Defense outpost wins top quality award

The Defense Contract Management Command's outpost on New York's Long Island has won the government's top award for quality.

Office of Personnel Management Director Janice Lachance will present the organization, which is part of the Defense Logistics Agency, with the 1998 Presidential Award for Quality during ceremonies June 17 at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.

Modeled on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which is awarded annually to top-performing private companies, the Presidential Award for Quality is given each year to a highly productive federal organization that provides excellent customer service and saves taxpayers money.

A panel of government and private sector quality management specialists picks the winner.

The Defense Contract Management Command's Long Island operation serves as contract administrator for civilian and military agencies on Long Island. According to OPM, the organization saved taxpayers $116 million in 1997 through improved contract negotiations, automation of services, selling or redistributing of excess property and a delayering of supervisory levels which led to a ratio of 14 employees per supervisor.

"DCMC Long Island truly is a world-class organization," Lachance said. "The employees and managers of the DCMC have earned their place among the elite providers of quality products and services."

DCMC Long Island's 300 civilian employees and five military personnel work in 55 field offices and inspect work at contractor site locations across the country. They administer contracts for almost 100 customers and 650 contractors. In 1997, the organization oversaw contracts worth $6 billion.

DCMC Long Island Commander Colonel Robert P. Brown said his organization had been persistent in working toward quality. "People who do total quality try it once or twice, get feedback and then it gets pushed aside," Brown said. "We kept at it. We identified areas that needed improvement, took steps to close the gap and moved forward."

In addition to the top winner, 10 other federal organizations will also receive quality awards at the ceremony:

• Award for Quality Improvement: Defense Contract Management Command New York, Staten Island, N.Y.
• Achievement Award: Defense Commissary Agency headquarters, Fort Lee, Va.; Army Corps of Engineers Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Ala.; and the Army's Fort Carson, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Merit Award: the Army's Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, Ill.; the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center, Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn.; and the James A. Haley Veteran's Hospital, Tampa, Fla.
• Program Finalists: Defense Industrial Supply Center, Philadelphia, Pa.; Tobyhanna Army Depot, Tobyhanna, Pa.; Army Corps of Engineers Huntington District, Huntington, W. Va.