98385. Defense Agency Wins Top Fed Quality Award

American Forces Press Service

        WASHINGTON -- Defense Contract Management Command Long 
Island received the 1998 Presidential Award for Quality, the 
federal government's top quality award, here June 17.
        The award, equal to the private sector's Malcolm 
Baldrige Award for Quality, is given each year to federal 
organizations with significant and documented 
accomplishments in improving customer service or saving tax 
dollars. To win the award, offices must improve at least 
three years in key-results areas or good-performance levels 
that compares to the best in their fields. 
        This is the seventh time in the program's 11-year 
history that a DoD outfit has received the award, and it's 
the first time for a defense agency.
        Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen said the field 
office's award affirms that "quality management is the 
foundation of our management improvement efforts in the 
Department of Defense."
        "DCMC Long Island truly is a world-class organization," 
said Janice R. Lachance, director of the Office of Personnel 
Management, which coordinates the award program. "The 
employees and managers of the [command] have earned their 
place among the elite providers of quality products and 
services. They have a track record of accomplishment that 
can be admired by all of us who have preached so hard and 
for so long that government can be better, will be better, 
and now, is better."
        The Long Island command is part of the Defense 
Logistics Agency. Its 300 civilian employees and five 
military officers in 55 field offices throughout Long 
Island. They inspect and monitor work at contract site 
locations across the country. They administer contracts for 
about 95 customers and 650 contractors.
        In fiscal 1997 the activity oversaw contracts worth $6 
billion. Its customers buy products as diverse as parts and 
assemblies for F-117A, F-14, F-18 aircraft, navigation 
systems for the Navy's Trident submarine fleet and computers 
to support the Army's field digitization program.

(From DoD and Defense Logistics Agency releases)

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