The ASQ Government Division conferred its Silver Level Award to the Clerk's Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C., for the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. The award certifies that the Clerk's Office was assessed under the ASQ/ANSI G1:2021 Guidelines for Evaluating the Quality of Government Operations and Services. This certification reflects the systematic use of the standard's system and process maturity models to improve the services of the court over a two-year period.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is the first government organization to seek and attain award-level validation and certification of the maturity of their key operational processes and systems under the G1 standard.
This award highlights excellence in government operations resulting from a combination of important factors, including developing and maintaining a best practice operational plan, developing metrics that accurately assess the effectiveness and efficiency of processes at each point of delivery, and uniting its front line workers in an ongoing process of finding and resolving issues before they can become problems. It takes the highest level of management skill, and the studied application of the proven principles of quality science to achieve this kind of excellence."
Richard Mallory, chair of the ASQ Center for Quality Standards in Government
The examiner report noted significant operational improvements over that two-year period, including:
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A 49% average reduction in internal case processing times and
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A 58% average reduction in the time in the assignment of cases to panels during FY 2021.
ASQ/ANSI G1:2021 provides the uniform, objective standard by which government entities can develop and confirm the level of sustainable quality of their operations and services. It provides a concise framework for elected and appointed leaders, government entity staff and their constituents to know the objective level of maturity of the systems and underlying processes used in the operations and services delivered by the entity. Government entities that utilize the Guidelines will have the missing link for implementing quality by supporting quality disciplines like Lean Six Sigma and alignment with fundamental best practice management techniques, like the Baldrige Excellence Framework.
The examination further validated the Clerk's Office's systematic approach over the past five years to redesign its processes, adopt proven quality-based methods to evaluate and enhance the quality of operations and services, and to develop a staff culture focused on delivering quality services to the court's judges, members of the bar, litigants, and the public.
The Clerk's Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is led by Peter R. Marksteiner, Circuit Executive and Clerk of Court, with daily operational responsibility and implementation of the office's quality management systems managed by Jarrett B. Perlow, Chief Deputy Clerk. This award is the result of the collective efforts of all Clerk's Office staff over several years. The office's examination preparation team was led by Patrick Chesnut, James Alvino, and Jason Woolley.
The ASQ Government Division is part of ASQ, a global membership association for quality professionals. The Government Division has more than 1,200 quality and performance improvement professionals from all areas of government, dedicated to its mission to find, develop, and support quality and performance improvement champions in government.
Mr. Perlow, the principal architect behind the Clerk's Office's achievement, will be presenting on the Clerk's Office's journey at the World Conference on Quality and Improvement hosted by ASQ in May 2022.
About ASQ
ASQ is the leading membership association to help quality professionals achieve their career goals and drive excellence through quality in their organizations and industries.
ASQ provides expertise, knowledge, networks, and solutions to a global membership of over 55,000 individuals spanning more than 130 countries. ASQ was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., USA.