NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — On Friday, Rear Admiral Michael C. Bachmann, commander of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, accepted the coveted Prospector Award on behalf of team SPAWAR from the California Council for Excellence.
Bachmann accepted the award on behalf of the men and women of SPAWAR and told the crowd of more than 300 how proud he was to represent the organization.
"The men and women of SPAWAR are pushing the envelope on technology and innovation to ensure that our warfighters are the best equipped and most technologically advanced in the world."
Twenty four other organizations received Prospector Awards, the first step on the journey to receiving the next tier of awards in the CAPE arsenal of recognition — the Eureka level.
CAPE is a state-wide program in California that recognizes organizations for their adherence to best practices and recognizes organizations committed to achieving world-class results through the principles and criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige Award for Performance Excellence.
The award program, which emulates the Baldrige National Quality Program and is a steppingstone to other award programs, recognizes organizations like SPAWAR that demonstrate excellent performance in key business practice areas including strategic planning, customer focus, leadership, human resources and results.
"SPAWAR employees work everyday to uphold the values of our Navy and Baldrige principles of best practices," Bachmann said. "It is clear to me that we are well on our way to competing with our sister organization in the Eureka award category and I want to congratulate the Navy Fleet Readiness Center, San Diego for receiving that top honor."
Referring to the Fleet Readiness Center, Bachmann was speaking about the fact that the highest award given on Friday was awarded to the Center for their work in not only compiling a 50-page application, but also going through a rigorous inspection process.
With the award in hand, Bachmann brought it back to SPAWAR headquarters in San Diego and it takes its place among the many other awards that recognize the hard work and dedication of the thousands of people who devote their lives to making the real life or death work of Servicemen and women better.
Before Bachmann left the event he was clear on one thing — SPAWAR will be back to accept the top award and after several organizations handed down the gauntlet, SPAWAR accepted the challenge.