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[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3455 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3455

To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal 
                               agencies.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 30, 2012

 Mr. Warner (for himself and Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
               Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal 
                               agencies.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Government Customer Service 
Improvement Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Agency.--The term ``agency''--
                    (A) has the meaning given the term ``Executive 
                agency'' under section 105 of title 5, United States 
                Code; and
                    (B) does not include an Executive agency if the 
                President determines that this Act should not apply to 
                the Executive agency for national security reasons.
            (2) Customer.--The term ``customer'', with respect to an 
        agency--
                    (A) means any individual or entity to which the 
                agency provides services or information; and
                    (B) includes a business, a State or local 
                government, another agency, and Congress.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND STANDARDS FOR CUSTOMER 
              SERVICE PROVIDED BY AGENCIES.

    (a) Requirement.--
            (1) Performance measures and standards.--The Director of 
        the Office of Management and Budget shall develop--
                    (A) performance measures to determine whether 
                agencies are providing high-quality, timely customer 
                service and improving service delivery to customers of 
                the agencies; and
                    (B) standards to be met by agencies in order to 
                provide high-quality customer service and improve 
                service delivery to customers of the agencies, 
                including--
                            (i) specific milestones and performance 
                        targets for continuous service improvements and 
                        efforts to modernize service delivery; and
                            (ii) where appropriate, target response 
                        times for telephone calls, electronic mail, 
                        mail, benefit processing, and payments.
            (2) Requirement to take into account certain information.--
        The standards under paragraph (1) shall be developed after 
        taking into account the information collected by agencies under 
        subsection (b).
    (b) Customer Service Input.--The head of each agency shall collect 
information from customers of the agency regarding the quality of 
customer service provided by the agency. Each agency shall include the 
information collected under this subsection in the performance report 
made available by the agency under section 1116 of title 31, United 
States Code.
    (c) Annual Performance Update.--The Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall include achievements by agencies in meeting 
the customer service performance measures and standards developed under 
subsection (a) in each update on agency performance required under 
section 1116 of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS.

    (a) Service Improvement Officer.--The head of each agency shall 
designate an employee to be the service improvement officer of the 
agency, who shall be responsible for implementing the customer service 
standards developed under section 3 and the agency requirements under 
subsection (b).
    (b) Agency Requirements.--
            (1) Guidelines and contact information.--The head of each 
        agency, acting through the service improvement officer of the 
        agency, shall--
                    (A) issue guidelines to implement the customer 
                service standards developed under section 3 within the 
                agency, including specific principles of customer 
                service applicable to the agency, which shall include 
                where appropriate--
                            (i) target call wait times during peak and 
                        non-peak hours;
                            (ii) target response times for 
                        correspondence, both by mail and electronic 
                        mail;
                            (iii) procedures for ensuring all 
                        applicable metrics are incorporated into 
                        service agreements with nongovernmental 
                        individuals and entities; and
                            (iv) target response times for processing 
                        benefits and making payments; and
                    (B) publish customer service contact information, 
                including a mailing address, telephone number, and 
                email address.
            (2) Availability.--The head of each agency, acting through 
        the service improvement officer of the agency, shall make the 
        guidelines and the customer service contact information 
        required under this subsection available on the website of the 
        agency.

SEC. 5. SERVICE IMPROVEMENT UNIT PILOT.

    (a) Established.--The Deputy Director of Management shall establish 
a pilot program, to be known as the Service Improvement Unit Pilot 
Program (in this section referred to as the ``pilot program''), to 
provide assistance to agencies that do not meet the customer service 
standards and performance measures established under section 3.
    (b) Personnel.--The heads of agencies with expertise in change 
management, process improvement, and information technology innovation 
shall detail employees to the Office of Management and Budget to work 
on the pilot program, based on the expertise and skills required to 
address service improvement goals.
    (c) Responsibilities.--Under the pilot program, the Office of 
Management and Budget shall work with agencies that are not meeting the 
customer service standards and performance measures established under 
section 3 to improve and modernize service delivery to develop 
solutions, including--
            (1) evaluating the efforts of the agency to improve service 
        delivery;
            (2) developing a plan to improve within existing resources 
        and by drawing on expertise and assistance from other agencies 
        (including the Office of Management and Budget) where 
        necessary;
            (3) monitoring implementation by the agency of the plan 
        developed under paragraph (2) until the customer service 
        standards and performance measures are met; and
            (4) submitting to the Director of Office of Management and 
        Budget monthly reports on the progress being made to improve 
        service at the agency until the customer service standards are 
        met.
    (d) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
submit to Congress a report on the accomplishments and outcomes of the 
pilot program and any recommendations relating to achieving the 
customer service standards and performance measures established under 
section 3.
    (e) Termination.--The authority to carry out the pilot program 
shall terminate 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL.

    Compliance with the customer service standards developed under this 
Act shall be included in the performance appraisal systems described in 
section 5307(d) of title 5, United States Code.

SEC. 7. RETIREMENT REPORTING.

    (a) Definition.--In this section, the term ``agency'' has the 
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
    (b) Reports.--Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and every month thereafter, the Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management shall submit to Congress, the Comptroller General 
of the United States, and issue publicly (including on the website of 
the Office of Personnel Management) a report that--
            (1) for each agency, evaluates the timeliness, 
        completeness, and accuracy of information submitted by the 
        agency relating to employees of the agency who are retiring; 
        and
            (2) indicates--
                    (A) the total number of applications for retirement 
                benefits that are pending action by the Office of 
                Personnel Management; and
                    (B) the number of months each such application has 
                been pending.
    (c) Modernization Timeline.--The Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management shall establish--
            (1) a timetable for the completion of each component of the 
        retirement systems modernization project of the Office of 
        Personnel Management, including all data elements required for 
        accurate completion of adjudication; and
            (2) the date by which all Federal payroll processing 
        entities will electronically transmit all personnel data to the 
        Office of Personnel Management.
    (d) Budget Request.--The Office of Personnel Management shall 
include a detailed statement regarding the progress of the Office of 
Personnel Management in completing the retirement systems modernization 
project of the Office of Personnel Management in each budget request of 
the Office of Personnel Management submitted as part of the preparation 
of the budget of the President submitted to Congress under section 
1105(a) of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 8. NO INCREASE IN EXPENDITURES.

    It is the sense of Congress that no additional funds should be 
appropriated to carry out this Act.
                                 <all>
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