NASA’s highest honor for quality and technical
performance, the George M. Low Award, was presented today to
three U.S. companies for outstanding commitment to innovative
management, quality and customer service.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin presented the 2001 George
M. Low Award, the nation’s oldest award for organizational
quality, at this year’s 16th Annual NASA Continual Improvement
and Reinvention Conference on Quality Management in
Alexandria, VA.

“These companies awarded today meet and exceed the challenge
of continuous quality, customer service and innovative
management. Their commitment and leadership have been
invaluable to NASA and the nation’s industries,” said Goldin.

Raytheon ITSS, Lanham, MD, received the award for large-
business service. Native American Services of Marshall Space
Flight Center, AL, took home the award for small-business
service. Swales Aerospace, Beltsville, MD, was this year’s
winner in the small-business product category.

NASA also presented the prestigious 2000 QASAR (Quality and
Safety Achievement Recognition) Award to four individuals for
their significant improvements to products and services for
NASA. The award also recognizes — in addition to NASA
employees — personnel from other government agencies, prime
contractors and subcontractors for significant, quality
improvement to products, programs, and management activities.

Jerry B. Holsomback, International Space Station Program
Office, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, received the
QASAR award for extraordinary leadership in providing
engineering and management direction to NASA, its contractors,
and its international partners. Dr. George L. Sarver III,
System Development Branch and Space Station Biological
Research Project, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
CA, received the award for outstanding leadership, and
distinguished management and technical support of the Safety
and Mission Assurance Disciplines to significantly reduce risk
and increase mission success for the Space Station Biological
Research Project.

Michael A. Pokorski, Defense Contract Management Agency, Grand
Rapids, MI, took the award for outstanding leadership that
resulted in significant contributions to the safety of Space
Shuttle mission STS-106 and subsequent missions by identifying
discrepancies on critical orbiter hardware at vendor
facilities.

David G. Sheriff, Corrective Action Engineer, United Space
Alliance, NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL, received the honor
for outstanding leadership in implementing a calibration
program that meets the requirements in ISO-9001 and reduces
calibrated instruments by 40 percent.

More information on the awards can be found on the internet
at:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/award.htm