Baldrige Award

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

What is Baldrige?

Organizations everywhere are looking for ways to effectively and efficiently meet their missions and achieve their visions. Baldrige provides a framework to improve your organization’s performance and get sustainable results. Whether your organization is large or small, service or manufacturing, education or health care, government or nonprofit, has one site or worldwide locations, Baldrige can help you get better at getting better!

History

In the mid-1980s, U.S. leaders realized that American companies needed to focus on quality to better compete in an ever-expanding, demanding global market. Then-Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige was an advocate of quality management as a key to U.S. prosperity and sustainability; the goal of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 was to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses. Its scope has since been expanded to include health care and education organizations (in 1999), nonprofit/government organizations (in 2007), and communities (in 2023).

How it Works

Organizations and communities desiring to improve can work with the Alliance and our member programs to conduct a comprehensive assessment that helps leaders better understand and prioritize key strengths and improvement opportunities. This assessment helps managers understand what is working well in their organizations and what needs attention. The foundation of the assessment is the Baldrige Framework, which outlines validated criteria proven to produce excellent organizational and community results. While recognition comes with our assessments, their main focus is on organizational learning, resource optimization, and improved outcomes.

To start your journey to excellence, contact your local Baldrige-based program (listed here) to explore a pathway and timeline for evaluation and recognition. For those who have achieved their Alliance member “Top Tier” recognition, you are eligible to apply for national recognition through the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Update on the 2026 Baldrige National Award Cycle

• Beginning with the 2026 award cycle, the Alliance for Performance Excellence and the Baldrige Foundation will assume the majority of the Baldrige Program’s operations.
• NIST and the Department of Commerce will maintain ultimate responsibility for the Baldrige Excellence Framework and the Baldrige Award process.
• The Baldrige program has helped thousands of organizations improve, bringing better manufacturing, education, healthcare products, and services to millions of Americans.

For more information on the transition of the Baldrige Award to the Alliance, see this news release.

Have questions? Check out our FAQ

The Alliance is designing some exciting changes for the 2026 Baldrige Award cycle. Those changes will be announced soon, along with the timeline for this year’s Award cycle (which will be later than in previous years). Check back here for updates!