The Sri Lanka Navy has secured first place in the Public Sector Inter-Departmental Category at the National Productivity Awards 2025/26, emerging as one of four institutions to achieve the top ranking in the category. The award was presented to Navy Commander Vice Admiral Damian Fernando by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at a ceremony held on 8 November at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo.
The recognition followed an evaluation involving six specialised units of the Navy, reflecting the range of institutional activities represented in the competition. The participating units were the Naval and Maritime Academy, the Commodore Superintendent Dockyard (East), the Green and Blue Project, the Research and Development Unit, the Machinery Testing & Trails Unit and the Naval Boat Building Yard. Their participation formed part of the Navy’s submission to a national assessment programme designed to recognise improvements in productivity, organisational efficiency and innovation.
The National Productivity Awards are organised annually by the National Productivity Secretariat under the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development. The competition covers public and private sector institutions, educational establishments and micro-enterprises throughout Sri Lanka. Its stated objectives include promoting productivity, improving operational efficiency and encouraging innovation across different areas of the national economy and public administration.
The 2025/26 programme was conducted in alignment with the government’s ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ national initiative. Within this framework, participating institutions were assessed against a range of organisational and operational criteria intended to measure their management practices, performance and capacity for improvement. These included leadership, client feedback, strategic planning, human resource and knowledge management, organisational results and effective innovation.
The breadth of the assessment meant that the award was not based on a single operational achievement or an isolated institutional activity. Instead, the evaluation considered several aspects of organisational performance, including the effectiveness of leadership, the management of human resources and institutional knowledge, responsiveness to clients and the ability to introduce innovations. The Navy’s six participating units represented different areas of its institutional work, bringing together training, engineering, research, environmental initiatives and boat construction within the assessment process.
The Naval and Maritime Academy represented the Navy’s training and professional development functions, while the Commodore Superintendent Dockyard (East) participated through its dockyard-related activities. The Green and Blue Project and the Research and Development Unit represented the Navy’s environmental and research-oriented work, respectively. The Machinery Testing & Trails Unit and the Naval Boat Building Yard completed the six-unit representation, bringing technical testing and boat-building activities into the competition.
Vice Admiral Damian Fernando received the award on behalf of the Navy in the presence of senior naval officers and representatives of the participating institutions. Among those attending were Director General Engineering Rear Admiral Hasantha Dassanaike and Director General Policy and Plans Rear Admiral Jayantha Bandara. Their presence reflected the participation of senior naval leadership in the recognition of the institution’s performance at the national level.
Other officers attended as representatives of the six units that took part in the evaluation. Commodore Nalinda Dissanayake, Commandant of the Naval and Maritime Academy, represented the academy, while Commander Arunoda Samaranayake attended as Manager of the Naval Boat Building Yard. Commander Gihan Premathilaka represented the Green and Blue Project, and Lieutenant Commander Sarath Jayasinghe represented the Machinery Testing & Trails Unit. Lieutenant Commander Hasitha Dilshan represented the Commodore Superintendent Dockyard (East), while Lieutenant Commander Chamara Kuruwitha Bandara represented the Research and Development Unit.
The presence of representatives from these units at the ceremony followed their collective participation in the awards process, which assessed institutional performance across management, planning, service delivery and innovation. Their involvement also highlighted the range of functions covered by the Navy’s submission, extending beyond its principal operational responsibilities to include specialised technical, educational, environmental and research activities.
The National Productivity Awards provide a national platform for recognising institutions that demonstrate performance against established productivity and management standards. By bringing together organisations from several sectors, the annual competition seeks to encourage the adoption of more effective practices and strengthen institutional capacity through productivity improvements.
For the Sri Lanka Navy, securing first place among the four top-ranked institutions in the Public Sector Inter-Departmental Category represents recognition under this national evaluation programme. The award was received by Vice Admiral Damian Fernando from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Colombo ceremony, attended by senior naval officers and representatives of all six participating units.
