FOR RELEASE:   August 11, 1993            CONTACT:    Tom DeRocco
                                                   (202) 208-3983
                                                             or
                                                     Mike Baugher
                                                   (303) 231-3162

          MMS HONORED FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (#30035)

     The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service
(MMS) was honored recently when its Royalty Management Program
(RMP) was named a 1993 Quality Improvement Prototype Award
Finalist.

     James W. Shaw, Associate Director for the Royalty Management
Program, accepted the honor on behalf of the agency at the Sixth
Annual National Conference on Federal Quality, July 22, in
Washington, D.C.

     Sponsored by the Federal Quality Institute and the President's
Council on Management Improvement, the awards recognized federal
agencies for their efforts toward total quality management.

     "We are proud to be among the federal agencies honored for
improving operations," said Tom Fry, MMS Director.  "We have worked
very hard to enhance our royalty program through improved systems,
constituent training and audit strategies, and we're pleased to be
recognized for our efforts." 

     MMS was the only non-Department of Defense agency to be named
a finalist and was cited for improving its abilities to report,
process and disburse mineral revenues. 

     Operationally based in Denver, Colorado, the RMP is comprised
of approximately 700 federal and 400 contractor employees.  Through
advanced computer systems, the RMP manages revenues associated with
development of mineral resources on federal and Indian lands.  In
1992, those revenues (bonuses, rents and royalties) amounted to
$3.6 billion.

                             -MMS- 
Subject: PR-08/11/94 MMS Honored for Quality Improvement\QMI Award
(#30035)