IC 

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116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1275 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 30, 2019 

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and 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 2019’’. 

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 2018 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— 

10 (1) all agencies should strive to provide high11 quality, courteous, effective, and efficient services to 

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

13 collect, report, and utilize metrics relating to the ex14 perience of individuals interacting with agencies to 

15 continually improve services to the people of the 

16 United States; and 

17 (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to en18 sure agency staffing levels that can provide the pub19 lic with appropriate customer service levels. 

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis23 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv24 ices. 


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

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

3 United States Code. 

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

5 agency’’ means an agency or component of an agen6 cy that is required by the Director to collect vol7 untary feedback for purposes of section 6, based on 

8 an assessment of the components and programs of 

9 the agency with the highest impact on or number of 

10 interactions with individuals or entities. 

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

12 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg13 et. 

14 (5) VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—The term ‘‘vol15 untary feedback’’ has the meaning given the term in 

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

17 added by section 4 of this Act. 

18 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE PAPERWORK REDUCTION 

19 ACT TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEED20 BACK. 

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

22 Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction 

23 Act’’), is amended— 


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

2 202(a) of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Pol3 icymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435)— 

4 (A) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 at the end; 

6 (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the pe7 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

9 ‘‘(24) the term ‘voluntary feedback’ means any 

10 submission of information, opinion, or concern that 

11 is— 

12 ‘‘(A) voluntarily made by a specific indi13 vidual or other entity relating to a particular 

14 service of or transaction with an agency; and 

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

16 and 

17 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

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

19 at the end; 

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

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

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

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


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1 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK. 

2 Each agency that solicits voluntary feedback shall en3 sure that— 

4 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

5 feedback remain anonymous and shall not be traced 

6 to specific individuals or entities; 

7 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par8 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary feedback shall 

9 not be treated differently by the agency for purposes 

10 of providing services or information; 

11 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

12 10 questions; 

13 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

14 clear; 

15 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary feed16 back will contribute to improved customer service; 

17 (6) solicitations of voluntary feedback are lim18 ited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an indi19 vidual or entity; 

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

21 voluntary feedback is made at the point of service 

22 with an individual or entity; 

23 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary feed24 back are accessible to individuals with disabilities in 

25 accordance with section 508 of the Rehabilitation 

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


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1 (9) internal agency data governance policies re2 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol3 untary feedback from individuals and entities. 

4 SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION. 

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

6 covered agency (or a designee), assisted by and in coordi7 nation with the senior accountable official for customer 

8 service of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary feed9 back with respect to services of or transactions with the 

10 covered agency. 

11 (b) CONTENT OF QUESTIONS.— 

12 (1) STANDARDIZED QUESTIONS.—The Director, 

13 in coordination with the Administrator, shall develop 

14 a set of standardized questions for use by covered 

15 agencies in collecting voluntary feedback under this 

16 section that address— 

17 (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or 

18 entities with the specific interaction or service 

19 received; 

20 (B) the extent to which individuals or enti21 ties were able to accomplish their intended task 

22 or purpose; 

23 (C) whether the individual or entity was 

24 treated with respect and professionalism; 


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1 (D) whether the individual or entity be2 lieves they were served in a timely manner; and 

3 (E) any additional metrics as determined 

4 by the Director, in coordination with the Ad5 ministrator. 

6 (2) ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.—In addition to 

7 the questions developed under paragraph (1), the 

8 senior accountable official for customer service at a 

9 covered agency may develop questions relevant to the 

10 specific operations or programs of the covered agen11 cy. 

12 (c) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—To the extent 

13 practicable— 

14 (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary 

15 feedback across all platforms or channels through 

16 which the covered agency interacts with individuals 

17 or other entities to deliver information or services; 

18 and 

19 (2) voluntary feedback collected under this sec20 tion shall be tied to specific transactions or inter21 actions with customers of the covered agency. 

22 (d) REPORTS.— 

23 (1) ANNUAL REPORT TO THE DIRECTOR.— 

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

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


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1 less frequently than annually thereafter, each 

2 covered agency shall publish on the website of 

3 the covered agency and submit to the Director, 

4 in a manner determined by the Director, a re5 port on the voluntary feedback required to be 

6 collected under this section that includes— 

7 (i) the detailed results, including a 

8 summary of how individuals and entities 

9 responded to each question; 

10 (ii) the total number of survey re11 sponses; and 

12 (iii) the response rate for each survey 

13 administered. 

14 (B) CENTRALIZED WEBSITE.—The Direc15 tor shall— 

16 (i) include and maintain on a publicly 

17 available website links to the information 

18 provided on the websites of covered agen19 cies under subparagraph (A); and 

20 (ii) for purposes of clause (i), estab21 lish a website or make use of an existing 

22 website, such as the website required under 

23 section 1122 of title 31, United States 

24 Code. 


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1 (2) AGGREGATED REPORT.—Each covered 

2 agency shall publish, on a regular basis, an aggre3 gated report on the solicitation of voluntary feedback 

4 sent to individuals or entities, which shall include— 

5 (A) the intended purpose of each solicita6 tion of voluntary feedback conducted by the 

7 covered agency; 

8 (B) the appropriate point of contact within 

9 each covered agency for each solicitation of vol10 untary feedback conducted; 

11 (C) the questions or survey instrument 

12 submitted to members of the public as part of 

13 the solicitation of voluntary information; and 

14 (D) a description of how the covered agen15 cy uses the voluntary feedback received by the 

16 covered agency to improve the customer service 

17 of the covered agency. 

18 SEC. 7. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE REPORT. 

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

20 the date on which all covered agencies have submitted the 

21 first annual reports to the Director required under section 

22 6(d)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the date that 

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

24 the United States shall make publicly available and submit 

25 to the Committee on Homeland Security and GovernVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:21 Aug 21, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1275.RFH S1275

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1 mental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Over2 sight and Reform of the House of Representatives a report 

3 assessing the data collected and reported by the covered 

4 agencies. 

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) a description of how each covered agency 

11 will use the voluntary feedback received by the cov12 ered agency to improve service delivery. 

13 SEC. 8. RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION. 

14 Any information collected pursuant to this Act, or 

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

16 any appraisal of job performance of a Federal employee 

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

18 other provision of law. 

Passed the Senate July 25, 2019. 

Attest: JULIE E. ADAMS, 

Secretary. 


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