The second annual SAVE Award, a contest for federal employees about how to save taxpayers’ money, will start accepting submissions starting on Thursday through July 22.According to the Washington Post, the winner will earn a meeting with President Obama and his or her proposal will be included in the fiscal 2012 budget proposal.

Last year’s winning idea came from Nancy Fichtner, a Department of Veterans Affairs employee from Colorado who suggested that VA medical centers should permit patients to take home extra bandages and medication when they are discharged. The change in policy is expected to save the Department of Veterans Affairs at least $14.5 million by 2014, the OMB said. Other finalists included a U.S. Forest Service worker who suggested that national forests should deposit checks at local banks instead of mailing them to a central processing facility, a Housing and Urban Development employee who wanted housing agencies to consolidate inspections, and a Social Security Administration worker who suggested people should be able to schedule appointments with the agency online. Agencies included those ideas in fiscal 2011 budget proposals.

This has the flavor of a great idea. Besides, as my mother always says, “better half a piece of gum than no piece of gum,” so I am not going to spend a long time pointing out that this is a very small amount of money saved.

However, I would like to point to the following chart that looks at how many federal jobs were created since the passage of the stimulus bill and note that we would need many many more $14.5 million over four years savings items to make up for these new costs.