Please Note: The following is the prepared text for Mr. Perry's Remarks. It is not a verbatim transcript of the remarks as delivered.

Remarks by
Stephen A. Perry
Administrator
U.S. General Services Administration

National Honor Awards Ceremony
May 3, 2002

Thank you Gail.
Good morning everyone.

I am absolutely delighted to be here with all of you - to participate in recognizing our award recipients at this National Honor Awards Ceremony.

It truly is an honor for me to have this opportunity to be a part of presenting these national honor awards to such an outstanding group of GSA associates.

I know the rest of our GSA senior management team feels the same way, and that's why they have traveled from every Region to be here for today's celebration.

We have with us the GSA Chief of Staff, our Deputy Administrator, the Commissioners of the Services, our Regional Administrators, our Associate Administrators, our Heads of Staff Offices. Our entire GSA senior management team expresses their thanks and congratulations and best wishes to each award recipient.

Would our senior management team please stand to be recognized?

Also, I would like to recognize the incentive awards committee for doing all the hard work necessary to make this awards ceremony a reality. Their names are shown on the second page of the program booklet. Would they all please stand to be recognized?

This is a very special occasion. This day will go in the books as a very important event in the history of GSA. This is truly a "big deal."

It's so nice that we are having this event on such a beautiful day, in such a beautiful place.

It's great that we are all here together - to show our appreciation, our very high regard and our affection for each of the individuals being honored today.
It is very appropriate that we have this national honor awards ceremony so that we can take some time to reflect upon the significance of the outstanding achievements for which our awardees are being honored.

It's so appropriate that we take this time: to praise them for applying their god-given talent; to thank them for their hard work, for their long days and nights on the job; for their persistence, for their leadership and their unselfish service to a good cause.

It's a time to thank them for being role models and for inspiring others to follow in their footsteps.

This ceremony also provides us with an opportunity to thank the spouses and families for the sacrifices they have often had to make in order to support our award recipients and enable them to do the good works they are being honored for today. I think it is wonderful that we have so many of the awardees' spouses and family members here today. Would you all stand to be recognized?

These awards are being presented to our honorees today to express the appreciation of your fellow GSA associates and your fellow federal government workers.

And so, I say to the honorees - and I'm confident that I echo the sentiments of your associates, your family, the President of the United States and the American people - that these awards are presented to you with the hope that they will serve as a constant reminder of how grateful we are for your outstanding achievements and your service to our country.

While the practice of recognizing GSA associates in this type of national awards ceremony dates back to 1980, there have been no award ceremonies for the past three years. So I am pleased that we are bringing back this important tradition.

It certainly is essential that we have this kind of award and recognition program to thank and congratulate associates who have distinguished themselves professionally and contributed substantially to GSA's success.

The timing of our event is particularly appropriate because it comes just before public service recognition week, and today's awardees truly represent the best in public service.

Seventy-eight awards are being given this year, out of a total of more than 300 nominations received. Of course, just being one of the 300 nominees out of a workforce of over 14,000 is an honor in and of itself, and all nominees should feel proud of that accomplishment. I'm sure the incentive awards committee had a difficult task in reviewing all the nominations. And again, we thank the committee for their work.

Traditionally, the Administrator gives two types of awards at our National Honor Award Ceremony. The Meritorious Service Awards and the Distinguished Service Awards.

The Meritorious Service Award - which may go to a team or to an individual  - recognizes outstanding service and significant accomplishment.

The distinguished service award is the highest GSA recognition for an individual. It is presented to our most exceptional associates who have distinguished records of long-term, sustained high performance and notable contributions to GSA throughout their careers.
Today we are presenting two additional awards. The Valor Award and the Patriot Award.

The Patriot Award is a special award this year to recognize all GSA associates for their exemplary, courageous and extraordinary performance in response to the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11th.

All GSA associates demonstrated an incredible amount of effort and teamwork to assist our customer agencies in a time of national crisis, and we want to recognize them today.

In closing, we want to say to the GSA associates who we honor here today:
You are an inspiration to us all.
You have helped to build the foundation of our world-class workforce and world-class workplace.
Your work represents what we mean by "creating a successful future at GSA."
You have helped to build the foundation for GSA to be a high performing and continuously improving federal agency. In so doing, you have helped all federal agencies to deliver good government to the American people.
And you are the embodiment of the highest tradition of public service to our nation.

We all thank you for your public service, and we congratulate each of you for your outstanding achievements.

Thank you very much.