December 1994 – Census CounterParts
Census Bureau Wins Three Prestigious Awards: Honors Come From Vice President, Secretary of Commerce
As a prominent player in Reinvention, the Census Bureau has won three major awards in recent weeks. They are: the Vice President's Hammer Award, as well as the Vice Resident's National Performance Review Award, and the Secretary of Commerce Award for Customer Service Excellence. All three were presented in recognition of the Bureau's initiatives to service to customers.
For adopting and developing Internet as a tool to improve to customers, the Vice President, in a December 7th ceremony held at the Mellon Auditorium, presented the Hammer Award to the Census Bureau, with Arnold Jackson Associate for Information Technology, and Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Barram accepting. The Vice President asked the members of the Census Bureau Internet team, seated in the audience, to stand and be recognized as of reinvention.
The Hammer Award is a $6 hammer that symbolizes the administration's commitment to cutting bureaucracy and rebuilding a government that is more customer oriented.
At the December 7th ceremony, 22 federal agency teams were recognized. It was the second time the Census Bureau had received the award.
Earlier, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown also recognized the Census Bureau for its initiatives in adopting Internet, and presented it with the 1994 Secretary of Commerce Award for Customer Service Excellence. This award recognizes the reinventing efforts of the Department of Commerce employees, teams, and organizations that initiated or achieved results in the four major themes of reinvention:
- Cutting Red Tape
- Putting Customers First
- Empowering Employees
- Getting Back to Basics
Arnold Jackson, and Jane Callen, Assistant Director for Communications, accepted the Customer Service Award on behalf of the Census Bureau. Commenting on this award, Callen said, "The Census Bureau is committed to finding the fastest, least costly vehicles to provide statistics of the highest quality to all customers."
During the ceremony, Secretary Brown explained that he established the Customer Service Award in the likeness of the Malcolm Baldridge Award. The Malcolm Baldridge, named after a former Commerce Secretary, is presented to deserving private industries for excellence in quality.
Since the installation of Internet at the Census Bureau in February 1994, over 1 million customer requests have been fulfilled with this system. Members of the Internet team are: Don Badrak (GEO), Cary Bean (SSD), Rick Bitzer (DUSD), Larry Carbaugh (DUSD), Eric Grant (CSVD), Valerie Gregg (DIR), Gary Goldberg (formerly SSD), Robert Hammond (CASIC), Jackson Morton (PIO), Barry Nichols (DIR), Rick Swartz (SSD), Scott Williams (SEC), Chris Stuber (TCO), and Charles Caldwell (DUSD).
During the same ceremony, the Secretary also presented the Vice President’s National Performance Review Award to a Department of Commerce interagency team for its leadership in improving services to customers. Commerce members on this team contributed to the National Performance Review publication, “Putting Customers First: Standards for Serving the American People.”
Census members of the NPR team are: Elizabeth Martin (SRD), Tracey Wellens (SRD), Kathleen Ott (SRD), Ken Riccini (QMO), Evan Davey (DSD), Frank Vitrano (DSMD), and David Wade (DSD).
At the Commerce Department award ceremony, DUSD set up an exhibit with four work stations that demonstrated Internet, a Customer Satisfaction Survey developed by CSMR, the 1992 TIGER line files, and the Census 2000 Pen Computer Mapping Software.