the better!
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 8:22 pm
  #2  
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TSA Television

I found it: The President's Save Award, Entry #10390 - "TSA TV". Here is what it says:

Eliminate TSA-TV. Most officers do not have the time to watch this. If it is must have information, it will be briefed at the shift brief. Put the information in text and post it to the news link.


Here's another interesting one, while I'm at it: The President's Save Award, Entry #292: Use of Profiling Techniques by TSA
It says:
Its time that TSA begin profiling potential threats. It is taking too long and costing too much for TSA to treat everyone as a threat. Use of proper profiling techniques to focus on specific individuals will more efficiently and effectively use TSA resources, reduce delays for most travelers at security checkpoints, reduce overall operating costs, and most importantly - provide more security for air travel.
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 9:00 pm
  #3  
 
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I received an email about this useless program a week or so ago (which I of course deleted immediately). I'll see if I can dig it up and then post my cost saving TSA ideas.
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 9:10 pm
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
I wonder how much "SSI" is included in this suggestion: TSA Airport Category Reevaluation
I currently work at the CVG (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International) Airport with the TSA (Transportation Security Administration); TSA is under the DHS (Department of Homeland Security). Some of our high-ranking management officials admit that our airport is no longer deserving of its Category X classification status. However, they purposely won't report this information to TSA HQ nor DHS HQ (for fear that, with a reduction in category status, some, if not many, management officials will either lose their jobs or be forced to relocate). This, in my opinion, is a gross waste of taxpayer dollars and I believe that CVG's, along with every airport in the nation's, airport category status needs to be reevaluated to see where management officials are needed and where they're not. I assume that if an airport, like Detroit, had relatively recently ago received a higher passenger and bag count throughput, then they would be requesting that their airport category status be increased; decreasing an airport's category status seems to be another story--but it shouldn't be; an airport's management should have the courage to report that their location doesn't deserve such a high airport category status--even in light of some people potentially losing their jobs; management officials owe it to taxpaying individuals to report such information. I believe that TSA and/or DHS HQ should reevaluate every airport's category status to save taxpayer money where it needs to be saved.

This one is odd, in that local TSA management has little control over this particular set of information reported to HQ. It is information gathered from the airlines, their annual enplanement, that helps determine an airports Category. The FAA is more involved in this particular aspect than TSA. I am not sure if this TSO knows what he is talking about.
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 9:54 pm
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Originally Posted by SATTSO
This one is odd, in that local TSA management has little control over this particular set of information reported to HQ. It is information gathered from the airlines, their annual enplanement, that helps determine an airports Category. The FAA is more involved in this particular aspect than TSA. I am not sure if this TSO knows what he is talking about.
If it were anywhere else, well... But CVG has a well-earned reputation for trying to play by its own rules, moreso than most other airports. Assuming there is a locally-initiated process for decreasing the airport's status, I could easily see CVG giving it a pass.

It may be that the TSO is wrong, but his analysis may be clouded by the same perception of CVG that others have.
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 9:57 pm
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Eliminate TSA-TV. Most officers do not have the time to watch this. If it is must have information, it will be briefed at the shift brief. Put the information in text and post it to the news link.
TSA-TV? I've heard of that.

And that's about the limit of my experience with it: Having heard about it once or twice.
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 9:59 pm
  #7  
 
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Bed Bugs?????

Ick! Is it possible these people are bringing bugs to work -- and providing a little "treat" to passengers as they come through to get their grope?

"One of the problems that has occurred when people are in travel status or in training is that they often find themselves vermin victims. In order to prevent bed bug bites a good thing to do would be to check the bed bug registry which has reports of hotels which have bed bug infestations as well as similar sites. We had a lady who was attacked by ants in a Dallas hotel while in a training class. Such efforts would reduce costs to the government and at the same time reduce workers compensation since bite victims could file OWCP and at the same time adhere to President Obama's power initative."
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Old Jul 28, 2011, 10:03 pm
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
Here's another interesting one, while I'm at it: The President's Save Award, Entry #292: Use of Profiling Techniques by TSA
It says:

Its time that TSA begin profiling potential threats. It is taking too long and costing too much for TSA to treat everyone as a threat. Use of proper profiling techniques to focus on specific individuals will more efficiently and effectively use TSA resources, reduce delays for most travelers at security checkpoints, reduce overall operating costs, and most importantly - provide more security for air travel.
Comment #1:
We seem to be afraid of the concept - but it does work when agents are properly trained and they have sufficient information. This would put an end to the harrassing of old lady's in wheelchairs, the former Secretary of Defense, and others where there is no reason to suspect them of anything.
Comment #2:
Its time to focus our efforts on the real potential threats and not just try to be pc.
And, to think, here I thought all TSA employees got off on some kind of weird power-tripping sexual sadism binge when it comes to such things. Tch.
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 5:48 am
  #9  
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Here is one suggestion straight from FT's TS&S forum: The President's SAVE Award, Entry #14348: TSA - Install gravity-power tray/bin returns at TSA checkpoints!

Unfortunately, the suggestion was only submitted yesterday, so it is ranked really low: it is currently ranked #10,639 of 14,863 entries.... so it would really benefit from a few clicks of the "like" button from those of you able to do so (hint! hint! ).

Here's the description of the entry, The President's SAVE Award, Entry #14348: TSA - Install gravity-power tray/bin returns at TSA checkpoints! :
TSA should install gravity-powered tray/bin returns at its checkpoints.

Gravity-powered tray/bin returns are used at most European airports. The devices are usually just a pair of sloped rails. When a passenger finishes their screening, he/she simply places the bins he/she used on these sloped rails. The empty bins then slide, via gravity, back to the unsecured side of the checkpoint. The empty bins are then utilized by the next passengers entering the checkpoint.

This change would save money and cause TSA to perform better since it would:

(1) Eliminate the numerous TSA employees whose sole job function is to cart trays from the "secured" side of the checkpoint back to the "unsecured" side of the checkpoint.

(2) Reduce the number of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) needed to staff TSA checkpoints, as well as the number of FTEs needed to supervise the checkpoints.

(3) Eliminate frequent TSA employee injuries suffered while manually returning bins to the unsecured side of the checkpoint.

(4) Reduce workplace compensation claims.

(5) Reduce sick leave usage.

(6) Increase security by eliminating the carts used to roll the bins around the scanning machines. (As these carts are not scanned, they are a possible of way of smuggling items around the scanning machines.)

A gravity-powered sloped rail tray/bin return system is clearly visible in this security video on the Bologna airport's website:

http://www.bologna-airport.it/uk/files/images/video-controlli-di-sicurezza.asp?Anno=&IDFolder=206&IDFolder1=995&IDO ggetto=92782&IDOggetto1=91243&IDTemplateField=372& LN=UK&mCJ1=&mCO1=&mCW1=%3Cbr+%2f%3E


Here is a tinyurl, in case the above line does not work:

http://tinyurl.com/airport-bin-return
Again, this particular suggestion is ranked really low right now, so it could really use a few clicks of the "like" button.
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 7:36 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by HSVTSO Dean
TSA-TV? I've heard of that.

And that's about the limit of my experience with it: Having heard about it once or twice.
Apparently the TSA TV production facility was fancy enough to be featured in an Excellence Award from BroadcastEngineering.com in 2009:



The main goals of the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) television production facility, located in Arlington, VA, were to allow the agency to produce HD video and expand its production capacity. This allowed it to produce and distribute TSA content for public or private distribution in today’s SD and HD standard. Professional Products Inc. (PPI), located in Gaithersburg, MD, did the design and build for this production facility.

The new production facility includes one television production studio, one video control room, a technical equipment core and a new video server storage system that supports post production on two network-attached nonlinear editors. The production system was designed for HD 16:9 video productions using the 1080i or 720pformat as detailed in the SMPTE 292M specification and allows for downconversion of the HD for SD duplication, distribution and streaming.


This was from two years ago. Nice to see how they're putting their expensive new toys to work.
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 9:20 am
  #11  
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
Here is one suggestion straight from FT's TS&S forum: The President's SAVE Award, Entry #14348: TSA - Install gravity-power tray/bin returns at TSA checkpoints!

Unfortunately, the suggestion was only submitted yesterday, so it is ranked really low: it is currently ranked #10,639 of 14,863 entries.... so it would really benefit from a few clicks of the "like" button from those of you able to do so (hint! hint! ).

Here's the description of the entry, The President's SAVE Award, Entry #14348: TSA - Install gravity-power tray/bin returns at TSA checkpoints! :
TSA should install gravity-powered tray/bin returns at its checkpoints.

Gravity-powered tray/bin returns are used at most European airports. The devices are usually just a pair of sloped rails. When a passenger finishes their screening, he/she simply places the bins he/she used on these sloped rails. The empty bins then slide, via gravity, back to the unsecured side of the checkpoint. The empty bins are then utilized by the next passengers entering the checkpoint.

This change would save money and cause TSA to perform better since it would:

(1) Eliminate the numerous TSA employees whose sole job function is to cart trays from the "secured" side of the checkpoint back to the "unsecured" side of the checkpoint.

(2) Reduce the number of Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) needed to staff TSA checkpoints, as well as the number of FTEs needed to supervise the checkpoints.

(3) Eliminate frequent TSA employee injuries suffered while manually returning bins to the unsecured side of the checkpoint.

(4) Reduce workplace compensation claims.

(5) Reduce sick leave usage.

(6) Increase security by eliminating the carts used to roll the bins around the scanning machines. (As these carts are not scanned, they are a possible of way of smuggling items around the scanning machines.)

A gravity-powered sloped rail tray/bin return system is clearly visible in this security video on the Bologna airport's website:

http://www.bologna-airport.it/uk/files/images/video-controlli-di-sicurezza.asp?Anno=&IDFolder=206&IDFolder1=995&IDO ggetto=92782&IDOggetto1=91243&IDTemplateField=372& LN=UK&mCJ1=&mCO1=&mCW1=%3Cbr+%2f%3E


Here is a tinyurl, in case the above line does not work:

http://tinyurl.com/airport-bin-return
Again, this particular suggestion is ranked really low right now, so it could really use a few clicks of the "like" button.
Won't happen unless Chertoff and company can lock up a patent and make mega-bucks off such a device.

I didn't know there were dedicated 'tub-stackers', but this sounds like it. I don't recall the payscales, but as a taxpayer, it's hard for me to see how tub-stacking is more than a minimum wage skill, even if it is in a highly stressful environment where terrorists and the nation's aviation security are constant fears.

Someone posted there's a badge-training course. Wonder if there's a tub-stacking course.
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 9:27 am
  #12  
 
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Originally Posted by RatherBeOnATrain
And another: Eliminate FSDs
Yow. If the poster thinks it's bad now, they should have seen the org-chart before the great re-org of '06. iirc, just about every airport had an FSD, then they went for the hub/spoke system (TSA's, not carriers).

And considering how many positions appear vacated, they'd have to work just to get the current structure filled.

Yet the irony is, the Hub-Spoke Realignment and Reallocation Plan added 139(?) "FSD positions", which was more about the DFSD, AFSD, staffing, etc. So the top got lighter, yet them middle got heavier.

Last edited by sbagdon; Jul 29, 2011 at 10:00 am
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 12:04 pm
  #13  
 
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I got the email a few days ago and thought to myself "self, it'll really be funny to see some of the suggestions.

Thanks OP for posting this waste of time as it (unfortunately) illustrates how ignorant some of ouremployees are. Color coding gloves......
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 12:37 pm
  #14  
 
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If they really wanted to save money they could just get rid of the nude-o-scopes.
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Old Jul 29, 2011, 12:56 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by cb1111
I got the email a few days ago and thought to myself "self, it'll really be funny to see some of the suggestions.

Thanks OP for posting this waste of time as it (unfortunately) illustrates how ignorant some of ouremployees are. Color coding gloves......
And we now know where this poster's allegiances lie...
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