Six agencies win performance awards

Six agencies were honored with the Presidential Award for Management Excellence at a ceremony Monday night at the Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington.

"I am pleased to honor the extraordinary work done by the recipients of this important award," Office of Personnel Management Director Linda Springer said. "Their outstanding contributions help our government work efficiently and effectively."

The Overall Management award went to the Environmental Protection Agency in recognition of agency performance in its integrating management systems under the Bush administration's five governmentwide management initiatives. EPA was praised for developing a system for prioritizing its outcomes and making them measurable and engaging agency staff at multiple levels to meet those goals.

The Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments and the General Services Administration each were honored for Agencywide Performance in Governmentwide Management.

OPM recognized HHS for its competitive sourcing efforts, noting the department had established monthly managers' meetings and was the first to independently validate its cost savings from competitive sourcing.

Agriculture's Food and Safety Inspection Service won recognition for its human capital performance, which included developing a public health human resources system that offered additional flexibilities and revitalizing its recruiting efforts.

GSA's USA Services initiative, including USA.gov and 1 (800) FED INFO, was honored for providing a single portal for access to the government and decreasing costs per use.

Health and Human Services and the Housing and Urban Development Department won for Innovation and Exemplary Practices. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's cost-saving partnership with the Office of Management and Budget earned it honors for its competitive sourcing efforts, and the income verification system designed by a HUD employee to eliminate improper housing assistance payments that helped move the department off OMB's high-risk list was recognized for improved financial performance.

Fifty-four agencies submitted applications for the awards, which are administered through the President's Quality Award program. It was established in 1998 to recognize agencies that achieved high marks in productivity and quality of services as measured by criteria similar to those used to evaluate private sector companies eligible for the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Improvement Awards. In 2002, the awards process changed to reflect agencies' performance in implementing the President's Management Agenda.