A national quality award is typically part of a larger effort by a government to make its country's businesses more competitive in the world economy.[1] The awarding institutions are generally either government departments or ministries[lower-alpha 1] or not-for-profit organizations with government ties.[lower-alpha 2] In many countries, however, the awarding institutions are consortia of businesses.[lower-alpha 3] Candidate companies compete in award-specific assessments of business quality and excellence criteria.[2] The assessments are annual and firms who wish to be considered for the awards file applications with the organization that conducts the competition in their home country. Competitors are evaluated by teams of examiners who are volunteers in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and possibly elsewhere. Several examiners separately evaluate company submissions against award criteria after which they meet to discuss their findings and to agree on a consensus score.