The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award represents the culmination of decades of effort to improve organizational performance and US competitiveness.  The Baldrige criteria comprise a national management system standard for performance excellence.  Congress passed legislation in 2005 to expand the Baldrige Award categories to Not-for-Profit organizations.  They now join Manufacturing, Service, Small Business, Education, and Healthcare categories.  This now makes every organization in the country eligible to compete for the Baldrige Award as a role-model organization.  

• National Institute for Standards and Technology Website   An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Technology Administration, NIST's primary mission is to promote U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards.  NIST administers the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program.

• Baldrige National Quality Program Website   Baldrige National Quality Program promotes and recognizes organizational performance excellence.

 The North Carolina Awards for Excellence (NCAfE) program, based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria, is the only State of North Carolina award for performance excellence. It is an assessment/award process that helps organizations assess their performance as they progress toward performance excellence.