Thirty-Four Organizations Apply for the 2016 Baldrige Award

Thirty-four organizations from a wide range of sectors and U.S. states have submitted applications for the 2016 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Demonstrating the relevance and value of the Baldrige Excellence Framework to organizations of multiple sizes and sectors, the 2016 Baldrige Award applicants include 21 health care organizations, four education organizations, four nonprofit organizations, three small businesses, and 2 service businesses. The organizations are based in 20 different states and represent every major region of the United States.

Working in teams over the summer, members of the volunteer board of Baldrige examiners will evaluate the award applicants against the 2015-2016 Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. The assessment criteria encompass categories of leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis, and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results. Baldrige examiners provide each applicant with 500 to 1,000 hours of review and a detailed report on the organization’s strengths and opportunities for improvement.

In August, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP)’s Judges Panel will determine which organizations will receive site visits by examiner teams to verify information in the application and clarify questions that come up during the review. From those site-visited organizations, the 2016 Baldrige Award recipients will be selected in November 2016.

BPEP is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in cooperation with the private sector. The program raises awareness about the importance of performance excellence in driving the U.S. and global economy; provides organizational assessment tools and criteria; develops and educates leaders in all types of organizations about the practices of national role models (in fact, BPEP has ranked first among U.S. government and military organizations for leadership training for two consecutive years; in 2015, it was named in the top seven for education programs, including those of universities, that were part of its category recognition); and recognizes them with the Baldrige Award in six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education and nonprofit.

Thousands of organizations worldwide use the Baldrige framework and Criteria, which are regularly revised to reflect leading practices, to guide their operations, improve performance and get sustainable results. This proven improvement and innovation framework offers organizations an integrated leadership guide to key management areas, including strategy, operations, data and information, and results. The next edition of the Baldrige Excellence Framework will be published in 2017.

The Baldrige Award is not given for specific products or services. Since 1988, 109 awards have been presented to 102 organizations (including seven two-time recipients). For more information on the Baldrige Program, go to www.nist.gov/baldrige.