(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Baldrige National Quality Program recently published “blinded” (anonymous) scoring data on 1,033 applicants for the Baldrige National Quality Award during the years 1990–2006. The data, posted at www.baldrige.nist.gov/Data_Analysis/index.htm are being publicly released in response to many requests and to facilitate further analysis by interested researchers.

Presented in tabular and graphic forms, the scoring data come from independent reviews (the initial scores given by an individual examiner with no input from his or her examiner team members) and consensus reviews (the later scores determined by the full examiner team).

The scoring data is for:

• All 17 years and all six award categories (manufacturing, small business, service, health care, education, and nonprofit) together
• All 17 years by individual category
• The comparison of categories within individual years

Applicants and examiners are not identified.

Future updates to the scoring data web site will add features such as individual applicant scores for individual Baldrige Criteria and the ability to track the scoring progress for repeat applicants.

For more information, call (301) 975-2036 or send an e-mail to nqp@nist.gov.

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