(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Baldrige National Quality Program (BNQP) has announced that four state quality programs will receive funding for the development of Baldrige-based and performance excellence curricula targeted at education or manufacturing organizations. The awards, totaling $160,000, advance one of the BNQP’s strategic priorities—supporting the Baldrige-based state and local quality programs.

MassExcellence (Massachusetts), the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, the Vermont Council for Quality and the Washington State Quality Award will develop the new curricula. The Massachusetts and Tennessee recipients will focus their performance excellence outreach on manufacturing firms, while the ones in Vermont and Washington will direct their efforts toward educational institutions. Eight proposals for curriculum development were submitted in a competition for the funds; the four organizations receiving awards were selected based on evaluations done by the Alliance for Performance Excellence, a nonprofit network of state and local Baldrige-based award programs.

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