For Immediate Release

ASQ Programs on GSA Prime Contractor List

Designation Facilitates Federal Access to Training Programs

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 26, 2006 The American Society for Quality (ASQ) has been added to the government's list of approved sources for business, administrative, and mission solutions. The agreement means that ASQ now becomes an approved federal government source for training products and services on the Federal Supply Services (FSS) list. FSS falls under the U.S. government's General Services Administration (GSA).

ASQ is the world's leading authority on quality and an expert in standards development. Under the government contract, ASQ will be available to help all federal agencies operate efficiently while providing stakeholder value and satisfaction by offering the following services:

• Instructor led quality training programs.
• On-site quality training programs.
• e-Learning and other computer-based training such as Foundations in Quality products.

“These programs are tools that dynamic, for-profit businesses have been using for years to grow and to add value for their customers,” notes ASQ president, Jerry Mairani.

ASQ joins other firms designated as GSA schedule contractors. The FSS contract represents favorable pricing to the federal government on ASQ programs. In addition, this designation greatly reduces contract processing time from more than half a year to just weeks, while significantly reducing paperwork for both ASQ and the government.

“Recently, nonprofit organizations, and an array of government entities at all levels, have taken advantage of techniques such as Six Sigma and lean,” adds Mairani.

“This new agreement means the process of providing training to the federal government for these quality methods will accelerate. These programs will lead to more effective government overall, based on their successful experiences in the private sector.”

The GSA is an independent agency of the U.S. government. It is led by the presidentially appointed administrator of General Services, who oversees a staff of 13,000 that executes a budget of $16 billion.

As a procurement service for all federal agencies and their 1 million workers, the GSA controls the purchase of a broad array of items including buildings, products, services, and technology. When the federal government goes shopping for goods and services it uses the listings assembled by the FSS. The sources on this list are under contract as the result of rigorous FSS evaluation.

Business from the U.S. government through the FSS designation is not a given. Each supplier on the list has to earn its contracts. Nevertheless, the process provides benefits to the participating firms and the federal agencies.

“Most important,” adds Mairani, “the FSS designation allows ASQ to establish a long-term relationship, enabling us to better create programs to meet the unique needs of the government in order to fulfill agency goals and expectations.”

ASQ has been providing products and services to government entities at all levels and has had a government division for many years. “This new agreement with the federal government,” notes Mairani, “could lead to improving existing relationships and accelerate quality management system deployments.”

The American Society for Quality www.asq.org has been the world's leading authority on quality for 60 years. With more than 90,000 individual and organizational members, the professional association advances learning, quality improvement, and knowledge exchange to improve business results, and to create better workplaces and communities worldwide. As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools, and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners, and everyday co ns umers, encouraging all to Make Good Great®. ASQ has been the sole administrator of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award since 1991.  Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., the 60-year-old organization is a founding partner of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a prominent quarterly economic indicator, and also produces the Quarterly Quality Report.

###