Air Force leader asks Airmen to share ideas with Defense INVEST program

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  • Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  Air Force Under Secretary Erin Conaton urged Airmen to share their best ideas with the Defense Department's INVEST (Innovation for New Value, Efficiency and Savings Tomorrow) Program in an e-mail that reached all Air Force members Aug. 20, 2010.

"The Air Force strongly supports the [Defense] Secretary's overall campaign for greater efficiency, and I encourage each of you to submit your ideas for consideration," Ms. Conaton in her electronic message, said.

The Defense INVEST Program, an initiative launched by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, debuted online Aug. 12 with a video message encouraging service members and department employees to submit ideas on ways to cut overhead costs and eliminate duplication. The contest is part of Secretary Gates' drive to save $100 billion during the next five years by identifying ideas that will save money, that avoids cost, reduced cycle time, and increased agility.

This year's contest runs from Aug. 9 to Sept. 24 and rewards winners with cash prizes for submitting the best ideas for improving efficiencies within a military service or the DOD as a whole. All individual Active-duty, Reserve and civilian personnel are eligible to contribute ideas at www.defense.gov/invest

According to the INVEST Program Web site, the keys to successfully taking home one of 25 cash awards are ideas that are thorough, cost effective, low risk, simple to implement, yield multi-faceted savings and have a high return on investment. DOD will announce the final 25 winners on Oct. 31, with winners receiving cash awards that range from $500 to $1,000.

Ms. Conaton asked that all Air Force members "take advantage of this opportunity to offer their best ideas."

Ideas will be accepted via this website from Monday, Aug. 9th through Friday, Sept. 24. Twenty-five final winners will be announced in October.

As Department of Defense (DoD) civilian or military personnel, we invite you to participate in Secretary Gates' INVEST contest. During this special event, only DoD civilian employees and active duty or reservist military personnel may submit ideas for making the Department more efficient.
· You agree to post only ideas related to making government more effective and efficient. The goal of the INVEST contest is to produce ideas that will yield savings or otherwise improve the way that DoD operates.
· You agree to refrain from posting threats, obscenity, other material that would violate the law or regulation if published here, abusive or racist language, and sexually explicit material.
· You agree to have your name disclosed if you are chosen as a winner.
· You agree to have your idea (without your name or any other identifying information attached) distributed to appropriate DoD offices for consideration in budget and management planning and to be nominated as winners.
· You agree to have your idea (without your name or any other identifying information attached) posted on DoD websites, including those which are available to the public, as part of contest promotional efforts.
· You agree not to, under any circumstances, include any classified, proprietary, business sensitive or other protected information in any submissions under this program. The information systems used in this program are not designed to transmit these types of information.
· You agree to not include any personally identifying information (for example, your Social Security Number) beyond what is requested in the form.
· All award decisions shall be considered final.
These are terms of an agreement between you and Defense.gov. All submissions become the property of the Department of Defense. Data submitted will be treated in accordance with the Defense.gov privacy policy, in addition to these Terms of Service. The Report Control System identifier for this program is(RCS) DDDMCO(OT)2437.

More information about the Defense INVEST Program can be found online at http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2010/0710_invest

Questions can be submitted via e-mail to INVEST@osd.mil