Federal Agency Customer Experience Act of 2019

IC ★ 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1275 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 30, 2019 Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform AN ACT To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services provided by agencies, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 2 S 1275 RFH1S SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Agency Cus- 2 tomer Experience Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 5 (1) the Federal Government serves the people 6 of the United States and should seek to continually 7 improve public services provided by the Federal Gov- 8 ernment based on customer feedback; 9 (2) the people of the United States deserve a 10 Federal Government that provides efficient, effec- 11 tive, and high-quality services across multiple chan- 12 nels; 13 (3) many agencies, offices, programs, and Fed- 14 eral employees provide excellent service to individ- 15 uals, however, many parts of the Federal Govern- 16 ment still fall short on delivering the customer serv- 17 ice experience that individuals have come to expect 18 from the private sector; 19 (4) according to the 2018 American Customer 20 Satisfaction Index, the Federal Government ranks 21 among the bottom of all industries in the United 22 States in customer satisfaction; 23 (5) providing quality services to individuals im- 24 proves the confidence of the people of the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 3 S 1275 RFH1S States in their Government and helps agencies 1 achieve greater impact and fulfill their missions; and 2 (6) improving service to individuals requires 3 agencies to work across organizational boundaries, 4 leverage technology, collect and share standardized 5 data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and 6 service strategies. 7 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 8 gress that— 9 (1) all agencies should strive to provide high- 10 quality, courteous, effective, and efficient services to 11 the people of the United States and seek to measure, 12 collect, report, and utilize metrics relating to the ex- 13 perience of individuals interacting with agencies to 14 continually improve services to the people of the 15 United States; and 16 (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to en- 17 sure agency staffing levels that can provide the pub- 18 lic with appropriate customer service levels. 19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 20 In this Act: 21 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 22 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv- 23 ices. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 4 S 1275 RFH1S (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 1 meaning given the term in section 3502 of title 44, 2 United States Code. 3 (3) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 4 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen- 5 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol- 6 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 7 an assessment of the components and programs of 8 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 9 interactions with individuals or entities. 10 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 11 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg- 12 et. 13 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol- 14 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 15 section 3502 of title 44, United States Code, as 16 added by section 4 of this Act. 17 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 18 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED- 19 BACK. 20 Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 21 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 22 Act’’), is amended— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 5 S 1275 RFH1S (1) in section 3502, as amended by section 1 202(a) of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Pol- 2 icymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435)— 3 (A) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ 4 at the end; 5 (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the pe- 6 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (C) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(24) the term ‘voluntary feedback’ means any 9 submission of information, opinion, or concern that 10 is— 11 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi- 12 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 13 service of or transaction with an agency; and 14 ‘‘(B) specifically solicited by that agency.’’; 15 and 16 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 17 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 18 at the end; 19 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 20 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 21 (C) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(E) by an agency that is voluntary feedback.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 6 S 1275 RFH1S SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 1 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en- 2 sure that— 3 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 4 feedback remain anonymous and shall not be traced 5 to specific individuals or entities; 6 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par- 7 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback shall 8 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 9 of providing services or information; 10 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 11 10 questions; 12 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 13 clear; 14 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed- 15 back will contribute to improved customer service; 16 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim- 17 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi- 18 vidual or entity; 19 (7) to the extent practicable, the solicitation of 20 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 21 with an individual or entity; 22 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed- 23 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 24 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 25 Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 7 S 1275 RFH1S (9) internal agency data governance policies re- 1 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol- 2 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 3 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 4 (a) COLLECTION OF RESPONSES.—The head of each 5 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi- 6 nation with the senior accountable official for customer 7 service of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feed- 8 back with respect to services of or transactions with the 9 covered agency. 10 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 11 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 12 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 13 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 14 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 15 section that address— 16 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 17 entities with the specific interaction or service 18 received; 19 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti- 20 ties were able to accomplish their intended task 21 or purpose; 22 (C) whether the individual or entity was 23 treated with respect and professionalism; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 8 S 1275 RFH1S (D) whether the individual or entity be- 1 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 2 (E) any additional metrics as determined 3 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad- 4 ministrator. 5 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 6 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 7 senior accountable official for customer service at a 8 covered agency may develop questions relevant to the 9 specific operations or programs of the covered agen- 10 cy. 11 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 12 practicable— 13 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 14 feedback across all platforms or channels through 15 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 16 or other entities to deliver information or services; 17 and 18 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec- 19 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter- 20 actions with customers of the covered agency. 21 (d) REPORTS.— 22 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 24 after the date of enactment of this Act, and not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 9 S 1275 RFH1S less frequently than annually thereafter, each 1 covered agency shall publish on the website of 2 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 3 in a manner determined by the Director, a re- 4 port on the voluntary feedback required to be 5 collected under this section that includes— 6 (i) the detailed results, including a 7 summary of how individuals and entities 8 responded to each question; 9 (ii) the total number of survey re- 10 sponses; and 11 (iii) the response rate for each survey 12 administered. 13 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc- 14 tor shall— 15 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 16 available website links to the information 17 provided on the websites of covered agen- 18 cies under subparagraph (A); and 19 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab- 20 lish a website or make use of an existing 21 website, such as the website required under 22 section 1122 of title 31, United States 23 Code. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 10 S 1275 RFH1S (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 1 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre- 2 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 3 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 4 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita- 5 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 6 covered agency; 7 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 8 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol- 9 untary feedback conducted; 10 (C) the questions or survey instrument 11 submitted to members of the public as part of 12 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 13 (D) a description of how the covered agen- 14 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 15 covered agency to improve the customer service 16 of the covered agency. 17 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE REPORT. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 months after 19 the date on which all covered agencies have submitted the 20 first annual reports to the Director required under section 21 6(d)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that 22 is 10 years after such date, the Comptroller General of 23 the United States shall make publicly available and submit 24 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS 11 S 1275 RFH1S mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over- 1 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives a report 2 assessing the data collected and reported by the covered 3 agencies. 4 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub- 5 section (a) shall include— 6 (1) a summary of the information required to 7 be published by covered agencies under section 6(d); 8 and 9 (2) a description of how each covered agency 10 will use the voluntary feedback received by the cov- 11 ered agency to improve service delivery. 12 SEC. 8. RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION. 13 Any information collected pursuant to this Act, or 14 any amendment made by this Act, may not be used in 15 any appraisal of job performance of a Federal employee 16 under chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code, or any 17 other provision of law. 18 Passed the Senate July 25, 2019. Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, Secretary. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275 jspears on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS