Limiting ‘Unnecessary’ Calls in Washington Will Save Government $300,000 Each Year : Limits on Calls in Washington Area to Save $300,000

The government will save more than $300,000 on its annual telephone bill by electronically regulating 145,000 lines in federal agencies in the Washington area, a General Services Administration official said Thursday.

Dale Bruce, GSA regional director of public affairs, said the action will require federal workers to rely on each other for the time, weather information, jokes and words of wisdom rather than dialing recordings.

“It’s the unnecessary calls to the recordings that we’re concerned about. We don’t, nor do we want to, monitor calls,” said Bruce.

The government began restricting 145,000 lines on Monday and will curb another 26,000 federal phones later this year, he said. A similar system was instituted last year at federal offices in New York and Chicago, where there are high concentrations of federal employees and sophisticated phone systems.