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Presidential Management Improvement Awards Announcement of 11 Recipients of the 1978 Awards.

January 04, 1980

The President today announced that 10 individuals and one group have been selected to receive 1978 Presidential Management Improvement Awards.

The Presidential Management Improvement Awards were established to provide high-level honorary recognition to individuals, small working groups, or teams who have made contributions which represent exceptional management improvement.

The recipients are:

Harmon H. Adams, a social worker with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Decatur, Ga., who proposed that patients in VA-contract nursing homes not be readmitted to VA hospitals for medical evaluation to determine whether they may enter the home-cure program. This eliminates the average 5-day hospital stay, which has already saved $172,500, and speeds the return of patients to their home environment.

James Campbell, an Army storage manager at Ft. Carson, Colo., who suggested changes in the way munitions were issued, used, and disposed of at Fort Carson, which have reduced the loss of ammunition, maximized its return to a useable state, and provided training to troops in all aspects of technical ammunition handling and use. The new procedures have already saved $3,261,000 and are expected to be implemented at many other installations, resulting in even more savings.

TSgt Spencer T. Hayes, an electronics mechanic with the Alabama Air National Guard in Dothan, Ala., who, on his own initiative, developed and perfected a needed automatic radar tracking capability for the tactical air control system that enabled the Air Force to cancel a planned procurement program, a saving of $13 million.

John W. Kiker, chief of the Mechanisms Branch, Spacecraft Design Division at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex., who, on his own initiative, developed a proposal and then convinced NASA authorities that a modified Boeing 747 could be used as a ferry aircraft and airborne launch platform for the Space Shuttle. This alternative to designing engines that could be used to test fly the 75-ton Space Shuttle Orbiter proved successful in 13 flights, which verified all spacecraft flight worthiness as well as crew procedures, saving $30 million.

Helen A. Lewis and Patricia A. Martens, inventory management specialists for the Department of the Army in Warren, Mich., who suggested that M48A1 tanks to be shipped to the Republic of Korea be inspected in Barstow, Calif., since the terms of the agreement with Korea made it unnecessary to ship the tanks from Barstow to Anniston, Ala., for rebuilding, as was normally done. This resulted in a saving of $1,495,870 in transportation costs.

Arthur E. Martin and Barnett W. McConnell, Chief and Deputy Chief of the Engineering Service, Department of Medicine and Surgery at the VA Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., who suggested that heated or cooled air being exhausted be reused to warm or cool the new supply of air in the Nashville VA Medical Center. This concept has been approved as suitable for three additional VA medical centers. It has saved $484,000.

Marion E. Meadows, veterinarian-in-charge at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Mission, Tex., where he has run a program largely responsible for the successful eradication of screwworm infestations in the United States.

Jeffrey L. Verburg, sonar technician first class with the Navy's Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center in San Diego, who conceived and developed a tactical towed-array sensor (an anti-submarine sonar device) which provides the Navy Fleet with an anti-submarine warfare capability 7 years earlier than had been anticipated.

Houston Employee Plans Group at the Internal Revenue Service in Houston, Tex., a group of 12 individuals who developed a procedure for handling inquiries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act in a faster, more efficient manner that saved over $1 million annually and received favorable public reaction.

Jimmy Carter, Presidential Management Improvement Awards Announcement of 11 Recipients of the 1978 Awards. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/249851

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