04-18854. 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 Friday, September 17, 2004. The Judges Panel is composed of nine members prominent in the field of quality management and appointed by the Secretary of Commerce. The purpose of this meeting is to review the consensus process, select applicants for site visits, determine possible conflict of interest for site visited companies, review feedback to first stage applicants, begin stage III of the judging process, a discussion on long-term value and related information, a debriefing on the State and Local Workshop and a program update. The applications under review contain trade secrets and proprietary commercial information submitted to the Government in confidence. 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, email address and phone number to Virginia Davis no later than Monday, September 13, 2004, and she will provide you with instructions for admittance. Ms. Davis' e-mail address is [e-mail] and her phone number is 301/975-2361.

DATES:

The meeting will convene September 17, 2004, at 9 a.m. and adjourn at 3 p.m. on September 17, 2004. It is estimated that the closed portion of the meeting will last from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. and the open portion of the meeting will last from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Building 222, Red Training Room, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899. Please note admittance instructions under SUMMARY paragraph.

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 February 7, 2004, that part of 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, Pub. L. 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: August 11, 2004.

Hratch G. Semerjian,

Acting Director.