The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that five organizations will receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation’s only presidential award for performance excellence. Among the recipients of the newly redesigned national quality award are a pair of two-time winners.
The Baldrige Award was redesigned earlier this year to focus on organizational resilience. The new criteria are intended to help organizations adapt, innovate and thrive in a dynamic environment where change and disruption are constant. To win the award, in addition to demonstrating organizational resilience, recipients also must show long-term success through favorable performance levels and trends, comparisons to competitors and appropriate benchmarks, and relevant metrics.
“The 2024 Baldrige Award recipients are role-model organizations that are helping us address some of our nation’s most critical needs, and they demonstrate the resilient spirit of the American people,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “These five awardees are bettering the lives of American workers, strengthening our infrastructure, and improving the quality of life in communities across the nation. Each awardee demonstrates how the Baldrige process makes it possible for any type of organization to achieve excellence on behalf of the people and communities they serve.”
The 2024 honorees and some of their achievements are:
Alamo Colleges District (ACD) (Texas) provides affordable or tuition-free education to eligible students in an effort to help end poverty, enhance economic and social mobility, and meet workforce demands. Founded in 1945, the district includes five community colleges in the San Antonio area. In 2018, ACD won the Baldrige Award in education, and it now becomes the first higher education institution to win twice.
Chickasaw Nation Department of Health (CNDH) (Oklahoma) provides many types of inpatient, outpatient and population health services across a 13-county service area in southern Oklahoma. CNDH received a five-star (highest) rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, placing it among the top 10% nationally among health care organizations so rated. CNDH also ranks within the top 10% nationally both for patients’ willingness to recommend it and for low workforce turnover.
The City of Henderson (Nevada), founded in 1953 and named a “city of destiny” by President John F. Kennedy, ranks in the top 10% nationally for police and fire services, emergency preparedness, parks and overall city services. Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded it a “What Works Cities Gold Certification” for data-driven, well-managed local governance. Nearly 100% of the city’s employees indicate that they like the kind of work they do.
Freese and Nichols Inc. (Texas) is a privately owned engineering, planning and consulting firm with offices in 12 states. Its projects range from water supply reservoirs and wastewater treatment plants to state highways and flood risk reduction programs. In 2010, Freese and Nichols Inc. won the Baldrige Award in the small business category, and it now becomes the first two-time engineering firm winner. The firm showed total revenue growth from $200 million in 2019 to $325 million in 2023.
Northeast Delta Dental (New Hampshire) provides prepaid dental insurance coverage and benefits to employers (including associations and union groups) and to individuals. Founded in 1961, Northeast Delta Dental comprises the Delta Dental Plans of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Northeast Delta Dental’s “March to a Million” journey to a million covered lives has insured 1,091,563 people out of a population of 3 million, with a retention rate of 99%.
Additionally, several organizations were designated as finalists for the award and received site visits from the Baldrige examiners. These organizations were: the City of Pharr, Texas; the Community Hospital Association of McCook, Nebraska; the Nor-Lea Hospital District, New Mexico; and Southcentral Foundation, Alaska.
The Baldrige judges may offer special recognition to finalists for having impact in areas of importance to their organizations, the nation or both. This year, the judges recognize Southcentral Foundation for best practices in its integrated health care system, workforce development, and data and information management approaches.
Baldrige Award recipients will be recognized during a formal ceremony in Baltimore, Maryland, in the spring of 2025. The ceremony will be followed by the Quest for Excellence Conference, where Baldrige Award recipients and other leading organizations share best practices and innovations that can help any organization improve.
The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program is a public-private partnership within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which is dedicated to promoting U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards and technology. The program has fostered the adoption of proven leadership, management and operational best practices, and supported a global community that values people, organizational learning, continuous improvement and striving for sustained excellence.
The program is funded in part through user fees. Key partners include the nonprofit Alliance for Performance Excellence, a network of Baldrige-based regional and state award programs, and the Baldrige Foundation, which provides advocacy but does not have a role or influence in the annual Baldrige Award process.
For more information, visit https://www.nist.gov/.
