Project84 update - Time to save money, now, more than ever

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  In a memo sent to Airmen across the service last week, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Larry Spencer challenged Airmen to take responsibility for creating cost saving initiatives within their areas of expertise.

The memo reemphasizes one of James' top priorities since taking office in December, and continues Spencer's focus to ensure Airmen are all in, all the time to "Make Every Dollar Count."

There are consequences of this fiscal climate that cannot change, they said, but Airmen must do their best to improve the things they can and be good stewards of taxpayer money.

Here at Edwards, Brig. Gen. Michael T. Brewer, 412th Test Wing commander, came up with Project84, which is still seeking cost-savings for Edwards.

"Under the current economic climate, if we continue to do what we've done last year, we're going to run out of money this year, so it's incumbent upon us to figure out how we do our operations differently, how we get these ideas and execute these ideas so we can control our cost," said Brewer. "We've already received lots of good ideas. We're looking at things on energy savings from lighting to how we operate our computers during the evenings, changes to our flight operations and training, but we have to keep these ideas coming in. Our goal is for us all to be $1,000 less costly on average this year, or about $84 per month, hence the term Project84."

According to Brewer, the intent of Project84 is to see if every person who works, lives or visits Edwards has a cost saving idea to help save the base an average of $84 per month, in order for the base to be able to meet its budget. That roughly equates to about $1,000 per person, per year.

To submit your ideas to Project84, e-mail them to project84@us.af.mil or call (661) 275-8484. A Project84 tab is also be located on the bottom left-hand corner on the Edwards home page, www.edwards.af.mil, and there should be an icon on all work computers to click and submit ideas.

James and Spencer also remind Airmen to utilize the Airmen Powered by Innovation idea program and Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century offices to make their voices heard.

"We're committed to being a good value for the taxpayer, making every dollar that we spend count," James said.