[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 48 (Monday, December 2, 2002)]
[Pages 2087-2090]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Awards for Management Excellence

November 25, 2002

    Thanks a lot. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for coming today. 
I'm honored to be here to present the Presidential Awards for Management 
Excellence. I guess that's Washington, DC, talk for people doing the job 
the taxpayers expect. [Laughter] These awards recognize the best 
management practices in Government. This year's recipients have met high 
standards and, as a result, have earned the respect of the White House 
and our country.
    Kay, I want to thank you for your leadership in this issue. I 
appreciate you making sure that the awards ceremonies reflect the 
desires of this administration to provide excellence for every taxpayer, 
to make sure the services we provide are relevant and necessary, that 
people who put their heart into their work are able to say that we're 
doing the job that the people expect. Kay is doing a great job for our 
country, and I'm glad she's on my team.
    And so is our Secretary of Transportation, Norm Mineta. He has 
performed brilliantly as a Cabinet Secretary. He has taken on some tough 
jobs. I'll never forget, on 9/11, knowing the fact that Norm was in 
charge of making sure that our airspace was cleared. He did a fantastic 
job, and from that point on, he's been just as magnificent in making 
sure our airports are secure. I want to thank you for your service, 
Norm. He represents one of the award winners, the FAA Logistics Center.

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And thank you for being here, Mr. Secretary, and thanks for the note on 
our anniversary.
    I appreciate David Chu being here as well. He represents the Defense 
Department. There are two award winners from the Defense Department here 
today, the National Imaging and Mapping Agency and the 55th Wing of 
Offutt Air Force Base.
    I want to thank Lt. Gen. James Clapper from the National Imaging and 
Mapping Agency for being here. And I want to thank Norman Bowles, who is 
the FAA Administration Logistics Center, for being here, and I want to 
thank Timothy Jones, the Commander of the 55th Wing, for coming as well. 
Congratulations for a job well done.
    There were runner-ups for this award, and three of the finalists 
have representatives here today, starting with another member of my 
Cabinet, Christie Todd Whitman, who runs the Environmental Protection 
Agency. Christie Todd, thanks for being here. Pat Pizzella is the 
Assistant Secretary for Labor for Administration and Management. Pat, I 
appreciate you coming, and thank the good folks who almost won for their 
hard work. [Laughter] Lynn Scarlett, Assistant Secretary of Policy, 
Management and Budget, of the Interior, thank you for being here, Lynn. 
I appreciate your hard work as well. Give Gale Norton my best.
    I want to thank the members of the President's Management Council 
and the Human Resources Management Council for helping on this project. 
I want to thank the President's Quality Awards evaluators, those who 
looked around all our Government to find out who deserved this award. I 
want to appreciate you for your hard work. I want to thank the judges 
for picking the winners. Better you pick them than me, I might add. 
[Laughter] I want to thank the Director of the Ronald Reagan Building 
and his staff for putting up with a Presidential trip. Again, I want to 
thank you all for coming. And I want to thank you for serving your 
country.
    Public service is a high, high calling. And I'm proud of the men and 
women who devote their lives to our great Nation. You put in long hours. 
You watch every penny in the budget--or you should watch every penny in 
the budget. [Laughter] You know who the boss is: The boss is the 
taxpayer. That's who we work for. You do your job right, and a lot of 
times, you don't get much attention. Today, we're here to pay attention 
to the people who are doing the job really well, to honor excellence, to 
reward success.
    This award is like what we call the Malcolm Baldrige Award. The 
Malcolm Baldrige Award recognizes excellence in the private sector. This 
award recognizes excellence in the public sector. It honors really high 
management quality.
    The President's Award also recognizes that our Government has got 
unique challenges. I mean, we've got challenges in dealing with 
bureaucracies that have been around a long time. We've got challenges in 
fighting inertia. We've got challenges in setting new goals and high 
standards in agencies that sometimes aren't anxious to change. It's 
different than the private sector, obviously. But nevertheless, it 
doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to try and overcome any obstacles to 
excellence.
    The award criteria are based on my management agenda. Kay James 
explained that agenda to you earlier. We take it very seriously, and 
we're going to continue to push the agenda, because we think it is best 
for our country and best for the people we serve.
    There have been dozens of excellent nominees who were considered, 
but three stood out. Today we're here to honor the three. They stood out 
because they set clear goals and they reached the goals. Each identified 
a critical challenge. Each considered solutions. Each drew up a plan and 
a strategy. And then, as importantly, they carried it out. These 
organizations did more than just make promises; they made good on their 
promises.
    The first recipient is the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in 
Bethesda, Maryland. And for all of you who work there, I want to 
congratulate you for winning this award. General Clapper, you might 
stand up and give everybody a wave. Thank you very much, General. 
Congratulations to you and your team. [Applause]
    This agency deals with a complex technology. And one of the things 
they need to do is to work to keep the workforce. It's hard to keep a 
workforce in the Government, particularly when the workforce is 
specialized and talented like--like the General needs.

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There's a lot of competition for good and skilled Federal workers. And 
so therefore, it requires--in the private sector--we compete with the 
private sector to keep good people in place. And so therefore, it 
requires imaginative ways to attract and retain the very best, and I 
appreciate you for doing that. You've excelled at high retention to make 
sure this critical agency has got the expertise needed to help America.
    Secondly, we honor--is the Federal--FAA Logistics Center in Oklahoma 
City. If anybody works for the FAA Logistics Center in Oklahoma City 
that's here, please stand up so we can recognize you. Thank you all. 
[Applause] Congratulations. Congratulations to you all.
    The center supports America's entire system of air traffic safety 
and provides everything from electronic repair to inventory management. 
That's a big job. And yet for a while, the system was backwards. Because 
of a preset fee arrangement, the customers had little incentive to save 
money. And the system was prone to be overloaded with what they call 
rush orders. In other words, the system was designed backwards. And 
these good folks recognized that and put in place new accounting 
procedures which now make sure that every customer has got information 
based upon the cost of each order, which in itself provides incentive 
for budget control. I want to congratulate you on taking a very complex 
assignment and making it work on behalf of the American people. Good 
job.
    And finally, the third winner is the largest wing in America's Air 
Combat Command, the 55th, at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. I had 
the--I was there on September 11th, 2001, at Offutt. I remember their 
motto. It says, ``The Sun Never Sets on the Fighting 55th.'' And that's 
good for the defense of the country, by the way.
    I want to thank the good folks at--at Offutt for recognizing that 
outsourcing is an important part of efficiency in our Government. They 
identified the best and most cost-effective approaches for hundreds of 
different tasks on the base. They work closely with contractors, opened 
the process to employee feedback and concerns, and have saved our 
taxpayers millions of dollars. They made sure that the system was 
efficient and effective. They recognize that there are different ways to 
meet goals, and they encourage the entrepreneurial spirit as a part of 
meeting the goals that we expect. General--thank you all for coming. 
Congratulations. Please thank all the folks at the 55th for doing a fine 
job. Please stand up. [Applause] Good job.
    These are examples of what can happen when people put their mind to 
delivering excellence on behalf of the taxpayers. There's creativity and 
flexibility, people willing to think outside of the proverbial box. And 
as a result, our country is better off.
    One of the reasons why we have these awards is to hold up your 
example for other people in Government. Other people should recognize 
that if they make the right decisions, set high goals, are creative 
about achieving those goals, they too can receive this award, which is 
an important award.
    When you get back to your offices, make sure your fellow employees 
know how proud we are of the work they--that you've done, how proud we 
are of their service to our country, what a credit they are to the 
greatest country on the face of the Earth.
    And so we're here to congratulate three fine agencies, three fine 
groups of our fellow Americans, all working together to do our job.
    I recently came back from Europe. I had an excellent trip on behalf 
of the citizens of our country. But there's no question in my mind, no 
question in my mind, I represent and you represent the finest nation on 
the face of the Earth, full of the finest people on the face of the 
Earth. I hope you feel that way every day when you go to work. I do.
    And so, on behalf of a grateful nation, congratulations. Thanks for 
what you do. Keep doing what you do. And I hope to see you back here 
next year. God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 10:11 a.m. in the Amphitheater at the 
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. In his remarks, 
he referred to Norman Bowles, Program Director, Federal Aviation 
Administration Logistics Center; Brig. Gen. Timothy Jones, USAF, 
Commander, 55th Wing, Air Combat Command, Offutt Air Force Base; and 
Robert Schall, director, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade 
Center.

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