‘‘The people of NAVAIR always exceed expectation and this ceremony is about exceeding,” Venlet said. ‘‘It’s meant to recognize people committed to business, leadership and technical excellence. It’s meant to remind us of who we are and – as a team – what we’re capable of.

‘‘We may be located in different places, but the work we all do transforms into two things for two people: reliability and capability for the Sailor and the Marine,” he added.

The ceremony took place Thursday, in a video-teleconference broadcast simultaneously to eight NAVAIR sites including Cherry Point, China Lake, Jacksonville, Lakehurst, North Island, Orlando, Pt. Mugu and the Washington Liaison Office. The ceremony was hosted from the atrium of Rear Adm. William A. Moffett building here.

According to Venlet, each of the winning teams was chosen because it best epitomized NAVAIR’s goals to balance current and future readiness; to reduce the cost of doing business; to improve agility; to ensure alignment; and to implement fleet-driven metrics.

A letter of commendation signed by Venlet was read as representatives from the winning teams accepted their trophies. Within each category, NAWCAD Commander Rear Adm. Steven Eastburg; NAWCWD Commander Rear Adm. Mark Skinner and FRC Commander Rear Adm. Michael Hardee, also read honorable mention citations for two teams while team members stood to be recognized by their peers.

In the category of Business Operations, the Commander’s Award went to the Review of Simplified Acquisition Procedure Actions Team. This team examined the processing time for simplified acquisition procedures and recommended process improvements that will generate in validated savings in excess of $4.5 million over the next five years.

The recommendations resulted in a redesigned process includes a Web-based ordering tool, alternate contract vehicles, and standardized processes to heighten accountability and offer greater insight into cycle time and cost. The team’s work reduced the number of required actions, and improved customer satisfaction rates.

Honorable Mentions in the Business Operations category went to F⁄A-18 Super Hornet New Business Strategic Imperative Team and the NAVAIR Diversity Life Cycle Sustainment Process Team.

In the category of Logistics⁄Industrial, the winning team was EA-6B Strategic Business Team, which used continuous process improvement tools to compress Prowler cycle times from 376 to 340 days while achieving a 73 percent improvement in on-time aircraft deliveries. The team used Lean⁄Six Sigma tools to reduce work-order costs 50 percent, allowing the program to return more than $1 million to the Naval Aviation Enterprise.

Honorable Mentions in the category of Logistics⁄Industrial went to Integrated In-Service Reliability Program Team and the F⁄A-18 Advanced Electro-Optics Technology Fleet Support Team.

The winner of the Commander’s Award in the category of Program Management was PMA-202 Aircrew Systems Team. By using AIRSpeed continuous process improvement tools, the program office restructured and revitalized every aspect of its acquisition program management and fleet support operations.

Honorable Mentions in the category of Program Management went to Battle Stations 21 team and the E-6 Team.

In the category of Quality of Service, the winner was NAVAIR AIRSpeed Deployment Team. ‘‘In many ways, NAVAIR AIRSpeed is providing leadership role for the DoN-wide Lean Six Sigma Continuous Process Improvement...transformation,” the citation read.

The award cited the team’s use of the full spectrum of continuous process improvement tools, including steps toward self-sustainment for NAVAIR with Master Black Belts who will serve as the command’s in-house experts and trainers for all AIRSpeed classes.

Honorable Mentions in the category of Quality of Service went to the Enterprise AIRSpeed Team and the AIR-4.0P Interim Flight Clearance Division.

In the final Commander’s Awards category of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation and Technology, the winner was CVN-78 Airwake Analysis Team. The team applied state-of-the-art modeling and simulation technology to predict the unsteady air wake over and around the flight desk of proposed CVN-78 and the impact of air wake on aircraft flight dynamics during ship approach.

The award citation noted, ‘‘As a result of the team’s work, the risk of operating aircraft, both fixed and rotary wing, to the CVN-78 has been reduced. The team’s efforts also enabled more realistic simulated pilot training, offering the potential to release ship and aviation resources to the fleet while maintaining aircrew shipboard currency.”

Honorable Mentions in the category of Research, Development, Test and Evaluation and Technology went to the Joint Strike Fighter Emissions Test Team and the Human Systems Dynamic Test Facilities Team.

Following the presentation of the NAVAIR Commander’s National Awards, Venlet, Eastburg and Skinner presented the Edward H. Heinemann Award to the AN⁄ALQ-228 (V) 1 Intrepid Tiger Team.

The Heinemann Award is sponsored by the Association of Naval Aviation, and is presented annually to the individual or group of individuals within NAVAIR who achieved or helped achieve significant improvement in the design or modification of an aircraft or an aircraft system.

According to the award letter, the team provided ‘‘superior service to the Dept. of Defense in the expeditious design, development, testing and introduction of the ...Rapid Deployment Capability Program.”

The program provides a subset of communication jamming techniques required to defeat communication devices employed by the asymmetric threat. The team’s work allows the Navy to provide a critical and directed capability to meet specific threats in support of the national effort in the global war on terrorism.

A separate award recognizing excellence in a leader or leaders who make a significant improvement to the quality of work life for the NAVAIR work force, the T. Michael Fish Award, was also presented at the end of the program to Capt. Barbara Bell, Air Traffic Control and Landingh Systems (PMA-213).

Her nomination noted that Bell developed and implemented new, streamlined processes and programs to reduce workload and cost while increasing morale and communication.

‘‘Capt. Bell changed the work environment in PMA-213 to enhance efficiency while significantly improving the quality of work life as the organization accepted more responsibility for naval landing and combat identification systems,” the award read.

(This article was submitted by the NAVAIR Public Affairs Office.)