Stay in Place, Cut the Waste
The “Stay in Place, Cut the Waste Act of 2013” requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to: (1) review and report on the extent to which federal agencies have reduced travel expenses by the use of video conferencing pursuant to Executive Order 13589 and OMB Memorandum 12-12-12; (2) develop a plan for fiscal years beginning with FY2017 to use video conferencing to achieve the lesser of a 50% reduction in federal agency travel expenses below FY2013 levels, or the greatest reduction in such expenses that the Director considers feasible; and (3) rescind amounts made available for travel expenses that are proposed for reduction under this Act.
The bill, H.R. 2643, introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, (R-Pa.) establishes a goal of reducing agency travel by one-half by 2017. The bill includes some aspects of the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, Executive Order 13589 and OMB Memorandum 12-12-12, which calls for agencies to reduce travel by 30% off of 2010 budget amounts.
Trinity Video Communications has been involved with providing videoconferencing solutions for government agencies for over a decade. Agencies in the Department of Justice and Department of Defense have been leveraging solutions from Polycom and Cisco for many years. More recently, many agencies are exploring software based solutions like those provided by Microsoft and Vidyo in order to provide videoconferencing to a wide variety of devices in addition to traditional room-based systems.
Fitzpatrick noted in the legislation that while the administration has touted video conferencing as a means for reducing agency travel expenses, such technologies still remain largely untapped.
Trinity fully supports the provisions recommended in this legislation and believes it will lead to millions of dollars in federal budget spending by leveraging existing and new technologies while also allowing employees to work smarter. Trinity’s customers use videoconferencing to collaborate over great distances for purposes of law enforcement, training and general meetings.
