Bonuses for Cost-Cutters Act of 2017
The bill authorizes the head of a federal agency to pay a cash award to any agency employee whose identification of unnecessary expenses has resulted in cost savings for the agency. The maximum dollar amount of such award is increased from $10,000 to $20,000.
If the Chief Financial Officer of the agency determines that potential unnecessary expenses identified by the employee meet applicable requirements, the head of the agency shall transfer the amount of the unnecessary expenses or unnecessary budget authority from the applicable appropriations account to the general fund of the Treasury. Any amount so transferred shall be deposited in the Treasury and used for deficit reduction or to reduce the federal debt, if there is no current budget deficit.
An agency head may retain not more than 10% of amounts transferred to the general fund of the Treasury.
The bill expands the list of federal officers and employees ineligible to receive a cash award.