00-22348. Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

AGENCY:

National Institute of Standards and Technology Department of Commerce.

ACTION:

Notice of closed meeting.

SUMMARY:

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2, notice is hereby given that there will be a closed meeting of the Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award on Thursday, September 21, 2000. 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, determine possible conflict of interest for site visited companies, select applicants for site visits, begin stage III of the judging process, review feedback to first stage applicants, a debriefing on the State and Local Workshop, and an update on 2001 criteria. The application under review contain trade secrets and proprietary commercial information submitted to the Government in confidence.

DATES:

The meeting will convene September 21, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn at 4:30 p.m. on September 21, 2000. The entire meeting will be closed.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Red Training Room, Chemistry Building, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899.

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 March 31, 2000, 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, P.L. 94-409. The meeting, which involves examination of records and discussion of Award applicant data, may be closed to the public in accordance with Section 522b(c)(4) of Title 5, United States Code, since the meeting is likely to disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.

Dated: August 25, 2000.

Karen H. Brown,

Deputy Director.