II 

Calendar No. 220 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1088 

[Report No. 115–156] 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services provided by 

agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 10, 2017 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland 

Security and Governmental Affairs 

SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 

Reported by Mr. JOHNSON, with amendments 

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 

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 2017’’. 


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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, however many parts of the Federal Govern14 ment still fall short on delivering the customer serv15 ice experience that individuals have come to expect 

16 from the private sector; 

17 (4) according to the 2016 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 all agencies should strive to provide high-qual6 ity, courteous, effective, and efficient services to the people 

7 of the United States and seek to measure, collect, report, 

8 and utilize metrics relating to the experience of individuals 

9 interacting with agencies to continually improve services 

10 to the people of the United States. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

13 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis14 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv15 ices. 

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

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

18 United States Code. 

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

20 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen21 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol22 untary feedback under for purposes of section 6, 

23 based on an assessment of the components and pro24 grams of the agency with the highest impact on or 

25 number of interactions with individuals or entities. 


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

2 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg3 et. 

4 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol5 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

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

7 added by section 4 of this Act. 

8 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

9 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED10 BACK. 

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

12 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

13 Act’’), is amended— 

14 (1) in section 3502— 

15 (A) in paragraph (13)(D), by striking 

16 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

17 (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the pe18 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and or’’; and 

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

20 ‘‘(15) the term ‘voluntary feedback’ means any 

21 submission of information, opinion, or concern that 

22 is— 

23 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi24 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 

25 service of or transaction with an agency; and 


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

2 and 

3 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

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

5 at the end; 

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

7 period at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

10 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 

11 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en12 sure that— 

13 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

14 feedback remain anonymous and shall not be traced 

15 to specific individuals or entities; 

16 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par17 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback shall 

18 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 

19 of providing services or information; 

20 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

21 10 questions; 

22 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

23 clear; 

24 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed25 back will contribute to improved customer service; 


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1 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim2 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi3 vidual or entity; 

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

5 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 

6 with an individual or entity; 

7 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed8 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 

9 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

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

11 (9) internal agency data governance policies re12 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol13 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 

14 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 

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

16 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi17 nation with the Chief Performance Officer or other senior 

18 accountable official for customer service of the covered 

19 agency, shall collect voluntary feedback with respect to 

20 services of or transactions with the covered agency. 

21 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 

22 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 

23 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 

24 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 


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1 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 

2 section that address— 

3 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 

4 entities with the specific interaction or service 

5 received; 

6 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti7 ties were able to accomplish their intended task 

8 or purpose; 

9 (C) whether the individual or entity was 

10 treated with respect and professionalism; 

11 (D) whether the individual or entity be12 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 

13 (E) any additional metrics as determined 

14 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad15 ministrator. 

16 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 

17 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 

18 Chief Performance Officer or other senior account19 able official for customer service at a covered agency 

20 may develop questions relevant to the specific oper21 ations or programs of the covered agency. 

22 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 

23 practicable— 

24 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 

25 feedback across all platforms or channels through 


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1 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 

2 or other entities to deliver information or services; 

3 and 

4 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec5 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter6 actions with customers of the covered agency. 

7 (d) REPORTS.— 

8 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 

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

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

11 less frequently than annually thereafter, each 

12 covered agency shall publish on the website of 

13 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 

14 in a manner determined by the Director, a re15 port that includes the voluntary feedback re16 quired to be collected under this section. 

17 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc18 tor shall— 

19 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

20 available website links to the information 

21 provided on the websites of covered agen22 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

23 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab24 lish a website or make use of an existing 

25 website, such as the website required under 


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1 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

2 Code. 

3 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

4 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre5 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

6 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 

7 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita8 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

9 covered agency; 

10 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

11 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol12 untary feedback conducted; 

13 (C) the questions or survey instrument 

14 submitted to members of the public as part of 

15 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 

16 (D) a description of how the covered agen17 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 

18 covered agency to improve the customer service 

19 of the covered agency. 

20 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SCORECARD REPORT. 

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

22 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter 

23 for 10 years, the Comptroller General of the United States 

24 shall make publicly available and submit to the Committee 

25 on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 


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1 Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Government 

2 Reform of the House of Representatives a scorecard report 

3 assessing the quality of services provided to the public by 

4 each covered agency. 

5 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub6 section (a) shall include— 

7 (1) a summary of the information required to 

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

9 and 

10 (2) an analysis of administrative and legislative 

11 barriers to improving service delivery by covered 

12 agencies. 


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Calendar No. 220 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1088 

[Report No. 115–156] 

A BILL 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on 

poses. services provided by agencies, and for other purSEPTEMBER 14, 2017 

Reported with amendments 


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