Feb. 26, 2008

J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 08-070

NASA ANNOUNCES AGENCY QUALITY AWARD WINNERS

WASHINGTON - NASA has presented its highest honor for quality and technical performance, the George M. Low Award, to four companies committed to innovative management, process quality and customer service. The awards were presented Tuesday at NASA's fifth annual Project Management Challenge Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Winners received a trophy with a medallion alloyed with material flown to the moon on Apollo 11.

The 2007 Low Awards were given in the business service and product categories. Lockheed Martin Mission Services of Houston, nominated by NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, received the award for the large business service category. Sierra Lobo Inc. of Milan, Ohio, nominated by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., won the small business service category. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne Inc. of Canoga Park, Calif., also nominated by Marshall, won the award for large business product. ASRS Aerospace Corporation of Cape Canaveral, Fla., nominated by NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, won the small business product award. The agency also recognized four finalists: Boeing Space Operations Company, Cape Canaveral; Oceaneering International Inc., Houston; Space Systems Division at Jacobs Engineering, Huntsville; and the National Institutes of Aerospace, Hampton, Va.

Established in 1985, NASA's Excellence Award for Quality and Productivity demonstrates the agency's commitment to promote excellence and continual improvement by challenging the NASA's contractor community to be a global benchmark of quality management practices.

In 1990, the award was renamed in memory of George M. Low, an outstanding NASA leader who contributed greatly during his 27-year tenure. Low was the deputy administrator from 1969-1976 and a leader in the early development of NASA's space programs.

The agency also presented Quality and Safety Achievement Recognition
(QASAR) awards to four individuals committed to safety. The award recognizes individual government and contractor employees who have demonstrated exemplary performance in contributing to the quality and/or safety of products, services, processes, or management programs and activities.

This year's QASAR winners were: Michael Sampson and Melonie Scofield of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.; Russell Bakes of ATK Launch Systems, Brigham City, Utah; and Thelma Cox of the Stennis Defense Contract Management Agency office in New Orleans.

For more information about the George M. Low Award, visit:

www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/gml/

For more information about the Quality and Safety Achievement Recognition award program, visit:

www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/qasar/

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