NIST and the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that six organizations will be presented with the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

The Baldrige National Quality Award is the presidential award for performance excellence, recognizing U.S. organizations and businesses that have shown an unceasing drive for innovative solutions to complex challenges, visionary leadership and operational excellence.

“With an emphasis on efficiency and best practices, the Baldrige public-private partnership generates $1 billion per year in economic impact for the U.S. economy,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “The Baldrige Award embodies the competitive spirit and commitment to excellence that fuels our economic resurgence and drives our country forward.”

The 2019 honorees are as follows: 

• Adventist Health White Memorial, Los Angeles, California (healthcare)
• Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (nonprofit)
• City of Germantown, Germantown, Tennessee (nonprofit) 
• Howard Community College, Columbia, Maryland (education) 
• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, Oak Brook, Illinois (nonprofit)
• Mary Greeley Medical Center, Ames, Iowa (healthcare)

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) manages the Baldrige Award in cooperation with the private sector. An independent panel of judges reviewed the evaluations performed by the Baldrige Board of Examiners and recommended this year’s award recipients from a field of 26 applicants. The 2019 Baldrige Awards will be presented at a ceremony on March 24, 2020, during the Baldrige Program’s 32nd annual Quest for Excellence® conference, which will be held in National Harbor, Maryland.

The expert Baldrige judges evaluate organizations in seven areas defined by the Baldrige Excellence Framework: leadership; strategy; customers; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce; operations; and results. An organization may compete for the award in one of six categories: manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education or nonprofit (including government agencies). The review process results in detailed constructive feedback on how to improve performance that is provided in written reports to the applicant, regardless of whether they win the award or not. Past applicants have noted that they benefited from bringing a rigorous, objective, external viewpoint to their organization’s internal improvement process.

Best-Practice Awards

The Baldrige judges also may recognize best practices in one or more of the Baldrige Criteria categories by organizations that are candidates for the award but are not selected as winners. This year, the judges have chosen one organization for this honor (listed with the category for which it is acknowledged):

• GBMC HealthCare System in Towson, Maryland, is recognized for its role-model practices in leadership.