II 

Calendar No. 103 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 671 

[Report No. 117–30] 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services provided by 

agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2021 

Ms. HASSAN (for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

JULY 19, 2021 

Reported by Mr. PETERS, without amendment 

A BILL 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services 

provided by agencies, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Agency Cus5 tomer Experience Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

3 (1) the Federal Government serves the people 

4 of the United States and should seek to continually 

5 improve public services provided by the Federal Gov6 ernment based on customer feedback; 

7 (2) the people of the United States deserve a 

8 Federal Government that provides efficient, effec9 tive, and high-quality services across multiple chan10 nels; 

11 (3) many agencies, offices, programs, and Fed12 eral employees provide excellent service to individ13 uals, but many parts of the Federal Government still 

14 fall short on delivering the customer service experi15 ence that individuals have come to expect from the 

16 private sector; 

17 (4) according to the 2018 American Customer 

18 Satisfaction Index, the Federal Government ranks 

19 among the bottom of all industries in the United 

20 States in customer satisfaction; 

21 (5) providing quality services to individuals im22 proves the confidence of the people of the United 

23 States in their Government and helps agencies 

24 achieve greater impact and fulfill their missions; and 

25 (6) improving service to individuals requires 

26 agencies to work across organizational boundaries, 


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1 leverage technology, collect and share standardized 

2 data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and 

3 service strategies. 

4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con5 gress that— 

6 (1) all agencies should strive to provide high7 quality, courteous, effective, and efficient services to 

8 the people of the United States and seek to measure, 

9 collect, report, and utilize metrics relating to the ex10 perience of individuals interacting with agencies to 

11 continually improve services to the people of the 

12 United States; and 

13 (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to en14 sure agency staffing levels that can provide the pub15 lic with appropriate customer service levels. 

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

17 In this Act: 

18 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis19 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv20 ices. 

21 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

22 meaning given the term in section 3502 of title 44, 

23 United States Code. 

24 (3) COVERED AGENCY.—The term ‘‘covered 

25 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S671.RS S671

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1 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol2 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 

3 an assessment of the components and programs of 

4 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 

5 interactions with individuals or entities. 

6 (4) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

7 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg8 et. 

9 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol10 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

11 section 3502 of title 44, United States Code, as 

12 added by section 4 of this Act. 

13 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

14 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED15 BACK. 

16 Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States 

17 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

18 Act’’), is amended— 

19 (1) in section 3502— 

20 (A) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

21 at the end; 

22 (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the pe23 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(24) the term ‘voluntary feedback’ means any 

2 submission of information, opinion, or concern that 

3 is— 

4 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi5 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 

6 service of or transaction with an agency; and 

7 ‘‘(B) specifically solicited by that agency.’’; 

8 and 

9 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

10 (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ‘‘or’’ 

11 at the end; 

12 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the 

13 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(E) by an agency that is voluntary feedback.’’. 

16 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 

17 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en18 sure that— 

19 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

20 feedback remain anonymous and are not traced to 

21 specific individuals or entities; 

22 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par23 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback are 

24 not treated differently by the agency for purposes of 

25 providing services or information; 


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1 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

2 10 questions; 

3 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

4 clear; 

5 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed6 back will contribute to improved customer service; 

7 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim8 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi9 vidual or entity; 

10 (7) to the extent practicable, the solicitation of 

11 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 

12 with an individual or entity; 

13 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed14 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 

15 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

16 Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 

17 (9) internal agency data governance policies re18 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol19 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 

20 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 

21 (a) COLLECTION OF RESPONSES.—The head of each 

22 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi23 nation with the senior accountable official for customer 

24 service of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feedVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:00 Jul 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S671.RS S671

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1 back with respect to services of or transactions with the 

2 covered agency. 

3 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 

4 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 

5 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 

6 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 

7 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 

8 section that address— 

9 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 

10 entities with the specific interaction or service 

11 received; 

12 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti13 ties were able to accomplish the intended task 

14 or purpose of those individuals or entities; 

15 (C) whether the individual or entity was 

16 treated with respect and professionalism; 

17 (D) whether the individual or entity be18 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 

19 (E) any additional metrics as determined 

20 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad21 ministrator. 

22 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 

23 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 

24 senior accountable official for customer service at a 

25 covered agency may develop questions relevant to the 


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1 specific operations or programs of the covered agen2 cy. 

3 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 

4 practicable— 

5 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 

6 feedback across all platforms or channels through 

7 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 

8 or other entities to deliver information or services; 

9 and 

10 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec11 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter12 actions with customers of the covered agency. 

13 (d) REPORTS.— 

14 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act, and not 

17 less frequently than annually thereafter, each 

18 covered agency shall publish on the website of 

19 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 

20 in a manner determined by the Director, a re21 port on the voluntary feedback required to be 

22 collected under this section that includes— 

23 (i) the detailed results, including a 

24 summary of how individuals and entities 

25 responded to each question; 


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1 (ii) the total number of survey re2 sponses; and 

3 (iii) the response rate for each survey 

4 administered. 

5 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc6 tor shall— 

7 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

8 available website links to the information 

9 provided on the websites of covered agen10 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

11 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab12 lish a website or make use of an existing 

13 website, such as the website required under 

14 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

15 Code. 

16 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

17 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre18 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

19 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 

20 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita21 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

22 covered agency; 

23 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

24 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol25 untary feedback conducted; 


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1 (C) the questions or survey instrument 

2 submitted to members of the public as part of 

3 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 

4 (D) a description of how the covered agen5 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 

6 covered agency to improve the customer service 

7 of the covered agency. 

8 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE REPORT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 months after 

10 the date on which all covered agencies have submitted the 

11 first annual reports to the Director required under section 

12 6(d)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that 

13 is 10 years after such date, the Comptroller General of 

14 the United States shall make publicly available and submit 

15 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern16 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over17 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives a report 

18 assessing the data collected and reported by the covered 

19 agencies. 

20 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub21 section (a) shall include— 

22 (1) a summary of the information required to 

23 be published by covered agencies under section 6(d); 

24 and 


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1 (2) a description of how each covered agency 

2 will use the voluntary feedback received by the cov3 ered agency to improve service delivery. 

4 SEC. 8. RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION. 

5 Any information collected pursuant to this Act, or 

6 any amendment made by this Act, may not be used in 

7 any appraisal of job performance of a Federal employee 

8 under chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code, or any 

9 other provision of law. 


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Calendar No. 103 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 671 

[Report No. 117–30] 

A BILL 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on 

poses. services provided by agencies, and for other purJULY 19, 2021 

Reported without amendment 


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