DOD, NASA, GSA SAVE TAXPAYERS $600 MILLION; VICE PRESIDENT
TO HAND OUT QUALITY AWARDS AT FEDERAL QUALITY CONFERENCE

Washington, D.C. -- Vice President Al Gore will congratulate winners of the 1995 Presidential Award for Quality, and the Quality Improvement Prototype Award during the Eighth Annual Conference on Federal Quality Improvement. The conference runs from Monday, July 31 through Thursday, August 3.

Winners of this year's awards include organizations within the Department of the Army, the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and the General Service Administration (GSA). Together, these units generated savings to taxpayers of more than $600 million in fiscal year 1994 through the implementation of quality improvement programs.

The Presidential Award for Quality, and the Quality Improvement Prototype (QIP) Award are the highest honors bestowed by government upon federal agencies for quality achievement. These awards are the public-sector equivalent of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Vice President Gore will present the Presidential Award for Quality to the Department of the Army's Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), Warren, Michigan, on:

Wednesday, August 2, 1995, 4 p.m.
Washington Hilton & Towers
1919 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, D.C.

Commenting on the selection of TARDEC as the recipient of the Presidential Award for Quality, Office of Personnel Management Director Jim King said: "TARDEC epitomizes the very best characteristics of American ingenuity. The use of advanced computer simulation to hasten the development of vital military products reaffirms TARDEC's status as a superior provider of high-quality goods to its customers."

The Vice President also will present Quality Improvement Prototype Awards to the Department of the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey; the Department of the Army's Red River Depot, Texarkana, Texas; the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's John F. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida; and, the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service (Northeast and Caribbean Region), New York, New York.

"It is imperative that we recognize the men and women--the heart and soul of our government--who are responsible for improving the quality of products and services paid for by taxpayers," said Jim King. "The QIP award certifies their contributions to improving the ability of the United States to respond to the security, technological and procurement needs of our nation. With their work, they have left an indelible mark on our government."

The Presidential Award for Quality and the Quality Improvement Prototype Award are presented annually to federal organizations that provide high-quality services and products to their customers or save tax dollars, often by the implementation of quality-control programs.

The Department of the Army's Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is the nation's laboratory for advanced military automation technology. It has developed an advanced computer simulation process, called Virtual Prototyping, which allows TARDEC's engineers to create, design, test and evaluate new military vehicles within the confines of the computer. TARDEC's product line includes tanks, other armored vehicles, and specialized military truck and trailers for all U.S. armed forces, many federal agencies, and more than 60 foreign countries. The use of advanced automation has contributed to a number of economies and efficiencies, including a four-year savings of $168 million in vehicle development time and the elimination of duplicative layers of management.

The Department of the Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) provides the military services of the

United States with high-quality firepower necessary for the defense of our national interests. ARDEC researches, designs and develops world-class weapons systems such as the PALADIN, a self-propelled, highly mobile Howitzer. The PALADIN has a firing range of approximately 30 kilometers, a 25 percent increase over other late-model Howitzers. ARDEC also developed the M1A1 Abrahms Tank Armament System consisting of a gun, automated fire-control system and armor-piercing ammunition which were instrumental to the outstanding success of America's fighting forces in the Gulf war.

The Department of the Army's Red River Depot provides repair and maintenance work of an outstanding quality to the Army's light tracked combat vehicle fleet. In addition, the depot has implemented the Value Engineering Program (VEP) which offers an outlet for employee suggestions of a highly technical nature. The program successfully implemented one employee's suggestion and saved the Army $8 million in fiscal year 1994. The employee saw tax dollars being wasted on the manufacture of very similar guidance mechanisms for slightly different variations of the Patriot Missile system. Under the VEP, the employee developed a standardized guidance mechanism that is adaptable to all variations of the missile system.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's John F. Kennedy Space Center has significantly improved the value, effectiveness and efficiency of America's space program. Home to the Space Shuttle Fleet, the space center transports astronaut crews, satellites and other payloads, including medical research projects, into Earth orbit and beyond. However, responsibility of the center and its 2,200 federal employees ends only with the safe return to Earth of the flight crews and the recovery of the space shuttle, payloads and reusable solid rocket boosters. In terms of efficiency, the Kennedy Space Center has reduced flight costs by $340 million per year over the past two years, including a $150 million savings by cutting in half the time it takes to refurbish and retrofit the shuttle with new payloads for the next launch. The center also provides launch support activities at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Station, and California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service (Northeast and Caribbean Region) will receive a QIP award for saving taxpayer dollars, in part, through the development of an innovative quality-control oversight program to which office-supply manufacturers are cooperating. The program, dubbed the Statistical Process Control, has been recognized previously by Vice President Gore for emphasizing quality control to manufacturers and suppliers of products to government, thereby cutting down on the built-in cost of waste that gets passed on to purchasers such as the Federal Supply Service. Also, the FSS purchases tons of office supplies and packaging materials used by employees in their day-to-day support of government operations. With its tremendous purchasing power and competitive procurement practices, taxpayers and agencies in the Northeast and Caribbean Region chalked up savings conservatively estimated at $280 million in fiscal year 1994. In addition, FSS's leasing agreements on its 14,000 vehicle fleet with the Defense Department, Postal Service and other executive departments saved the government an additional $2 million in leasing costs.

The Eight Annual Conference on Federal Quality Improvement is sponsored by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Media interested in attending the conference or any of the workshops should contact Michael Orenstein at the OPM, 202-606-1800.

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