E6-7669. Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

AGENCY:

National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of partially closed meeting.

SUMMARY:

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award will meet Tuesday, June 6, 2006. The Judges Panel is composed of eleven members prominent in the field of quality management and appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. The purpose of this meeting is to Review the 2006 Baldrige Award Cycle; Discussion of Senior Examiner Training for Site Visits and Final Judging Interaction; Judges' Survey of Applicants; and Judging Process Improvement Discussion for Final Judges' Meeting Preparation. The applications under review contain trade secrets and proprietary commercial information submitted to the Government in confidence.

DATES:

The meeting will convene June 6, 2006 at 9 a.m. and adjourn at 4:30 p.m. on June 6, 2006. It is estimated that the closed portion of the meeting will last from 10 a.m until 2 p.m. and the open portion of the meeting will last from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. and from 2 p.m. until 4:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Administration Building, Lecture Room A, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899. All visitors to the National Institute of Standards and Technology site will have to pre-register to be admitted. Anyone wishing to attend this meeting must register 48 hours in advance in order to be admitted. Please submit your name, time of arrival, e-mail address and phone number to Virginia Davis no later than Friday, June 2, 2006, and she will provide you with instructions for admittance. Ms. Davis' e-mail address is [e-mail] and her phone number is [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Dr. Harry Hertz, Director, National Quality Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, telephone number [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Assistant Secretary for Administration, with the concurrence of the General Counsel, formally determined on December 27, 2005, that the meeting of the Judges Panel will be closed pursuant to section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, as amended by section 5(c) of the Government in the Sunshine Act, Public Law 94-409. The meeting, which involves examination of Award applicant data from U.S. companies and a discussion of this data as compared to the Award criteria in order to recommend Award recipients, may be closed to the public in accordance with section 552b(c)(4) of Title 5, United States Code, because the meetings are likely to disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person which is privileged or confidential.

Dated: May 15, 2006.

Hratch G. Semerjian,

Deputy Director.