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The U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award for Virginia (SPQA), sponsored by
Senator John Warner and Senator George Allen, is a world class organizational assessment
process that is one of the oldest such processes in the country. The Virginia SPQA even
predates the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The SPQA assessment process
reviews organizations in the areas of leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, information
and analysis, human resources, process management, and business results.
There are five award categories: Manufacturing, Service, Government, Education and Health Care.
There are also four levels of recognition; Certificate for Significant Achievement, Plaque for Outstanding
Achievement, Medallion of Excellence, and finally the Award for Continuing Excellence.
The U.S. Coast Guard Finance Center is only the second federal government organization to be recognized with
the Award for Continuing Excellence.
Congratulations
from Virginia Senator George Allen
On March 27, 2002 Virginia Senator George Allen and his
local staff, visited the U.S. Coast Guard Finance Center
located in Chesapeake, VA. The Senator’s primary
purpose for visiting the Finance Center was to congratulate
the entire Finance Center staff for its superior performance
that resulted in the Center receiving the Award for
Continuing Excellence from the U.S. Senate Productivity and
Quality Award for Virginia. As one of the Honorary
Chairmen of this state recognition process, Senator Allen
applauded the Finance Center for achieving the highest level
of recognition that is only presented to organizations that
demonstrate sustained exemplary performance in quality and
productivity.
After
addressing the staff, Senator Allen was given a management
briefing that focused on the many innovative use of
technology to greater serve the Coast Guard community.
Senator Allen’s parting comment was that “technology
used at the Finance Center should be a model for both
government and commercial activities.” He noted that
he would suggest that other government organizations visit
the Coast Guard Finance Center to benchmark some of its
innovative practices.
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