The Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the associated award were established by the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–107). The program and award were named for Malcolm Baldrige, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce during the Reagan administration, from 1981 until Baldrige's 1987 death in a rodeo accident. The first award was given November 13, 1988. By 1991, The New York Times opinionated that the criteria should be broader and "tougher to win." In 2010, the program's name was changed to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.
