Baldrige Program Update

Requesting quotes for ‘Baldrige Reimagined’

Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2022 - 12:00

(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program has issued a request for quotes through the GSA Schedule for the “Baldrige Reimagined” external review referenced in its last update. The Baldrige program will award the contract to the best-qualified vendor.

The upcoming review process will include both independent review and engagement by the contractor with the Baldrige program’s key stakeholder groups to obtain their perspective on the program and the Baldrige Award, as well as their input on what might be done to enhance its reach and impact. 

New Baldrige Award category approved: community

With the signing of the federal CHIPS and Science Act on Aug. 9, 2022, “Community” was authorized to be added to the current six Baldrige Award eligibility categories for applicants: Manufacturing, Service, Small Business, Healthcare, Education, and Nonprofit.

This development follows many years of visioning, strategy, and action by many in the Baldrige community, especially the leaders of Communities of Excellence 2026, the Alliance for Performance Excellence, and the Baldrige Foundation.

The addition, subject to Congress’ provision of the necessary funding, will create the opportunity to significantly expand the reach and impact of the Baldrige program. The intent of the program is to foster excellence across entire communities to complement its efforts to help improve the performance, resilience, and long-term success of individual organizations.

Job Quality Toolkit

On Aug. 5, 2022, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh launched the Job Quality Toolkit. The Baldrige program has been leading the effort to develop the kit as an easy-to-use tool for organizations of all kinds, particularly those that are small and medium-sized. The toolkit is a menu of vetted strategies and actions from which leaders and their workforces can collaboratively choose to increase the quality of jobs offered. The Baldrige program’s work on this job quality initiative included a thorough literature search and extensive engagement with overmore than 60 national experts, nonprofits, businesses, academics, and leaders in government.

The toolkit is deeply rooted in the Baldrige Excellence Framework, and a key objective is to introduce organizations to Baldrige principles and encourage them to engage with their local Baldrige-based program in the Alliance for Performance Excellence to help them with improvements related to job quality, as well as other areas of importance to organizational success.

Implementation plans include working with Alliance programs and Manufacturing Extension Partnership Centers to distribute the toolkit through existing relationships and leverage the toolkit to create new relationships.

Download the Job Quality Toolkit (PDF)

Learn more about Drivers of Job Quality

View case studies

2023–2024 Baldrige Excellence Framework Booklets

The Baldrige program is finalizing draft revisions to the Baldrige Excellence Framework (which includes the Criteria for Performance Excellence), as it moves toward publishing the 2023–2024 version later this year. The next step is to seek input on the draft from external reviewers in the business, nonprofit, healthcare, and education sectors.

Baldrige Executive Fellows

Eleven years ago, the Baldrige Executive Fellows Program introduced the Baldrige framework to executives across industries. Through 2022, 162 executives have participated in the program, which has included visits to Baldrige Award recipients to witness best practices in action and capstone projects to tackle strategic issues. Fellows have continued to develop peer networks, even after graduation, to support each other through the challenges of leadership. The 2023 cohort of Baldrige Executive Fellows is being recruited now.

About The Author

NIST

Founded in 1901, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a nonregulatory federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, NIST’s mission is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.