II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1275 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services provided by 

agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 1, 2019 

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 

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 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the Federal Government serves the people 

9 of the United States and should seek to continually 


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1 improve public services provided by the Federal Gov2 ernment based on customer feedback; 

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

4 Federal Government that provides efficient, effec5 tive, and high-quality services across multiple chan6 nels; 

7 (3) many agencies, offices, programs, and Fed8 eral employees provide excellent service to individ9 uals; however, many parts of the Federal Govern10 ment still fall short on delivering the customer serv11 ice experience that individuals have come to expect 

12 from the private sector; 

13 (4) according to the 2018 American Customer 

14 Satisfaction Index, the Federal Government ranks 

15 among the bottom of all industries in the United 

16 States in customer satisfaction; 

17 (5) providing quality services to individuals im18 proves the confidence of the people of the United 

19 States in their government and helps agencies 

20 achieve greater impact and fulfill their missions; and 

21 (6) improving service to individuals requires 

22 agencies to work across organizational boundaries, 

23 leverage technology, collect and share standardized 

24 data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and 

25 service strategies. 


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1 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con2 gress that— 

3 (1) all agencies should strive to provide high4 quality, courteous, effective, and efficient services to 

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

6 collect, report, and utilize metrics relating to the ex7 perience of individuals interacting with agencies to 

8 continually improve services to the people of the 

9 United States; and 

10 (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to en11 sure agency staffing levels that can provide the pub12 lic with appropriate customer service levels. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis16 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv17 ices. 

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

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

20 United States Code. 

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

22 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen23 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol24 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 

25 an assessment of the components and programs of 


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1 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 

2 interactions with individuals or entities. 

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

4 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg5 et. 

6 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol7 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

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

9 added by section 4 of this Act. 

10 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

11 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED12 BACK. 

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

14 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

15 Act’’), is amended— 

16 (1) in section 3502— 

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

18 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

19 (B) in paragraph (14), by striking the pe20 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

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

23 submission of information, opinion, or concern that 

24 is— 


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1 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi2 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 

3 service of or transaction with an agency; and 

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

5 and 

6 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

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

8 at the end; 

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

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

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

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

13 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 

14 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en15 sure that— 

16 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

17 feedback remain anonymous and shall not be traced 

18 to specific individuals or entities; 

19 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par20 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback shall 

21 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 

22 of providing services or information; 

23 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

24 10 questions; 


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1 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

2 clear; 

3 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed4 back will contribute to improved customer service; 

5 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim6 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi7 vidual or entity; 

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

9 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 

10 with an individual or entity; 

11 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed12 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 

13 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

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

15 (9) internal agency data governance policies re16 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol17 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 

18 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 

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

20 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi21 nation with the senior accountable official for customer 

22 service of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feed23 back with respect to services of or transactions with the 

24 covered agency. 

25 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 


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1 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 

2 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 

3 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 

4 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 

5 section that address— 

6 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 

7 entities with the specific interaction or service 

8 received; 

9 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti10 ties were able to accomplish their intended task 

11 or purpose; 

12 (C) whether the individual or entity was 

13 treated with respect and professionalism; 

14 (D) whether the individual or entity be15 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 

16 (E) any additional metrics as determined 

17 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad18 ministrator. 

19 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 

20 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 

21 senior accountable official for customer service at a 

22 covered agency may develop questions relevant to the 

23 specific operations or programs of the covered agen24 cy. 


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1 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 

2 practicable— 

3 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 

4 feedback across all platforms or channels through 

5 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 

6 or other entities to deliver information or services; 

7 and 

8 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec9 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter10 actions with customers of the covered agency. 

11 (d) REPORTS.— 

12 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 

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

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

15 less frequently than annually thereafter, each 

16 covered agency shall publish on the website of 

17 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 

18 in a manner determined by the Director, a re19 port on the voluntary feedback required to be 

20 collected under this section that includes— 

21 (i) the detailed results, including a 

22 summary of how individuals and entities 

23 responded to each question; 

24 (ii) the total number of survey re25 sponses; and 


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1 (iii) the response rate for each survey 

2 administered. 

3 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc4 tor shall— 

5 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

6 available website links to the information 

7 provided on the websites of covered agen8 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

9 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab10 lish a website or make use of an existing 

11 website, such as the website required under 

12 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

13 Code. 

14 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

15 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre16 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

17 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 

18 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita19 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

20 covered agency; 

21 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

22 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol23 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. 

Æ 


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