The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (herein referred to as Baldrige) was enacted into law in 1987 in order to encourage U. S. industry to pursue competitive improvements. The major thrust being the improvement of quality of product and services. The award was named after a former Secretary of Commerce who was killed in a rodeo accident. It is administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) that in the Commerce Department.

The award winners are required to share (non-proprietary) information on successful performance strategies and actions, and benefits derived. Eligibility allows for two awards in each of three categories:
• Manufacturing companies
• Service companies
• Small businesses
• Education
• Health Care
(Education and Health Care were added in 1999)

The following is an outline of the formal Baldrige process:
1. Applicants prepare an application, i.e. a description, of their quality/management system following the Baldrige guidelines.
2. For Phase I, five to seven examiners evaluate the application and address each category/item of the criteria. The strengths and areas needing improvement are noted for each item and the point score allocated. All seven guideline categories allow for 1000 point possibility.
3. The best applications based on the examiners' comments and scores are submitted to the Baldrige judges. The judges screen the examiner’s reports and select the best applications for a Phase II (consensus) review.
4. If possible the same examiners are assigned to those applications that reach Phase II. Where there are wide discrepancies in comments or scores the examiners must come to consensus. This process is lead by a senior examiner who, upon conclusion, modifies the comments and scores and resubmits to the judges along with his recommendation concerning a site visit.
5. The judges review the applications from Phase II and recommend the best for a site visit. The site visit is to verify and clarify the information in the application as was noted by the examiners in Phase II.
6. The site visit involves the review of data and reports, interviewing personnel and rectifying the items that required verification and clarification. Once all items in question have been addressed the senior examiner leads the team (of five to seven) through a review of all the category/items and adjusts the comments and scores accordingly. Again, the modified application and senior examiner (reflecting the team’s views) recommendation is submitted to the judges.
7. The judges make the final cut and recommend the winners to the Secretary of Commerce to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
8. All participants that go through Phase I and Phase II receive a feedback report. The report states the strengths and areas that need improvement for all categories/item in the Baldrige criteria.

Some of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners include:
• Motorola
• Xerox Business and production Systems
• Milliken & Co.
• IBM Rochester (MN)
• Federal Express Corp.
• Texas Instruments Defense and Electronics Group
• Eastman Chemical Co. The aforementioned eight steps describe the formal process for award participants, but that is only half the story. The Baldrige criteria has been

adopted by many states, countries, and federal agencies for fostering quality improvement. Hundreds of U.S. firms have experienced improved quality and business performance by using the Baldrige criteria as a model and performing self-assessments. Companies use either internal or external evaluators to review a report, which for all practical purposes is an application that follows the Baldrige guidelines/criteria. The key to successful quality improvement implementation is that appropriate action is taken on all category/items that are highlighted as areas needing improvement. The common practice in industry and government self-assessments is to do a Phase I evaluation, followed by a site visit. The following could be labeled the elements of the Baldrige Advanced Quality/Management System. 1999 Award Criteria - Item Listing As you can see, the criteria go across all segments of an enterprise - from Leadership to Business Results. In scoring the items the evaluator/examiner assesses the enterprises application (description of the quality/management system) based on three evaluation dimensions:
• Approach
• Deployment
• Results

The guidelines indicate which category/items are evaluated for approach-deployment, and those evaluated for results.