IC 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1088 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2017 

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Agency Cus3 tomer Experience Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the Federal Government serves the people 

7 of the United States and should seek to continually 

8 improve public services provided by the Federal Gov9 ernment based on customer feedback; 

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

11 Federal Government that provides efficient, effec12 tive, and high-quality services across multiple chan13 nels; 

14 (3) many agencies, offices, programs, and Fed15 eral employees provide excellent service to individ16 uals, however many parts of the Federal Govern17 ment still fall short on delivering the customer serv18 ice experience that individuals have come to expect 

19 from the private sector; 

20 (4) according to the 2016 American Customer 

21 Satisfaction Index, the Federal Government ranks 

22 among the bottom of all industries in the United 

23 States in customer satisfaction; 

24 (5) providing quality services to individuals im25 proves the confidence of the people of the United 


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1 States in their government and helps agencies 

2 achieve greater impact and fulfill their missions; and 

3 (6) improving service to individuals requires 

4 agencies to work across organizational boundaries, 

5 leverage technology, collect and share standardized 

6 data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and 

7 service strategies. 

8 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con9 gress that all agencies should strive to provide high-qual10 ity, courteous, effective, and efficient services to the people 

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

12 and utilize metrics relating to the experience of individuals 

13 interacting with agencies to continually improve services 

14 to the people of the United States. 

15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

16 In this Act: 

17 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis18 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv19 ices. 

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

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

22 United States Code. 

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

24 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen25 cy that is required by the Director to collect volVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Nov 09, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1088.RFH S1088

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1 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 

2 an assessment of the components and programs of 

3 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 

4 interactions with individuals or entities. 

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

6 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg7 et. 

8 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol9 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

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

11 added by section 4 of this Act. 

12 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

13 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED14 BACK. 

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

16 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

17 Act’’), is amended— 

18 (1) in section 3502— 

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

20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

21 (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the pe22 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 

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


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1 ‘‘(15) 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 ‘‘; and’’; 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 shall not be traced 

21 to specific individuals or entities; 

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

24 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 

25 of 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 Performance Improvement Officer or 

24 other senior accountable official for customer service of 

25 the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feedback with 


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1 respect to services of or transactions with the covered 

2 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 their intended task 

14 or purpose; 

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 Performance Improvement Officer or other senior 

25 accountable official for customer service at a covered 


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1 agency may develop questions relevant to the specific 

2 operations or programs of the covered agency. 

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 that includes the voluntary feedback re22 quired to be collected under this section. 

23 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc24 tor shall— 


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1 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

2 available website links to the information 

3 provided on the websites of covered agen4 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

5 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab6 lish a website or make use of an existing 

7 website, such as the website required under 

8 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

9 Code. 

10 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

11 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre12 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

13 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 

14 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita15 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

16 covered agency; 

17 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

18 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol19 untary feedback conducted; 

20 (C) the questions or survey instrument 

21 submitted to members of the public as part of 

22 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 

23 (D) a description of how the covered agen24 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 


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1 covered agency to improve the customer service 

2 of the covered agency. 

3 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE SCORECARD REPORT. 

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

5 the date on which all covered agencies have submitted the 

6 first annual reports to the Director required under section 

7 6(d)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that 

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

9 the United States shall make publicly available and submit 

10 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern11 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over12 sight and Government Reform of the House of Represent13 atives a scorecard report assessing the data collected and 

14 reported by the covered agencies. 

15 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub16 section (a) shall include— 

17 (1) a summary of the information required to 

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

19 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. 

Passed the Senate November 7, 2017. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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