# Presentation: 794164

***Strategies for Serving Citizens Better with IT******Martha Dorris**** **Acting Deputy Associate Administrator**GSA Office of Citizen Services*

- North American Day 2005

**Notes:**
The GSA Office of Citizen Services was created in 2001 to make it easier for citizens to find whatever governemnt information they want, as easily as possible, starting from a single point of entry.  Recognizing that information is the largest part of what citizens want from government on a daily basis, we set out to make the information provided by government easy to get and easy to understand, and to ensure that the information we provide is complete, correct, consistent and credible regardless of where they get it.  They can go online to FirstGov.gov, over the phone to 1-800-Fed-Info, by email to the National Contact Center, or by mail to the Pueblo Colorado publication distribution center.

But our strategies for improved citizen service don’t end with our operations that touch the public.  We are consolidating and sharing our back-office operations and reaching out across the federal government to improve quality, eliminate redundancies and eventually transform the government across-the-board.

## Strategies for Serving Citizens Better with IT

- Strategies to learn what citizens need
- What do we know about citizens?
- How do we know?
- How to evaluate customer satisfaction
- Transforming government to serve citizens better

**Notes:**
The subject of this Session can be described in some ways as a national E-Gov strategy without the cyber-security aspect;  It could also be described as the mission of our office of Citizen Services, which is to find out what information citizens want from their government and how they want to get it, and to put into place the transformational processes and systems that will deliver for them.

These are the issues we’ll address:
	Strategies to learn what citizens need
	Ways to evaluate if they’re getting what they want
	A view of transforming government to serve citizens better.

## Helping government become more citizen-centric

- Providing information and services from a single Web portal *FirstGov.gov*
- Providing answers to citizens’ questions by phone and email *National Contact Center*
- Breaking down inter-agency barriers to connect the channels and ensure consistent and accurate responses *USA Services*

**Notes:**
More than 30 years ago, the Federal Consumer Information Center was created in GSA.  It was created as a central distributor for publications issued by all Federal agencies, and was one of the first organizations to consolidate the operations of many agencies in one place, to make interacting with the government easier on the citizen.

Today,
 we manage the US government’s Web portal—with access to over 22 million federal, state and local web pages from www.FirstGov.gov.  It had over 203 million page views last year. 
 We run the government’s single call center—at 1-800-fed-info, which provides responses within 2 days to questions posed over the phone or by email.  It handled over 5.5 million contacts last year.  
And we still run the government’s publication distribution facility—which, though it is increasingly less in demand, still distributes over 5 million printed documents each year out of Pueblo Colorado.

Over the past few years, we have helped make serving citizens a central concept for everyone in the government.  

## Citizen Services

- Provide citizens with timely, consistent responses about government information and services via
- FirstGov.gov
- 1-800-FED-INFO
- Pueblo, CO, Publications Center
- and USA Services e-gov initiative

## FirstGov.gov

**Searches over 12 million Federal, State, local pages**
**48 million page views – 2001  203 million page views – 2004**
**77,000 sites linked – 2002 209,000 sites linked – 2004 **
**#1 Web site in government – Brown University**
**#1 in Web quality and E-Gov readiness – United Nations**
**One of the 50 Most Incredibly Useful Sites – Yahoo!**

**Notes:**
FirstGov was launched only a little over 4 years ago, and it has come a long way since then.  

Visitors to FirstGov increased almost five times from 14 million to 78 million between 2001 and 2004.

Web page views quadrupled between 2001 and 2004, from 48 million to 203 million

The number of sites that link to FirstGov nearly tripled between 2002 and 2004 from 77,000 to 209,000 

Our FirstGov.gov portal has won nearly every major award in its category, including the prestigious Harvard-Ford Foundation Innovations in American Government Award, and the Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award.

It was designated the number one site in government by a Brown University study; 
and it was called number one in web quality and e-gov readiness by the United Nations.  
Even better, though, FirstGov.gov was listed as one of the 50 most incredibly useful sites by Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine.

## FirstGov en Espanol

- Launched in October 2004
- Links to over 125 Spanish-language government sites
- 760,000 visits (1/2 year)
- 955,000 page views (1/2 year)

**Notes:**

FirstGov en Espanol was officially launched in October 2004 after 6 months online

## National Contact Center

| Total National Contact Center Contacts
 | 5.4 million |
| --- | --- |
| 1-800-FED-INFO calls | 1.5 million |
| Assisted Citizen Contacts | 3.8 million
 |
| E-Mail Inquiries
 | .1 million |

**Notes:**
Contact center services are provided by a contractor.  This year, GSA issued a multiple award contract that lets any agency procure the services of any of 5 selected contractors without undertaking a complete procurement.

## USA Services

- Agencies use GSA services and infrastructure to improve customer contacts
- Agreements in place with 25 agencies to handle their misdirected calls or e-mails
- Answers phone/e-mail questions transparently on behalf of other agencies, (*e.g.,* State Dept for assistance after the tsunami and hurricane).
- Could replace 1600+ other agency phone and Web-based services

**Notes:**
USA Services helps the Federal government become more citizen centric by increasing the magnitude, quality and outreach of federal information in  various channels, including Web page accesses, telephone responses, e-mail, printed publications and education activities.

USA Services has 25 partner agencies across government.  These are agencies that have turned over some of their citizen inquiries over to USA Services for answers.  Our goal is to have 36 partner agencies by the end of the year.
This year we instituted our “First Contact” program, which offers governmentwide contracts that any agency can use to establish its own contact center that meets the same standards as our National Contact Center.  Of course, agencies that don’t have enough customer inquiries to justify their own contact center are encouraged to use the National Contact Center services.

Per the Budget Data Request issued by OMB in 2004, agencies have 1601 customer contact activities:
518 call/contact centers
225 toll free lines
219 Web-based email form
545 dedicated email addresses
20 interactive voice response (IVR) systems
52 automated FAQ system
22 other customer contact programs, e.g., Web chats, etc.
(This is probably significantly underreported)

USA Services has provided contact center services to the State Department since the crises in the Balkans in the late ’90s.  But 

## Strategies to learn what citizens need

- Regular polls, surveys, feedback
- Monitor what citizens are asking about
- Online trend analysis reports
- Monitor the news
- Focus groups, usability analysis

## What do we know about citizens contacting government?

*Polls say:*
- 63% use the Internet but they want multiple channels to contact government
- 47% _use_ the Internet/e-mail to contact government; 40% say they _prefer_ the phone
- 72% of Internet users contacted government vs.    23% of non-users
- 76% of those who contacted government were satisfied with the experience
- 63% successfully accomplished what they wanted
- Pew Internet and American Life Survey:  How Americans Contact Government, 2004 and Trends 2005

**Notes:**
There are 292 million people in the US
	128 million  (63%) use the Internet
	70 million are online any given day
	72 million have broadband at home or at work
	97 million  have used Government Web sites

Method of contact last time:
	42% phone
	29% Web site plus 18% email = 47% online methods
	20% in person
	17% letter

Method of contact they prefer:
	40% phone
	24% Web site plus 11% email = 35% online
	13% in person
	10% letter

22%-23% of people use multiple channels or switch along the way

People want to use the telephone to contact government for something complex or urgent, to solve a problem or conduct a transaction or get information.  But increasingly, they are willing to use the Web to do a transaction or get information.  Here are the statistics from fy 2004:

Preferred means of contact by reason for contact:

		Complex/urgent	Solve problem	Transaction	Get information
Telephone		46%			47%			40%		41%
Web			14%			17%			30%		33%
Email			10%			  9%			  6%		10%
In person		16%			15%			15%		10%
Letter			11%			  9%			  7%  		  4%

## 97 million Americans have used government Web sites:
52M researched policy issues
38M e-mailed officials on policy changes
36M got health and safety info
29M applied for benefits
24M participated in organized lobbying
Pew Internet and American Life Survey:  Trends 2005

- 52M researched policy issues
- 38M e-mailed officials on policy changes
- 36M got health and safety info
- 29M applied for benefits
- 24M participated in organized lobbying
- Pew Internet and American Life Survey:  Trends 2005

*What do we know about citizens contacting government?*

**Notes:**
“Contacting government” is defined to exclude the simple act of mailing in tax returns, but may include an inquiry related to taxes as well as other reasons, such as finding information, conducting a transaction, getting help with a problem, or delivering an opinion.

There are 292 million people in the US
	128 million  (63%) use the Internet
	70 million are online any given day
	60 million have broadband at home
	97 million  have used Government Web sites

Method of contact last time:
	42% phone
	29% Web site plus 18% email = 47% online methods
	20% in person
	17% letter

Method of contact they prefer:
	40% phone
	24% Web site plus 11% email = 35% online
	13% in person
	10% letter

22%-23% of people use multiple channels or switch along the way

People want to use the telephone to contact government for something complex or urgent, to solve a problem or conduct a transaction or get information.  But increasingly, they are willing to use the Web to do a transaction or get information.  Here are the statistics from FY 2004:

Preferred means of contact by reason for contact:

		Complex/urgent	Solve problem	Transaction	Get information
Telephone		46%			47%			40%		41%
Web			14%			17%			30%		33%
Email			10%			  9%			  6%		10%
In person		16%			15%			15%		10%
Letter			11%			  9%			  7%  		  4%

## What do we know about citizens contacting government?

- FirstGov.gov
- How to get Government benefits and grants
- How to get a Federal job
- How to buy things from the government
- International travel
- Immigration and naturalization

- 1-800-FED-INFO/e-mail
- IRS and taxes
- Consumer issues and complaints
- Immigration and naturalization
- Passports and international travel

*Citizens most want to know about:*

**Notes:**
Top Requests at FirstGov.gov:

How to get Government Benefits and Grants
Help with buying a home
Starting or running a small business
Social security
Government grants
Disaster assistance
How to get a Federal Job
How to Buy Things from Government – cars, homes, guide to buying
International Travel
Passport applications and questions
What immunizations are needed
Naturalization and Immigration
Visas
Check status of green cards
Becoming a citizen
A Few Examples of Many Others
A-Z Index of Government Agencies
Address change, Drivers Licenses, Vital Records
How to comment on legislation or contact Congress or White House
Money—wage and hour issues, investments, savings, savings bonds, credit, making a will, taxes
Consumer Protection—scams and fraud, ID Theft, Do Not Call Registry
Weather
State Lottery Results
Seasonal/Sporadic
Taxes, foreign policy issues, disasters, top news items

## Evaluating Customer Satisfaction

- American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a standard measurement tool used widely in the private sector and now by government.
- 2004 FirstGov.gov satisfaction score was 73
- FirstGov en Espanol was 73.8
- FirstGov.gov ACSI scores compared to others:
- 		            Governmentwide          FirstGov.gov 			Google
- 	      	Average	           				      80
-          		     70

**Notes:**
The ACSI methodology was established at the University of Michigan’s Business School.  It is widely used in the private sector.  It was introduced in the government in 1999 and an Internet version became available in September 2001.

This tool is used to compare the customer satisfaction for those who use the various Web sites.

The survey “pops up” randomly and asks users to rate Web sites on a 1 to 10 scale.  Ratings are in the following categories:

Content
Functionality
Look and feel
Navigation
Site Performance
Search
Image 
Satisfaction
How likely they are to return or recommend the site to others

## Transforming government to serve citizens better

- Our vision of a citizen-centric future:
- One gateway to ALL government info online
- One phone number/email for any info
- One agency providing info
- 24/7
- Instant, accurate, consistent information
- Multiple languages
- Personalized information

**Notes:**
Citizens who are used to getting superb customer service from private providers—especially online—have come to expect the same level of service from government.  Although government has far more constraints placed upon it, and is missing some of the incentives of these corporations, it will have to meet the standards set in the private sector.  In the future, the government services available online will have to be as easily accessible, as inexpensive, as user-friendly, as secure, and as technically impressive as those offered by the corporate world.

## For more information...

- Martha Dorris
- Acting Deputy Associate Administrator
- GSA Office of Citizen Services and Administration
- 202-501-0225
- _Martha.dorris@gsa.gov_