II 

Calendar No. 111 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1275 

[Report No. 116–46] 

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 

JUNE 10, 2019 

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 2019’’. 


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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 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 Government and helps 

24 agencies achieve greater impact and fulfill their mis25 sions; and 


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1 (6) improving service to individuals requires 

2 agencies to work across organizational boundaries, 

3 leverage technology, collect and share standardized 

4 data, and develop customer-centered mindsets and 

5 service strategies. 

6 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that— 

8 (1) all agencies should strive to provide high9 quality, courteous, effective, and efficient services to 

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

11 collect, report, and utilize metrics relating to the ex12 perience of individuals interacting with agencies to 

13 continually improve services to the people of the 

14 United States; and 

15 (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to en16 sure agency staffing levels that can provide the pub17 lic with appropriate customer service levels. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis21 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv22 ices. 

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

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

25 United States Code. 


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

2 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen3 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol4 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 

5 an assessment of the components and programs of 

6 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 

7 interactions with individuals or entities. 

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

9 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg10 et. 

11 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol12 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

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

14 added by section 4 of this Act. 

15 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

16 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED17 BACK. 

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

19 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

20 Act’’), is amended— 

21 (1) in section 3502, as amended by section 

22 202(a) of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy23 making Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435)— 

24 (A) in paragraph (13)(D) (22), by striking 

25 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (14) (23), by striking the 

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

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

4 ‘‘(1524) the term ‘voluntary feedback’ means 

5 any submission of information, opinion, or concern 

6 that is— 

7 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi8 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 

9 service of or transaction with an agency; and 

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

11 and 

12 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

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

14 at the end; 

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

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

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

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

19 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 

20 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en21 sure that— 

22 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

23 feedback remain anonymous and shall not be traced 

24 to specific individuals or entities; 


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1 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par2 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback shall 

3 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 

4 of providing services or information; 

5 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

6 10 questions; 

7 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

8 clear; 

9 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed10 back will contribute to improved customer service; 

11 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim12 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi13 vidual or entity; 

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

15 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 

16 with an individual or entity; 

17 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed18 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 

19 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

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

21 (9) internal agency data governance policies re22 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol23 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 


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1 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 

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

3 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi4 nation with the senior accountable official for customer 

5 service of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feed6 back with respect to services of or transactions with the 

7 covered agency. 

8 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 

9 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 

10 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 

11 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 

12 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 

13 section that address— 

14 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 

15 entities with the specific interaction or service 

16 received; 

17 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti18 ties were able to accomplish their intended task 

19 or purpose; 

20 (C) whether the individual or entity was 

21 treated with respect and professionalism; 

22 (D) whether the individual or entity be23 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 

24 (E) any additional metrics as determined 

25 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad26 ministrator. 


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1 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 

2 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 

3 senior accountable official for customer service at a 

4 covered agency may develop questions relevant to the 

5 specific operations or programs of the covered agen6 cy. 

7 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 

8 practicable— 

9 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 

10 feedback across all platforms or channels through 

11 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 

12 or other entities to deliver information or services; 

13 and 

14 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec15 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter16 actions with customers of the covered agency. 

17 (d) REPORTS.— 

18 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 

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

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

21 less frequently than annually thereafter, each 

22 covered agency shall publish on the website of 

23 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 

24 in a manner determined by the Director, a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jun 10, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RS S1275

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1 port on the voluntary feedback required to be 

2 collected under this section that includes— 

3 (i) the detailed results, including a 

4 summary of how individuals and entities 

5 responded to each question; 

6 (ii) the total number of survey re7 sponses; and 

8 (iii) the response rate for each survey 

9 administered. 

10 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc11 tor shall— 

12 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

13 available website links to the information 

14 provided on the websites of covered agen15 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

16 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab17 lish a website or make use of an existing 

18 website, such as the website required under 

19 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

20 Code. 

21 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

22 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre23 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

24 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 


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1 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita2 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

3 covered agency; 

4 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

5 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol6 untary feedback conducted; 

7 (C) the questions or survey instrument 

8 submitted to members of the public as part of 

9 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 

10 (D) a description of how the covered agen11 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 

12 covered agency to improve the customer service 

13 of the covered agency. 

14 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE REPORT. 

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

16 the date on which all covered agencies have submitted the 

17 first annual reports to the Director required under section 

18 6(d)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that 

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

20 the United States shall make publicly available and submit 

21 to the Committee on Homeland Security and Govern22 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over23 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives a report 

24 assessing the data collected and reported by the covered 

25 agencies. 


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1 (b) CONTENTS.—The report required under sub2 section (a) shall include— 

3 (1) a summary of the information required to 

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

5 and 

6 (2) a description of how each covered agency 

7 will use the voluntary feedback received by the cov8 ered agency to improve service delivery. 

9 SEC. 8. RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION. 

10 Any information collected pursuant to this Act, or 

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

12 any appraisal of job performance of a Federal employee 

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

14 other provision of law. 


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Calendar No. 111 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1275 

[Report No. 116–46] 

A BILL 

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on 

poses. services provided by agencies, and for other purJUNE 10, 2019 

Reported with amendments 


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