The 2011 SAVE Award Winner

In 2009, President Obama created the SAVE Award (Securing Americans Value and Efficiency), which is given each year to the federal employee who submits the best idea to increase government efficiency and ensure that taxpayers' money is being spent wisely.

This year's winner is Matthew Ritsko, a Financial Manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center from Crofton, MD. Matthew proposed creating a tool repository for all specialized tools purchased by NASA employees for building and developing flight projects. This "lending library" could cut down on waste and duplicative purchases by keeping better track of tools, instead of having them lost and forcing NASA to buy new ones.

According to OMB:

It’s a simple, intuitive idea that will have a real impact. In fact, NASA estimates that building this type of lending library will save millions of dollars in the years to come. And Matthew has heard from other Federal employees across the Administration interested in implementing his idea in their own agencies.

Congratulations Matthew!

PS: Click here to read about last year's SAVE Award Winner.