OREANDA-NEWS. The US Air Force has designated Rolls-Royce a Tier 1 Superior Supplier for 2015, placing the company in the highest recognition category. It marks the second year in a row the company has been selected as one of the top-performing suppliers by the Air Force.

Phil Burkholder, Rolls-Royce President - Defense Aerospace North America, said, “We are honored to be considered a top-performing company by the US Air Force for the second consecutive year. Combined with our other Superior Supplier recognitions, this new award demonstrates that our drive to innovate for our customers is paying off. We will work every day to keep our focus on the customer and continue to deliver the performance they have come to expect.”

The Superior Supplier Incentive Program (SSIP) was created by the Department of Defense to recognize top-performing companies. In announcing its list, the Air Force said SSIP is designed to incentivize contractor performance by identifying suppliers with the highest rankings in terms of cost, schedule, performance, quality, and business relations.

"The feedback the department provides to industry through the Superior Supplier (Incentive) Program is intended to allow our suppliers to benchmark their major business units against other firms,” said Frank Kendall, the Under Secretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. “It lets the leadership and employees of the best performing firms know that their work is high quality and appreciated, and it helps the firms that have more room to improve know where they need to focus their efforts."

SSIP uses performance data gathered through the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System to rate the 25 largest companies doing business with each of the three services based on contract obligations, and categorizes their business segments into one of three performance tiers, with "Tier I" being the best.

The US Navy and Defense Logistics Agency have also placed Rolls-Royce on their top performing company lists for two years in a row through the SSIP. Rolls-Royce is the only engine manufacturer to make the Tier 1 or Gold list from all three agencies for two consecutive years.

Boeing also named Rolls-Royce one of the company’s Suppliers of the Year earlier in 2015.