I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3609 

To improve public trust in the Federal Government by establishing customer 

experience as a central measure of performance for agencies and the 

Federal Government, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 28, 2021 

Mr. LOUDERMILK (for himself and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and 

in addition to the Committee on Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To improve public trust in the Federal Government by establishing customer experience as a central measure of performance for agencies and the Federal Government, 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 ‘‘Trust in Public Service 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Although the public believes that the Fed2 eral Government serves an indispensable role and 

3 often performs quite well, overall trust in the Fed4 eral Government is at historic lows. 

5 (2) Agencies face competing requirements and 

6 respond to evolving and diverse needs in a context 

7 of uncertainty and constrained resources. To per8 form this challenging job for the benefit of the pub9 lic, experimentation, learning, and failure should be 

10 expected and welcomed. Congress must support 

11 agencies throughout this process by balancing tradi12 tional oversight with dedicated efforts to celebrate 

13 progress and locate setbacks within a broader con14 text. 

15 (3) Improving public trust requires delivering 

16 tangible results that address the needs of the public, 

17 including those needs that span agencies or require 

18 coordination with State, local, Tribal, or territorial 

19 governments. But improving public trust also re20 quires the Federal Government to consider much 

21 more deeply how interaction with the public shapes 

22 public perceptions and how communication by the 

23 Federal Government can provide better context on 

24 the many ways in which the Federal Government 

25 serves the public. 


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1 (4) In terms of public interaction, whether seek2 ing a small business loan, veterans’ services, Social 

3 Security benefits, or other service or information, 

4 the people of the United States deserve a customer 

5 experience that matches or exceeds that of leading 

6 private sector organizations. This level of customer 

7 experience means experiences are seamless, con8 nected, inclusive, effective, consistent, and reliable. 

9 (5) Customer experience (commonly referred to 

10 as ‘‘CX’’) is a vital means for agencies to pursue 

11 their missions in a more effective and responsive 

12 way and at a lower cost, as research shows that cus13 tomer experience is linked to— 

14 (A) more accurate and timely data submis15 sions; 

16 (B) increased feedback that improves serv17 ices through 3 different means, which include— 

18 (i) process, procedure, product, or 

19 safety improvement; 

20 (ii) uncovering unmet customer needs 

21 that require a new or innovative approach; 

22 and 

23 (iii) informing leadership decision 

24 making so that agencies are grounded in 

25 improving customer outcomes; 


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1 (C) improved compliance with agency regu2 lations and guidance; and 

3 (D) improved workforce morale and reten4 tion. 

5 (6) Customer experience is also highly cor6 related with public trust in the Federal Government 

7 and is therefore essential for broader efforts of the 

8 Federal Government to earn and maintain the con9 sent of the governed. 

10 (7) Yet the Forrester’s 2020 Federal Customer 

11 Experience Index noted that Federal customer expe12 rience lags behind all sectors of private industry. 

13 While the Federal Government faces constraints that 

14 the private sector does not face, including competing 

15 requirements, such as balancing speed and com16 bating fraud, an obligation to serve the entire public, 

17 less nimble workforce and hiring policies, and per18 sonnel and spending constraints, the Federal Gov19 ernment has both the ability and imperative to im20 prove customer experience. 

21 (8) Research also shows a strong correlation be22 tween employee engagement and the quality of cus23 tomer experience. Employees provide better cus24 tomer experience when they feel valued and identify 

25 with the missions of their agencies, and, as customer 


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1 experience and confidence in the agency improves, 

2 those employees become even more committed, cre3 ative, and professional. 

4 (9) The Federal Government has made signifi5 cant progress on improving customer experience, in6 cluding through— 

7 (A) efforts within the General Services Ad8 ministration, such as the 18F Office, the 10X 

9 Program, the U.S. Web Design System, the 

10 Digital.gov communities and website, and the 

11 Presidential Innovation Fellows Program; 

12 (B) the Smarter IT Schedule A hiring au13 thority issued by the Director of the Office of 

14 Personnel Management; 

15 (C) the Technology Modernization Fund 

16 established under section 1078 of the National 

17 Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 

18 (40 U.S.C. 11301 note), which provides broad 

19 authority for information technology moderniza20 tion to improve customer experience and public21 facing digital services; 

22 (D) efforts on employee engagement by the 

23 Office of Personnel Management and the Office 

24 of Management and Budget; 

25 (E) the United States Digital Service; 


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1 (F) Executive Order 12862 (31 U.S.C. 

2 501 note; relating to setting customer service 

3 standards) and Executive Order 13571 (76 

4 Fed. Reg. 24339; relating to streamlining serv5 ice delivery and improving customer service); 

6 (G) efforts of the executive branch as of 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, including— 

8 (i) Section 280 of Circular A11 Part 

9 6 (2021) of the Office of Management and 

10 Budget; and 

11 (ii) the establishment of dedicated in12 dividuals at the Office of Management and 

13 Budget to work on cross-agency customer 

14 experience initiatives and information col15 lection reviews; 

16 (H) the designation of high-impact service 

17 providers and the sharing of feedback perform18 ance data, customer experience capacity assess19 ments, and customer experience action plans on 

20 a dedicated website; 

21 (I) individual agencies that are early 

22 adopters of customer experience approaches, in23 cluding the Veterans Experience Office of the 

24 Department of Veterans Affairs; and 

25 (J) legislation, including— 


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1 (i) the Digital Accountability and 

2 Transparency Act of 2014 (31 U.S.C. 

3 6101 note); 

4 (ii) the 21st Century Integrated Dig5 ital Experience Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 note); 

6 and 

7 (iii) pending legislation. 

8 (10) With respect to communication, agencies 

9 have both a constitutional duty and an operational 

10 imperative to better communicate how those agen11 cies serve the public, including through stories of 

12 human-level impact, compelling design, and inter13 active platforms that make the public feel valued 

14 and included, particularly if agencies work in 

15 counterintuitive, preventative, or subtle ways. 

16 (11) A push towards open government, in par17 ticular through data.gov, performance.gov, chal18 lenge.gov, and other transparency efforts, are vital 

19 steps to improving public confidence and decision20 making and service delivery. Additionally, open data 

21 is a vital service for the public that researchers, 

22 businesses, nonprofit organizations, and the public 

23 alike can use to innovate, promote economic growth, 

24 and take an active role in improving communities 

25 alongside the Federal Government. 


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1 (12) But open government is not enough. To 

2 truly nourish a debate about the achievements and 

3 role of the Federal Government, rather than simply 

4 making information available, agencies must commu5 nicate their mandates, performance, and data in a 

6 manner that ensures that the public understands the 

7 broader context in which those agencies operate and 

8 the real-world impact of those agencies. 

9 (13) In performing the tasks described in para10 graph (12), the Federal Government has broad lati11 tude to communicate to the public in tailored, cre12 ative, and compelling ways. Provisions in annual ap13 propriations Acts typically bar agencies from engag14 ing in impermissible publicity or propaganda. Al15 though those provisions prohibit agencies from en16 gaging in self-aggrandizement, covert propaganda 

17 and purely partisan communications, those provi18 sions do not restrict agencies from engaging in le19 gitimate activities to inform the public about agency 

20 programs. Full compliance with those provisions pre21 sents no bar for an agency to fully implement the 

22 activities authorized and encouraged in this Act. As 

23 necessary, agencies may seek decisions and informal 

24 technical assistance from the Comptroller General of 


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1 the United States concerning the applicability of 

2 prohibitions against publicity or propaganda. 

3 (14) USA.gov and other-Government wide plat4 forms, such as login.gov, have the potential to be5 come interactive, personalized, and compelling por6 tals to the Federal Government and enable the pub7 lic to both address its needs, learn about the myriad 

8 ways in which the Federal Government improves the 

9 lives of the public, and develop a greater sense of 

10 pride in the Federal Government. However, the cur11 rent incarnations of Government-wide communica12 tion platforms fall well short of this vision. 

13 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

14 Is it the sense of Congress that— 

15 (1) agencies must— 

16 (A) continue to develop customer-centered 

17 mindsets as a means to providing high-quality, 

18 responsive, inclusive, reliable, transparent, em19 pathetic, courteous, and efficient services to the 

20 people of the United States; and 

21 (B) use public feedback and human-cen22 tered design practices to continually improve 

23 services; 

24 (2) all agency interaction with the public must 

25 be seen as an invaluable opportunity to strengthen 


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1 the bond of trust between the people of the United 

2 States and the Federal Government as a whole; 

3 (3) to this end, the Federal Government 

4 must— 

5 (A) adopt a whole-of-Government, inte6 grated, and enterprise approach to service deliv7 ery; 

8 (B) build out the technical capacity of the 

9 Federal Government, as has been done with the 

10 establishment of the United States Digital 

11 Service and the Technology Transformation 

12 Service of the General Services Administration, 

13 that creates a strategy, accountability, and per14 formance framework for identifying and defin15 ing experiences and managing improvements 

16 across agency delivery systems; 

17 (C) enhance customer experience based on 

18 an understanding of true needs of the public, 

19 rather solely on individual agency or program 

20 mandates; 

21 (D) identify ambitious agency and Govern22 ment-wide customer experience priorities; 

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1 ment, as consistency is central to building Gov2 ernment-wide trust; and 

3 (F) mobilize resources to support the Chief 

4 of Staffs, Chief Operating Officers, or equiva5 lent officials, of agencies and hold those offi6 cials accountable for customer experience 

7 through statutorily-established councils, such as 

8 the Performance Improvement Council, the 

9 Chief Information Officers Council, the Chief 

10 Data Officers Council, the Evaluation Officer 

11 Council, the Chief Human Capital Officers 

12 Council, and the President’s Management 

13 Council; 

14 (4) while the imperative to improve customer 

15 experience particularly applies to high-impact service 

16 providers, which have frequent interaction with the 

17 public or high profiles, all agencies, no matter the 

18 scope of the mission of an agency or the manner in 

19 which an agency works, have an obligation and op20 portunity to proactively and effectively communicate 

21 how those agencies serve the public as a means to22 wards increasing responsiveness and contributing to 

23 public trust in the Federal Government; 

24 (5) to understand if information is effectively 

25 communicated by agencies, agency communication 


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1 must be tailored to ensure the public receives and 

2 understands information through— 

3 (A) human-level stories; 

4 (B) proactive outreach; 

5 (C) modern design, including multimedia; 

6 (D) opportunities for public participation; 

7 and 

8 (E) feedback and testing; 

9 (6) to inspire Federal employees and contrac10 tors to serve the public in a responsive, creative, and 

11 professional manner, agencies must improve em12 ployee engagement, including by— 

13 (A) regularly soliciting and responding to 

14 employee feedback and improving internal agen15 cy services, such as human resources and infor16 mation technology; and 

17 (B) using human-centered design practices; 

18 and 

19 (7) similarly, when agencies provide information 

20 or services to each other, these interactions should 

21 be characterized by effectiveness, ease, and respon22 siveness to help enable fellow agencies to provide the 

23 public with high-quality customer experience. 

24 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AGENCY; CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE; EM2 PLOYEE ENGAGEMENT; FEDERAL CUSTOMER; FED3 ERAL EMPLOYEE; HIGH-IMPACT SERVICE PROVIDER; 

4 VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.—The terms 

5 ‘‘agency’’, ‘‘customer experience’’, ‘‘employee engage6 ment’’, ‘‘Federal customer’’, ‘‘Federal employee’’, 

7 ‘‘high-impact service provider’’, and ‘‘voluntary cus8 tomer feedback’’ have the meaning given those terms 

9 in section 321 of title 5, United States Code, as 

10 added by this Act. 

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

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

14 (3) PROPAGANDA AND PUBLICITY.—The term 

15 ‘‘propaganda and publicity’’ means information pro16 duced and disseminated by an agency that is— 

17 (A) self-aggrandizing or seeks to inflate 

18 the reputation of an official; 

19 (B) a covert communication in which the 

20 agency does not disclose that the agency is the 

21 source of the communication; or 

22 (C) purely partisan in nature. 


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1 SEC. 5. ELEVATING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND EM2 PLOYEE ENGAGEMENT WITHIN THE FEDERAL 

3 GOVERNMENT. 

4 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, 

5 PUBLIC COMMUNICATION, AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGE6 MENT.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 3 of title 5, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘Subchapter III—Federal Customer 

11 Experience 

12 ‘‘§ 321. Definitions 

13 ‘‘In this subchapter: 

14 ‘‘(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘agency’— 

15 ‘‘(A) has the meaning give the term in sec16 tion 306(f); and 

17 ‘‘(B) includes the United States Postal 

18 Service. 

19 ‘‘(2) CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.—The term ‘cus20 tomer experience’— 

21 ‘‘(A) means the ways in which the Federal 

22 Government and agencies consider Federal cus23 tomers at the center of the decision making 

24 process, including by— 

25 ‘‘(i) understanding needs from the 

26 perspective of a Federal customer; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) considering the entire journey of 

2 a Federal customer, instead of simply the 

3 point of service; 

4 ‘‘(iii) soliciting and considering vol5 untary customer feedback; and 

6 ‘‘(iv) measuring performance; and 

7 ‘‘(B) includes a consideration of the factors 

8 within any interaction between a Federal cus9 tomer and an agency, or between agencies, in10 cluding, with respect to the interaction— 

11 ‘‘(i) ease; 

12 ‘‘(ii) effectiveness; 

13 ‘‘(iii) emotional effect; 

14 ‘‘(iv) perception or trust; 

15 ‘‘(v) Federal employee interaction; 

16 and 

17 ‘‘(vi) any other factor that impacts 

18 the overall trust, satisfaction, and con19 fidence of the customer in a program, an 

20 agency, or the Federal Government as a 

21 whole. 

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

23 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg24 et. 


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1 ‘‘(4) EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT.—The term ‘em2 ployee engagement’ means— 

3 ‘‘(A) the heightened sense of commitment 

4 of a Federal employee or contractor to the 

5 agency for which the Federal employee works or 

6 the contractor performs services and the Fed7 eral customers served by the Federal employee 

8 or contractor that results in a more efficient, 

9 effective, creative, or courteous outcome; and 

10 ‘‘(B) the extent to which a Federal em11 ployee or contractor— 

12 ‘‘(i) finds personal meaning and pride 

13 in the work of the Federal employee or 

14 contractor; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) with respect to the agency served 

16 by the Federal employee or contractor, 

17 feels— 

18 ‘‘(I) a sense of belonging in the 

19 culture of work of the agency; 

20 ‘‘(II) valued by the agency and 

21 the public; and 

22 ‘‘(III) that the agency regularly 

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1 sights from the Federal employee or 

2 contractor. 

3 ‘‘(5) FEDERAL CUSTOMER.—The term ‘Federal 

4 customer’— 

5 ‘‘(A) means— 

6 ‘‘(i) a member of the public of the 

7 United States; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) an entity that is directly im9 pacted by the Federal Government, includ10 ing— 

11 ‘‘(I) member of the public of the 

12 United States, a business, an organi13 zation, or an agency of a State or unit 

14 of local government, Tribal, or terri15 torial that interacts with an agency or 

16 Federal program— 

17 ‘‘(aa) directly; 

18 ‘‘(bb) through a Federal 

19 contractor; or 

20 ‘‘(cc) through a federally 

21 funded program; 

22 ‘‘(II) an applicant for a Federal 

23 job, a Federal employee, a contractor, 

24 or a volunteer of the Federal Govern25 ment that interacts with an agency or 


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1 an internal process of an agency, in2 cluding— 

3 ‘‘(aa) hiring; 

4 ‘‘(bb) on-boarding; 

5 ‘‘(cc) human resources; 

6 ‘‘(dd) information tech7 nology services; and 

8 ‘‘(ee) efforts to improve 

9 agency performance, including by 

10 suggesting process improvements 

11 or reporting fraud, waste, or 

12 abuse; 

13 ‘‘(III) an agency that relies on 

14 another agency for information or 

15 services; and 

16 ‘‘(IV) the recipient of a Federal 

17 award, including a contract, grant, or 

18 loan. 

19 ‘‘(6) FEDERAL EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘Federal 

20 employee’ has the meaning given the term ‘employee’ 

21 in section 2105 of title 5, United States Code. 

22 ‘‘(7) HIGH-IMPACT SERVICE PROVIDER.—The 

23 term ‘high-impact service provider’ means an agency 

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1 impact service provider in guidance issued by the Di2 rector under section 323(b)(4). 

3 ‘‘(8) HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN.—The term 

4 ‘human-centered design’ means an approach towards 

5 designing interactive systems, processes, products, 

6 services, or information that aims to make those sys7 tems, processes, products, services, or information 

8 more usable and useful by— 

9 ‘‘(A) focusing on the users of the systems, 

10 processes, or information and the needs and re11 quirements of those users; and 

12 ‘‘(B) applying knowledge of human factors 

13 and learning from human feedback and inter14 actions with similar systems, processes, or in15 formation. 

16 ‘‘(9) VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.—The 

17 term ‘voluntary customer feedback’ means the sub18 mission of information, an opinion, appreciation, or 

19 a concern by a Federal customer following an inter20 action with an agency that is— 

21 ‘‘(A) solicited by the agency and identified 

22 as voluntary in the solicitation; and 

23 ‘‘(B) voluntarily made by the Federal cus24 tomer relating to the particular service of, or 

25 interaction with, the agency. 


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1 ‘‘§ 322. Agency requirements 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency, in 

3 order to effectively pursue the mission of the agency, shall 

4 develop a high-quality customer experience by— 

5 ‘‘(1) allocating sufficient resources to and 

6 prioritizing— 

7 ‘‘(A) customer experience capabilities; and 

8 ‘‘(B) initiatives that may cut across budget 

9 accounts or program activities; 

10 ‘‘(2) requesting and drawing on new expertise 

11 and tools relating to customer experience; 

12 ‘‘(3) adapting Government-wide and global good 

13 practices relating to customer experience; 

14 ‘‘(4) ensuring that the process of each agency 

15 for soliciting voluntary customer feedback is as 

16 streamlined as possible and requires limited internal 

17 review if the collection is within the scope of the 

18 guidance provided by the Director; 

19 ‘‘(5) making use of customer experience re20 sources of the Federal Government; and 

21 ‘‘(6) using human-centered design practices. 

22 ‘‘(b) TOOLS.—The head of each agency shall— 

23 ‘‘(1) develop and use tools to— 

24 ‘‘(A) experiment with different approaches 

25 to improve customer experience; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) collect qualitative and quantitative 

2 data on customer experience as Federal cus3 tomers engage with the agency in a routine, 

4 flexible manner, including through human-cen5 tered design practices; 

6 ‘‘(2) ensure the tools developed under para7 graph (1) ensure the privacy of Federal customers; 

8 ‘‘(3) use the data collected under paragraph 

9 (1)(B) to continually improve customer experience 

10 and agency performance; and 

11 ‘‘(4) share the data collected under paragraph 

12 (1)(B) with research entities to allow for external 

13 analysis. 

14 ‘‘(c) VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The head of each agency 

16 shall, as appropriate, solicit voluntary customer feed17 back from Federal customers. 

18 ‘‘(2) ASSISTANCE.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall as20 sist the heads of agencies in carrying out para21 graph (1) by— 

22 ‘‘(i) ensuring that the process for 

23 agencies to submit voluntary customer 

24 feedback surveys for approval is as clear 

25 and streamlined as possible; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) assisting the heads of agencies in 

2 collaborating with other agencies and 

3 State, local, Tribal, and territorial govern4 ments to understand and respond to the 

5 needs of Federal customers— 

6 ‘‘(I) from the perspectives of 

7 those customers; and 

8 ‘‘(II) not solely from the perspec9 tive of the mandates of the agency. 

10 ‘‘(B) EXAMPLE.—An example of a situa11 tion in which the Director shall assist heads of 

12 agencies under subparagraph (A)(ii)(II) is when 

13 an opportunity for cross-agency collaboration 

14 exists that meets the demonstrated interest of 

15 the public of the United States. 

16 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS.—With respect to any vol17 untary customer feedback solicited by the head of an 

18 agency, the head of the agency— 

19 ‘‘(A) may not use the voluntary customer 

20 feedback as a basis to provide a Federal cus21 tomer with inferior service; and 

22 ‘‘(B) shall consider privacy concerns and, 

23 as appropriate, anonymize the voluntary cus24 tomer feedback to— 

25 ‘‘(i) allow for candid feedback; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) protect privacy. 

2 ‘‘(d) AGENCY COMMUNICATION RESPONSIBILITIES.— 

3 ‘‘(1) PUBLIC UNDERSTANDING.—The head of 

4 each agency shall seek to— 

5 ‘‘(A) increase public understanding of the 

6 mandate of the agency, including the statutes 

7 under which the agency operates and from 

8 which the agency derives the mission of the 

9 agency; 

10 ‘‘(B) provide the public with historical and 

11 broader context of programs, policies, context, 

12 and achievements of the agency, including 

13 human level stories of the impact of the agency; 

14 ‘‘(C) employ shared design solutions, effec15 tive human-centered design practices, modern 

16 design tools, interactive platforms, and innova17 tive participation methods to engage the public 

18 in the policy process of the agency; and 

19 ‘‘(D) tailor the content and format of com20 munications of the agency based on regional or 

21 demographic considerations and human-cen22 tered design practices. 

23 ‘‘(2) TOOLS.—The head of each agency shall 

24 develop and use tools to understand the progress of 


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1 the agency towards achieving the requirements 

2 under paragraph (1), including— 

3 ‘‘(A) testing; 

4 ‘‘(B) feedback; 

5 ‘‘(C) focus groups; 

6 ‘‘(D) public participation; and 

7 ‘‘(E) human-centered design practices and 

8 co-design processes. 

9 ‘‘(e) AGENCY CONSULTATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

11 annually, the head of each agency shall consult with 

12 the agencies or offices described in section 323(c)(1) 

13 to ensure that the customer experience and commu14 nications approaches of the agency— 

15 ‘‘(A) are engaging and interactive; 

16 ‘‘(B) incorporate good practices from the 

17 private sector and human-centered design; and 

18 ‘‘(C) employ cutting edge digital tools, in19 cluding application programming interfaces and 

20 social media and digital experiences. 

21 ‘‘(2) HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES.—Not less fre22 quently than annually, the head of each agency shall 

23 consult with the National Archives and Records Ad24 ministration, the Library of Congress, or the histo25 rians of other relevant entities to obtain advice and 


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1 multimedia content relating to the historical per2 formance of the agency that can be used to provide 

3 context on the origins and roles of the agency 

4 throughout history, including human level stories of 

5 the impact of the agency. 

6 ‘‘§ 323. OMB Customer experience guidance 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of the Trust in Public 

10 Service Act, the Director shall issue the guidance de11 scribed in subsection (b) for— 

12 ‘‘(A) agencies; and 

13 ‘‘(B) components of agencies, as appro14 priate. 

15 ‘‘(2) FORMAT.—The Director may issue the 

16 guidance required under paragraph (1) in a format 

17 chosen by the Director, which may include Circular 

18 A–11 of the Office of Management and Budget. 

19 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—The guidance described in this 

20 subsection is as follows: 

21 ‘‘(1) Guidance consistent with this subchapter 

22 to assist agencies in achieving high-quality customer 

23 experience and continually improving service delivery 

24 across the Federal Government. 


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1 ‘‘(2) Guidance that requires an agency or com2 ponent of an agency to include principles of cus3 tomer experience in— 

4 ‘‘(A) standard operating procedures of the 

5 agency or component of the agency; 

6 ‘‘(B) rules (as defined in section 551 of 

7 title 5, United States Code) issued by the agen8 cy or component of the agency; and 

9 ‘‘(C) similar documents of the agency or 

10 component of the agency. 

11 ‘‘(3) Guidance that— 

12 ‘‘(A) requires an agency to communicate 

13 the impact of programs of the agency to the 

14 public, including through communication that— 

15 ‘‘(i) is human-centered, including 

16 multimedia and good design; 

17 ‘‘(ii) uses stories of human impact; 

18 ‘‘(iii) allows for the public to con19 tribute personal accounts; 

20 ‘‘(iv) is participatory in nature; and 

21 ‘‘(v) is tailored to regional or demo22 graphic considerations; and 

23 ‘‘(B) reminds agencies that, although pro24 visions of annual appropriations Acts typically 

25 bar agencies from engaging in impermissible 


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1 publicity or propaganda, including self-aggran2 dizement, covert propaganda, and purely par3 tisan communications, those provisions do not 

4 restrict agencies from engaging in legitimate ac5 tivities to inform the public about agency pro6 grams through a communication described in 

7 subparagraph (A). 

8 ‘‘(4) Guidance in which the Director designates 

9 certain agencies or components of agencies as high10 impact service providers based on the following con11 siderations: 

12 ‘‘(A) Whether an agency or component has 

13 a large base of Federal customers served by the 

14 agency or component. 

15 ‘‘(B) Whether an agency or component has 

16 a high impact on Federal customers served by 

17 the agency or component. 

18 ‘‘(C) Whether, with respect to an agency 

19 or component, the public exchanges time, 

20 money, or information with the agency or com21 ponent to receive a good, service, or authoriza22 tion. 

23 ‘‘(D) Whether agencies or components 

24 have high-profile Federal customer-facing serv25 ices, regulatory functions, or informational 


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1 roles, including operating websites or commu2 nication portals of the Federal Government, 

3 such as usa.gov. 

4 ‘‘(E) Other agencies or components, based 

5 on factors that give the agency or component 

6 an ability to positively or negatively influence 

7 the public perception of the Federal Govern8 ment. 

9 ‘‘(5) Guidance that, with respect to high-impact 

10 service providers— 

11 ‘‘(A) establishes service standards, as ap12 propriate; 

13 ‘‘(B) emphasizes resources, expectations, 

14 and good practices, including the use of human15 centered design; and 

16 ‘‘(C) requires high-impact service providers 

17 to publicly commit to, and report on, Federal 

18 customer experience standards, as appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(6) Guidance that, with respect to agencies or 

20 components of agencies that are not high-impact 

21 service providers— 

22 ‘‘(A) highlights that those agencies and 

23 components have an obligation to find creative 

24 means to inform the public about the ways in 


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1 which those agencies or components serve the 

2 public; and 

3 ‘‘(B) emphasizes expectations, resources, 

4 and good practices, including the use of human5 centered design, for those agencies and compo6 nents, including maximizing the contribution of 

7 the agency or component to overall trust in the 

8 Federal Government. 

9 ‘‘(7) Guidance that, with respect to voluntary 

10 customer feedback— 

11 ‘‘(A) provides agencies with best practices, 

12 templates, and standards for collecting quali13 tative and quantitative data relating to Govern14 ment-wide customer experience and voluntary 

15 customer feedback; 

16 ‘‘(B) enables cross-agency benchmarking 

17 and the improvement of customer experience; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(C) includes— 

20 ‘‘(i) guidelines and support for user 

21 data collected from websites and forms re22 lating to customer experience, including 

23 visits, task completion rates, time taken, 

24 drop out points, and other relevant areas; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) guidance on voluntary customer 

2 feedback data collection relating to user 

3 comprehension and satisfaction, including 

4 guidance for how agencies should commu5 nicate the purpose of a data collection re6 quest and how the agency uses voluntary 

7 customer feedback to influence the policy 

8 and programs of the agency. 

9 ‘‘(8) Guidance that identifies any privacy risks 

10 to Federal customers and how those risks and miti11 gation measures for those risks should be commu12 nicated to the public. 

13 ‘‘(9) Guidance that clearly explains the process 

14 by which agencies and components of agencies shall 

15 solicit voluntary customer feedback and other learn16 ing and feedback tools, such as focus groups and 

17 usability testing, which shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) balance— 

19 ‘‘(i) quality control and risk manage20 ment relating to the solicitation of vol21 untary customer feedback; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) reducing unnecessary delay or 

23 burdens on agencies and components of 

24 agencies that inhibit or slow the solicita25 tion of voluntary customer feedback; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) outline a streamlined process for 

2 agencies and components of agencies that dem3 onstrate the capability to design and conduct 

4 high-quality Federal customer surveys or other 

5 capabilities that— 

6 ‘‘(i) may include— 

7 ‘‘(I) blanket approvals; and 

8 ‘‘(II) waivers; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) does not require re-approval for 

10 minimal changes. 

11 ‘‘(10) Guidance that requires Government-wide 

12 employee engagement, including— 

13 ‘‘(A) the Federal Employee Viewpoint Sur14 vey of the Office of Personnel Management; 

15 ‘‘(B) as appropriate, the collection of addi16 tional, real-time voluntary qualitative and quan17 titative feedback from Federal employees; and 

18 ‘‘(C) the development of an explicit em19 ployee engagement measure by the Director of 

20 the Office of Personnel Management that aligns 

21 with existing public sector employee engage22 ment measures. 

23 ‘‘(11) Guidance that includes best practices on 

24 the appropriate use of metrics by agencies that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) promotes true improvement and 

2 learning and the right incentives for Federal 

3 employees and the leadership of agencies; and 

4 ‘‘(B) in order to avoid metrics that create 

5 perverse incentives, clarifies that certain cus6 tomer experience or employee engagement 

7 measures should not be used for adverse per8 sonnel actions or promotion. 

9 ‘‘(c) COLLABORATION.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In developing the guidance 

11 issued under subsection (a), the Director shall col12 laborate with— 

13 ‘‘(A) the Administrator of General Services 

14 with respect to customer experience good prac15 tices, including the use of human-centered de16 sign, data collection and use, usability testing, 

17 evaluation science, behavioral science, human18 centered design, the use of agency websites and 

19 digital communication tools, and personnel sup20 port; 

21 ‘‘(B) the Director of the Office of Per22 sonnel Management with respect to— 

23 ‘‘(i) employee engagement; 

24 ‘‘(ii) hiring authorities for recruiting 

25 subject matter experts; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) developing a customer experi2 ence-oriented workforce; 

3 ‘‘(C) the Administrator of the United 

4 States Digital Service with respect to personnel, 

5 human-centered design, digital experience good 

6 practices, and innovation; 

7 ‘‘(D) the Office of Information and Regu8 latory Affairs and the Office of the Federal 

9 Chief Information Officer of the Office of Man10 agement and Budget with respect to— 

11 ‘‘(i) providing technical assistance in 

12 Government-wide data collection; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) balancing— 

14 ‘‘(I) the quality control of agency 

15 data collection requests; and 

16 ‘‘(II) reducing unnecessary delay 

17 or burdens on agencies, particularly 

18 with voluntary customer feedback and 

19 focus groups; 

20 ‘‘(E) the Office of Science and Technology 

21 Policy with respect to good practices in behav22 ioral sciences and human-centered design; 

23 ‘‘(F) the National Archives and Records 

24 Administration and the Library of Congress 

25 with respect to historical context, multimedia, 


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1 and stories of agency achievement throughout 

2 history; and 

3 ‘‘(G) any other entity determined appro4 priate by the Director. 

5 ‘‘(2) SUPPORT.—In collaborating with the enti6 ties described in paragraph (1), the Director shall 

7 ensure that those entities have sufficient resources 

8 to carry out the collaboration. 

9 ‘‘(d) UPDATES.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

10 on which guidance is issued under subsection (a), and an11 nually thereafter, the Director shall update the guid12 ance.’’. 

13 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec14 tions for chapter 3, United States Code, is amended 

15 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER III—FEDERAL CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

‘‘321. Definitions. 

‘‘322. Agency requirements. 

‘‘323. OMB Customer experience guidance.’’. 

16 SEC. 6. RECOGNIZING EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE AND 

17 EARLY ADOPTERS. 

18 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director may establish 1 

19 or more programs that, on an annual basis, recognize indi20 viduals and teams across the Federal workforce, the dedi21 cation of which supports— 


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1 (1) the early adoption of innovative customer 

2 experience tools or human-centered design practices 

3 by an agency to improve— 

4 (A) performance; 

5 (B) customer experience; or 

6 (C) public communication; or 

7 (2) the exceptional delivery by an agency of— 

8 (A) results that aligns with the mission of 

9 the agency; 

10 (B) customer experience; 

11 (C) public communication; and 

12 (D) the accountable stewardship of re13 sources. 

14 (b) PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.—A program established 

15 under subsection (a) may involve a mechanism to foster 

16 participation in the recognition efforts of the program 

17 by— 

18 (1) members of the general public; 

19 (2) Federal employees; and 

20 (3) members of Congress or congressional com21 mittees. 

22 (c) PUBLIC COMMUNICATION.—A program estab23 lished under subsection (a) may include year-round and 

24 interactive public communication efforts to ensure that the 

25 achievements of individuals and teams recognized by the 


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1 program are communicated to the public in a manner 

2 that— 

3 (1) is compelling; 

4 (2) is tailored to regional and demographic con5 siderations; and 

6 (3) emphasizes the breadth and scope of ongo7 ing and exceptional efforts of the Federal Govern8 ment to serve the public. 

9 SEC. 7. INTEGRATING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE INTO TI10 TLES 5 AND 31. 

11 (a) TITLE 5 AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (1) AGENCY STRATEGIC PLANS.—Section 306 

13 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

14 (A) in subsection (a)— 

15 (i) in paragraph (8)— 

16 (I) by inserting ‘‘and agency cus17 tomer feedback data’’ after ‘‘the pro18 gram evaluations’’; and 

19 (II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

20 (ii) in paragraph (9)(F), by striking 

21 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

22 and’’; and 

23 (iii) by adding at the end the fol24 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(10) a description of how the goals and objec2 tives of the agency contribute to improved customer 

3 experience and public confidence in the agency.’’; 

4 and 

5 (B) in subsection (f)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘section the term’’ and 

7 inserting ‘‘section— 

8 ‘‘(1) the term’’; 

9 (ii) in paragraph (1), as so des10 ignated, by striking the period at the end 

11 and inserting a semi colon; and 

12 (iii) by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘agency customer’ means a Fed15 eral customer of an agency; and 

16 ‘‘(3) the term ‘customer experience’ and ‘Fed17 eral customer’ have the meanings given those terms 

18 in section 321.’’. 

19 (2) AGENCY EVIDENCE-BUILDING PLAN.—Sec20 tion 312(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amend21 ed— 

22 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

23 by inserting ‘‘customer experience (as defined in 

24 section 321),’’ before ‘‘and regulations’’; and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and 

2 improve customer experience (as defined in sec3 tion 321)’’ after ‘‘support policymaking’’. 

4 (3) FUNCTIONS OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OF5 FICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT.—Section 

6 1103(c)(2) of title 5, United States Code, is amend7 ed— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 

9 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

10 the end; 

11 (ii) by redesignating clause (ii) as 

12 clause (iii); and 

13 (iii) by inserting after clause (i) the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(ii) ensuring employee engagement (as defined 

16 in section 321) is a central component of the strat17 egy and priorities of those agencies; and’’; and 

18 (B) in subparagraph (D), by inserting 

19 ‘‘and leads to high-quality customer experience 

20 (as defined in section 321)’’ after ‘‘workforce’’. 

21 (b) TITLE 31 AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND AGENCY PER23 FORMANCE PLANS.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 1115 of title 

25 31, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (i) in subsection (a)— 

2 (I) in paragraph (5), by striking 

3 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

4 (II) in paragraph (6)— 

5 (aa) by inserting ‘‘, includ6 ing factors that make it more dif7 ficult for agencies to learn 

8 through voluntary customer feed9 back, testing, focus groups, 

10 human-centered design practices, 

11 or otherwise foster active public 

12 participation in Government,’’ 

13 after ‘‘in nature’’; and 

14 (bb) by striking the period 

15 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 

16 and 

17 (III) by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(7) identify entities, which shall include the 

20 Office of Management and Budget and the entities 

21 listed in section 323(c)(1) of title 5, with mission 

22 support and coordination functions to enable other 

23 agencies to improve customer experience and em24 ployee engagement and request sufficient budgets.’’; 

25 (ii) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (I) in paragraph (1), by inserting 

2 ‘‘, which shall include at least 1 per3 formance goal related to customer ex4 perience’’ after ‘‘next fiscal year’’; 

5 (II) in paragraph (5)(A), by in6 serting ‘‘, including overall employee 

7 engagement considerations, which 

8 shall include soliciting and responding 

9 to feedback from employees’’ after 

10 ‘‘performance goals’’; 

11 (III) in paragraph (6), by strik12 ing ‘‘customer service’’ and inserting 

13 ‘‘customer experience’’; 

14 (IV) by redesignating paragraphs 

15 (9) and (10) as paragraphs (10) and 

16 (11), respectively; and 

17 (V) by inserting after paragraph 

18 (8) the following: 

19 ‘‘(9) describe customer experience opportunities 

20 and challenges facing the agency and identify— 

21 ‘‘(A) key interaction points between the 

22 agency and the public; 

23 ‘‘(B) Federal customer needs in relation to 

24 the overall agency mission, which may draw 

25 from reporting required under section 1116; 


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1 ‘‘(C) capabilities, resources, tradeoffs, con2 straints, and risks related to customer experi3 ence; and 

4 ‘‘(D) the linkage between customer experi5 ence and employee engagement, including— 

6 ‘‘(i) cultural strengths and weakness 

7 among the workforce that either enable 

8 high-quality customer experience or render 

9 high-quality customer experience difficult; 

10 ‘‘(ii) capability, resource, or statutory 

11 challenges, tradeoffs, constraints, or risks 

12 related to employee engagement; and 

13 ‘‘(iii) the voice of employees and the 

14 extent to which agencies regularly solicit, 

15 consider, and respond to employee feed16 back;’’; 

17 (iii) by redesignating subsection (h) as 

18 subsection (i); 

19 (iv) by inserting after subsection (g) 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(h) Agencies and components of agencies, particu22 larly high-impact service providers (as defined in section 

23 321 of title 5), are encouraged to develop more detailed 

24 customer experience action plans in coordination with the 

25 Office of Management and Budget.’’; and 


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1 (v) in subsection (i), as so redesig2 nated, by striking paragraph (3) and in3 serting the following: 

4 ‘‘(3) ‘customer experience’, the term ‘employee 

5 engagement’, and the term ‘Federal customer’ have 

6 the meanings given such terms in section 321 of title 

7 5;’’. 

8 (B) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND9 MENTS.— 

10 (i) Section 1122(a)(1)(D) of title 31, 

11 United States Code, is amended by strik12 ing ‘‘section 1115(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec13 tion 1115’’. 

14 (ii) Section 6401(2)(A) of title 31, 

15 United States Code, is amended by strik16 ing ‘‘section 1115(h)’’ and inserting ‘‘sec17 tion 1115’’. 

18 (2) AGENCY PERFORMANCE REPORTING.—Sec19 tion 1116(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 

20 amended by inserting ‘‘, which shall include cus21 tomer experience as a central component’’ after 

22 ‘‘performance’’. 

23 (3) FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND AGENCY PRI24 ORITY GOALS.—Section 1120(a)(1)(B) of title 31, 

25 United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (A) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

2 end; 

3 (B) in clause (v), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the 

4 end; and 

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

6 ‘‘(vi) customer experience.’’. 

7 (4) TRANSPARENCY OF PROGRAMS, PRIORITY

8 GOALS, AND RESULTS.—Section 1122(c) of title 31, 

9 United States Code, is amended— 

10 (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

11 the end; 

12 (B) in paragraph (9), by striking the pe13 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

15 ‘‘(10) an assessment of overall trust in the Fed16 eral Government and customer experience, including 

17 an assessment of— 

18 ‘‘(A) agency and sector-specific (such as 

19 health) considerations, progress, and achieve20 ments; 

21 ‘‘(B) shortcomings and where more 

22 progress must be made; 

23 ‘‘(C) external constraints; and 

24 ‘‘(D) human-level case studies of high per25 formance.’’. 


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1 SEC. 8. ADEQUATELY RESOURCING CUSTOMER EXPERI2 ENCE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT. 

3 (a) INCLUDING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN FED4 ERAL CITIZEN SERVICES FUND.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 323 of title 40, 

6 United States Code, is amended— 

7 (A) by striking the section heading and in8 serting ‘‘Federal Citizen Services 

9 Fund’’; and 

10 (B) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘purpose 

11 of’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘purpose 

12 of— 

13 ‘‘(1) disseminating Federal Government infor14 mation to the public; 

15 ‘‘(2) improving— 

16 ‘‘(A) customer experience (as defined in 

17 section 321 of title 5); 

18 ‘‘(B) mechanisms for public participation 

19 in the Federal Government; and 

20 ‘‘(C) communication of the Federal Gov21 ernment to the public, including tailored mes22 saging and human-centered stories of the im23 pact of the Federal Government, including 

24 through human-centered design practices; and 

25 ‘‘(3) other related purposes.’’. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

2 sections for chapter 3 of title 40, United States 

3 Code, is amended by striking the item relating to 

4 section 323 and inserting the following: 

‘‘323. Federal Citizen Services Fund.’’. 

5 (b) OMB TRANSFER AUTHORITY.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—With the approval of the Di7 rector, the head of an agency may transfer funds 

8 available to the agency from appropriations to fi9 nance customer experience activities. 

10 (2) AMOUNT.—The amounts transferred by the 

11 head of an agency under paragraph (1) may not ex12 ceed $10,000,000 in a fiscal year. 

13 (3) AGGREGATE LIMITATION.—The total 

14 amount of transfers approved by the Director under 

15 paragraph (1) may not exceed $50,000,000 in a fis16 cal year. 

17 (4) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days be18 fore the date on which the head of an agency exe19 cutes a transfer authorized under paragraph (1), the 

20 head of the agency shall notify the Committee on 

21 Appropriations of the Senate and the Committee on 

22 Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

23 (5) SUNSET.—The authority to make a transfer 

24 under this subsection shall terminate on September 

25 30, 2026. 


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1 SEC. 9. CHIEF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFICER OF THE 

2 UNITED STATES. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 30 days after 

4 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall estab5 lish the Office of Customer Experience. 

6 (b) CHIEF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFICER.—The 

7 Office of Customer Experience shall be led by the Chief 

8 Customer Experience Officer of the United States, who 

9 shall be appointed by the Director. 

10 (c) QUALIFICATIONS.—The Chief Customer Experi11 ence Officer of the United States shall have demonstrated 

12 training and experience in— 

13 (1) complex inter-organizational coordination; 

14 (2) management; 

15 (3) establishing customer experience programs 

16 within service delivery organizations; 

17 (4) customer experience disciplines, such as 

18 product management, understanding the true needs 

19 of customers, experience and perception measure20 ment, and human-centered design research; 

21 (5) employee engagement; and 

22 (6) public communications or marketing. 

23 (d) FUNCTIONS.—The Chief Customer Experience 

24 Officer of the United States shall— 

25 (1) serve as a voice for the public within senior 

26 level interagency policy processes, including by— 


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1 (A) advocating for the means to solicit and 

2 respond to public feedback and human-centered 

3 design insights to inform program and service 

4 design and delivery; 

5 (B) enhancing public participation in the 

6 planning, execution, and evaluation of agency 

7 programs; and 

8 (C) providing the public with timely and 

9 compelling communication about the impact of 

10 the policy and programs of the Federal Govern11 ment that is tailored to regional or demographic 

12 considerations; 

13 (2) serve as the chief official responsible for im14 proving public trust in the Federal Government, in15 cluding by, in consultation with the heads of agen16 cies— 

17 (A) establishing ambitious Government18 wide, sector-specific (such as health), and agen19 cy targets; and 

20 (B) identifying Government-wide focal 

21 points, including call centers, and agency and 

22 Government-wide public websites using human23 centered design practices; 

24 (3) in collaboration with the Deputy Director 

25 for Management— 


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1 (A) establish priorities, goals, and targets 

2 that are cross-agency, sector-specific (such as 

3 health), experience-specific (such as retirement), 

4 Government-wide, and agency-specific; 

5 (B) assess needs and opportunities to im6 prove customer experience; and 

7 (C) convene Chief Operating Officers, or 

8 equivalent officials, of agencies through meet9 ings of the President’s Management Council, or 

10 similar means to— 

11 (i) align resources with priorities; 

12 (ii) assign responsibility; and 

13 (iii) ensure accountability; 

14 (4) in collaboration with the heads of the agen15 cies listed in section 323(c)(1) of title 5, United 

16 States Code— 

17 (A) develop a Government-wide service de18 livery strategy to serve as a focal point for the 

19 public and include customer service standards 

20 in the strategy, as appropriate; 

21 (B) capture and develop Government-wide 

22 and sector-specific best practices for— 

23 (i) customer experience; 

24 (ii) employee engagement; 


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1 (iii) design of websites and interactive 

2 portals, online forms, social media, and 

3 other digital platforms of agencies; and 

4 (iv) communication; 

5 (C) encourage cross-agency efforts relating 

6 to improving customer experience; and 

7 (D) pilot and implement innovative tech8 nologies and strategies from human-centered 

9 design to improve customer experience; 

10 (5) identify— 

11 (A) life moments of Federal Government 

12 customers in which agencies have a role; and 

13 (B) other key focal points or interactions 

14 that are particularly salient for interaction of 

15 the public with the Federal Government; 

16 (6) in collaboration with the heads of agencies 

17 and State and municipal governments, develop inno18 vative and collaborative means to improve how the 

19 Federal Government meets the current and future 

20 needs of the public; 

21 (7) develop a framework to help agencies accu22 rately assess the true costs, benefits, and costs of in23 action with respect to improving customer experi24 ence, taking into account the many benefits of imVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00049 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3609.IH H3609

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1 proved public engagement, including receiving more 

2 accurate and timely public data inputs; and 

3 (8) in collaboration with the heads of relevant 

4 agencies, develop good practices on customer experi5 ence and employee engagement, including through 

6 engagement and dialogue with advocacy groups, pri7 vate sector organizations, and foreign government 

8 officials. 

9 SEC. 10. INTEGRATING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE INTO THE 

10 RESPONSIBILITIES OF KEY AGENCY OFFI11 CIALS. 

12 (a) PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OFFICERS AND

13 THE PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT COUNCIL.—Section 

14 1124 of title 31, United States Code, is amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 

16 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 

17 through (F) as subparagraphs (C) through (G), 

18 respectively; 

19 (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 

20 the following: 

21 ‘‘(B) in consultation with agency staff re22 sponsible for customer experience and commu23 nications, advise the head of the agency and the 

24 Chief Operating Officer, or an equivalent offi25 cial, on the agency contribution to public trust 


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1 in Government, including through customer ex2 perience, mechanisms for public participation in 

3 Government, and communication with the pub4 lic on agency performance, consistent with sub5 paragraph (G);’’; 

6 (C) in subparagraph (D), as so redesig7 nated, by inserting ‘‘, with an emphasis on cus8 tomer experience’’ before the semicolon; 

9 (D) in subparagraph (E), as so redesig10 nated, by inserting ‘‘and soliciting voluntary 

11 customer experience feedback’’ after ‘‘agency 

12 performance’’; 

13 (E) in subparagraph (F), as so redesig14 nated, by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

15 (F) in subparagraph (G), as so redesig16 nated, by striking the period at the end and in17 serting ‘‘; and’’; and 

18 (G) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(H) in collaboration with other relevant 

20 officials, revise and update the website of the 

21 agency and develop and implement proactive 

22 public outreach strategies that emphasize 

23 human-level stories of impact, geographic or de24 mographic considerations of the target audi25 ence, and human centered design, in collaboraVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:02 Jul 03, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00051 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3609.IH H3609

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1 tion with other agency officials and support 

2 agencies, including the United States Digital 

3 Service and the General Services Administra4 tion.’’; and 

5 (2) in subsection (b)(2)— 

6 (A) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘, 

7 especially related to customer experience’’ be8 fore the semicolon; 

9 (B) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘es10 pecially customer experience, and barriers to 

11 developing and enhancing public trust in Gov12 ernment,’’ after ‘‘performance issues,’’; and 

13 (C) in subparagraph (H) by inserting ‘‘and 

14 customer experience’’ after ‘‘performance im15 provement experiences’’. 

16 (b) AGENCY CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICERS.— 

17 Section 1401(1) of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

18 by inserting ‘‘, with an emphasis on enhancing employee 

19 engagement (as defined in section 321)’’ before the semi20 colon. 

21 (c) AUTHORITIES AND FUNCTIONS OF CHIEF HUMAN

22 CAPITAL OFFICERS.—Section 1402(a)(4) of title 5, 

23 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(4) the hiring and performance management 

25 authorities for developing and advocating a culture 


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1 of continuous learning and employee engagement (as 

2 defined in section 321) to attract and retain employ3 ees with superior abilities, motivation, and pride in 

4 their work who will contribute to overall agency per5 formance and customer experience (as defined in 

6 section 321), which shall be delegated to the Chief 

7 Human Capital Officer by the Director of the Office 

8 of Personnel Management;’’. 

9 (d) CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER AUTHORITIES.— 

10 Section 11319(d)(1) of title 40, United States Code, is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), (D), 

13 (E), (F), (G), and (H) as subparagraphs (D), (E), 

14 (F), (G), (H), and (I), respectively; and 

15 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (B) the fol16 lowing: 

17 ‘‘(C) to improve customer experience (as 

18 defined in section 321 of title 5) through tar19 geted information technology improvement and 

20 analytics;’’. 

21 (e) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT OFFI22 CER AND PROGRAM MANAGEMENT POLICY COUNCIL.— 

23 Section 1126 of title 31, United States Code, is amend24 ed— 

25 (1) in subsection (a)(2)(B)— 


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1 (A) in clause (i)— 

2 (i) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

3 at the end; 

4 (ii) in subclause (II), by striking the 

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

6 and 

7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(III) training that emphasizes 

10 customer experience.’’; and 

11 (B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘career 

12 paths and career’’ and inserting ‘‘employee en13 gagement, career paths, and career’’; and 

14 (2) in subsection (b)(2)(C)— 

15 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘career devel16 opment and’’ and inserting ‘‘employee engage17 ment, career development, and’’; and 

18 (B) in clause (ii), by inserting ‘‘, including 

19 customer experience’’ after ‘‘project manage20 ment’’. 

21 (f) CHIEF DATA OFFICERS AND CHIEF DATA OFFI22 CER COUNCIL.— 

23 (1) CHIEF DATA OFFICERS.—Section 3520(c) 

24 of title 44, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (7), by inserting ‘‘, in2 cluding data use relating to customer experi3 ence and employee engagement’’ after ‘‘data 

4 use’’; and 

5 (B) in paragraph (12), by inserting ‘‘, in6 cluding data use relating to customer experi7 ence and employee engagement’’ after ‘‘data 

8 use’’. 

9 (2) CHIEF DATA OFFICER COUNCIL.—Section 

10 3520A(b)(3) of title 44, United States Code, is 

11 amended by inserting ‘‘, including policymaking re12 lating to customer experience and employee engage13 ment’’ after ‘‘policymaking’’. 

14 SEC. 11. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFICERS FOR AGENCY 

15 COMPONENTS. 

16 (a) DESIGNATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The head of an agency may 

18 designate 1 or more Lead Customer Experience Offi19 cers for a component of the agency that presents 

20 significant customer experience opportunities or 

21 challenges. 

22 (2) HIGH-IMPACT SERVICE PROVIDERS.—It is 

23 the sense of Congress that, the head of an agency 

24 that is a high-impact service provider should make 

25 a designation under paragraph (1). 


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1 (3) QUALIFICATIONS.—A Lead Customer Expe2 rience Officer of a component of an agency des3 ignated under paragraph (1) shall have dem4 onstrated training and experience in— 

5 (A) agency leadership; 

6 (B) management; 

7 (C) policy; 

8 (D) customer experience; 

9 (E) employee engagement; 

10 (F) digital experience; 

11 (G) public communications; or 

12 (H) marketing. 

13 (b) FUNCTIONS.—The Lead Customer Experience 

14 Officer of a component of an agency shall— 

15 (1) report directly to the head of the component 

16 or the deputy head of the agency; 

17 (2) be included in the budget formulation proc18 ess of the component; 

19 (3) recommend modifications to policies of 

20 agencies to incorporate customer experience as an 

21 essential priority, including— 

22 (A) rules (as defined in section 551 of title 

23 5, United States Code); and 

24 (B) any other relevant policies; 


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1 (4) issue directives, guidance, or policies for the 

2 component on customer experience that articulate 

3 how strategy and mission link to customer experi4 ence management and outcomes; 

5 (5) participate in agency peer-learning and 

6 sharing and ensure that customer experience prac7 tices are informed by good practices from the private 

8 sector or other agencies; 

9 (6) in concert with agency-wide efforts and con10 sistent with guidance of the Office of Management 

11 and Budget, assess and measure the overall public 

12 perceptions of the component; 

13 (7) coordinate the development, resourcing, and 

14 implementation of customer experience priorities; 

15 (8) engage employees and contractors of the 

16 component in customer experience and employee en17 gagement, including through process reforms, train18 ing, workshops, and other interventions designed to 

19 shift the culture of the component to increasingly 

20 focus on measuring customer experience and the 

21 outcomes that the component produces, such as im22 proved trust; and 

23 (9) serve as the liaison of the component to 

24 other components of the agency, other agencies, and 

25 the Office of Management and Budget on improving 


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1 customer experience and trust in the Federal Gov2 ernment. 

3 SEC. 12. PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT VOLUNTARY CUS4 TOMER FEEDBACK REFORM. 

5 (a) APPLICATION OF PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT

6 TO COLLECTION OF VOLUNTARY FEEDBACK.—Sub7 chapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code 

8 (commonly known as the ‘‘Paperwork Reduction Act’’), is 

9 amended— 

10 (1) in section 3502— 

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

12 at the end; 

13 (B) in paragraph (23), by striking the pe14 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(24) the term ‘voluntary customer feedback’ 

17 has the meaning given the term in section 321 of 

18 title 5.’’; and 

19 (2) in section 3518(c)(1)— 

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

21 at the end; 

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

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

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


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1 ‘‘(E) by an agency that is voluntary cus2 tomer feedback.’’. 

3 (b) GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER FEED4 BACK.—Each agency that solicits voluntary customer feed5 back shall ensure that— 

6 (1) responses to the solicitation of voluntary 

7 customer feedback remain anonymous and are not 

8 traced to specific individuals or entities; 

9 (2) individuals and entities who decline to par10 ticipate in the solicitation of voluntary customer 

11 feedback are not treated differently by the agency 

12 for purposes of providing services or information; 

13 (3) the solicitation does not include more than 

14 10 questions; 

15 (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is 

16 clear; 

17 (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary cus18 tomer feedback will contribute to improved customer 

19 service; 

20 (6) solicitations of voluntary customer feedback 

21 are limited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an 

22 individual or entity; 

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

24 voluntary customer feedback is made at the point of 

25 service with an individual or entity; 


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1 (8) instruments for collecting voluntary cus2 tomer feedback are accessible to individuals with dis3 abilities in accordance with section 508 of the Reha4 bilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and 

5 (9) internal agency data governance policies re6 main in effect with respect to the collection of vol7 untary customer feedback from individuals and enti8 ties. 

9 SEC. 13. EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATING AGENCY PER10 FORMANCE TO THE PUBLIC. 

11 (a) 21ST CENTURY IDEA.—Section 6(4) of the 21st 

12 Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (44 U.S.C. 

13 3501 note) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking ‘‘customers, identify areas’’ and 

15 inserting ‘‘customers, identify— 

16 ‘‘(A) areas’’; 

17 (2) in subparagraph (A), as so designated, by 

18 adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

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

20 ‘‘(B) opportunities to provide— 

21 ‘‘(i) a more engaging customer experi22 ence (as defined in section 321 of title 5, 

23 United States Code) through human-level 

24 content, such as stories of individual im25 pact or multimedia testimonials; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) design improvements of websites 

2 and interactive portals, online forms, social 

3 media, and other digital platforms of agen4 cies and the Federal Government;’’. 

5 (b) USA.GOV AND AGENCY WEBSITES.— 

6 (1) E-GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2002.—The E-Gov7 ernment Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) is 

8 amended— 

9 (A) in section 204(a)— 

10 (i) in paragraph (1)— 

11 (I) by striking ‘‘and promote an’’ 

12 and inserting ‘‘and promote— 

13 ‘‘(A) an’’; 

14 (II) in subparagraph (A), as so 

15 designated, by striking the period at 

16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (III) by adding at the end the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(B) a well-designed interactive experience 

20 for visitors to the Internet-based system main21 tained under subparagraph (A) that— 

22 ‘‘(i) is tailored to the needs of indi23 vidual visitors; 

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1 ernment, including human-level multimedia 

2 stories; and 

3 ‘‘(iii) offers visitors an opportunity to 

4 submit— 

5 ‘‘(I) voluntary customer feed6 back, as defined in section 321 of title 

7 5, United States Code; and 

8 ‘‘(II) information about personal 

9 experiences with the Federal Govern10 ment of visitors.’’; and 

11 (ii) in paragraph (2), by adding at the 

12 end the following: 

13 ‘‘(E) The inclusion of an interactive map 

14 of the United States that— 

15 ‘‘(i) allows visitors of the integrated 

16 system to view the human-level impact of 

17 programs and policies of agencies, tailored 

18 by the geographic region and demographic 

19 profile of the visitor; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) links to the websites of agencies 

21 and components of agencies in order for 

22 visitors to obtain additional information.’’; 

23 and 

24 (B) in section 207(f)(1)— 


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1 (i) in the matter preceding subpara2 graph (A), by striking ‘‘Not later than 2 

3 years after the effective date of this title’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘Not later than 2 years after 

5 the date of enactment of the Trust in Pub6 lic Service Act’’; 

7 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 

8 (I) in clause (iii), by striking 

9 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

10 (II) in clause (iv), by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ at the end; and 

12 (III) by adding at the end the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(v) historical context and stories 

15 about the impact and achievements of the 

16 agency; and 

17 ‘‘(vi) human-level stories of the impact 

18 of the agency, including multimedia 

19 testimonials from the public;’’; and 

20 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B) and 

21 inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(B) minimum agency goals to assist pub23 lic users to— 

24 ‘‘(i) navigate agency websites, includ25 ing— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the speed of retrieval of 

2 search results; 

3 ‘‘(II) the relevance of the results; 

4 ‘‘(III) tools to aggregate and 

5 disaggregate data; and 

6 ‘‘(IV) security protocols to pro7 tect information; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) efficiently and easily obtain serv9 ices of the agency and information to bet10 ter understand the mission and impact of 

11 the agency and have an emotionally posi12 tive experience while obtaining those serv13 ices and information, including— 

14 ‘‘(I) measures to ensure the cus15 tomer experience (as defined in sec16 tion 321 of title 5, United States 

17 Code), of public users, which may in18 clude— 

19 ‘‘(aa) task completion rates; 

20 ‘‘(bb) time taken to complete 

21 a task; 

22 ‘‘(cc) drop out points; and 

23 ‘‘(dd) user comprehension 

24 and satisfaction measurements; 


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1 ‘‘(II) visual presentations of 

2 curated testimonials segmented by ge3 ographic and demographic profiles; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(III) functionality that allows 

6 website visitors to submit voluntary 

7 customer feedback (as defined in sec8 tion 321 of title 5, United States 

9 Code) or personal testimonials 

10 through text or multimedia functions; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(C) instructions for agencies to assess the 

13 minimum agency goals described in subpara14 graph (B) through testing, focus groups, and 

15 voluntary customer feedback (as defined in sec16 tion 321 of title 5, United States Code)’’. 

17 (2) AGENCY REPORTS.—Not later than 1 year 

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of 

19 each agency shall submit to the Director a report 

20 on— 

21 (A) any changes made to the website of 

22 the agency and the digital experience of visitors 

23 to the website of the agency in accordance with 

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1 Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 

2 note), as amended by this Act; and 

3 (B) any collaboration or consultation relat4 ing to the customer experience of the agency 

5 with an agency described in section 323(c)(1) of 

6 title 5, United States Code, as added by this 

7 Act. 

8 (3) OMB REPORT.—Not later than 30 days 

9 after the date on which the Director receives the re10 ports from the heads of agencies under paragraph 

11 (2), the Director shall submit to Congress a report 

12 summarizing those reports. 

13 SEC. 14. PARTICIPATORY GOVERNMENT AND CIVIC DIA14 LOGUE ADVISORY COUNCIL. 

15 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 (1) COUNCIL.—The term ‘‘Council’’ means the 

17 Participatory Government and Civic Dialogue Advi18 sory Council. 

19 (2) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means— 

20 (A) a State; 

21 (B) the District of Columbia; 

22 (C) the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; 

23 and 

24 (D) any other territory or possession of the 

25 United States. 


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1 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director, in coordination 

2 with the Chief Customer Experience Officer of the United 

3 States appointed under section 9(b), shall establish an ad4 visory council to be known as the ‘‘Participatory Govern5 ment and Civic Dialogue Advisory Council’’ for the pur6 pose of providing the recommendations described in sub7 section (e). 

8 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Council shall consist of 

10 22 members appointed by the Director, of whom— 

11 (A) 4 shall be representatives of a non12 profit organization or foundation; 

13 (B) 4 shall be representatives of agencies 

14 who have the responsibility to foster, or relevant 

15 experience in fostering, public participation in 

16 the prioritization of the policy, regulation, exe17 cution, or evaluation of the Federal Govern18 ment; 

19 (C) 4 shall be representatives of a State, 

20 local, Tribal, or territorial government; 

21 (D) 4 shall be representatives of academic 

22 or research institutions; 

23 (E) 4 shall be representatives of busi24 nesses; and 


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1 (F) 2 shall be representatives of media or2 ganizations. 

3 (2) GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY.—The Director 

4 shall ensure that— 

5 (A) the membership of the Council is geo6 graphically diverse; and 

7 (B) not more than 2 of the members de8 scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of 

9 paragraph (1) represent the same State. 

10 (3) TERMS; VACANCIES.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara12 graph (C), each member of the Council shall be 

13 appointed for a term of 3 years. 

14 (B) TERM LIMITS.—Members of the Coun15 cil may be appointed for not more than 2 con16 secutive terms. 

17 (C) INITIAL TERMS.—The terms of the ini18 tial members of the Council may be 1, 2, or 3 

19 years in order to establish a rotation in which 

the Director appoints 1 20 ⁄3 of the members of the 

21 Council each year. 

22 (D) VACANCIES.—Any member appointed 

23 to fill a vacancy occurring before the expiration 

24 of the term for which the member’s predecessor 

25 was appointed shall be appointed only for the 


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1 remainder of that term. A member may serve 

2 after the expiration of that member’s term until 

3 a successor has taken office. 

4 (d) MEETINGS.—The Director shall convene the 

5 Council not less frequently than biannually. 

6 (e) DUTIES.—The Council, on a continuous basis, 

7 shall provide to the Director written recommendations, in8 cluding any recommendations relating to the 2-year plan 

9 required under subsection (h), that— 

10 (1) focus on furthering a virtuous cycle in 

11 which responsive political institutions foster a 

12 healthy civic culture of participation and responsi13 bility to ensure that political institutions are respon14 sive and inclusive; 

15 (2) evaluate, and recommend improvements for, 

16 opportunities for active and substantive public par17 ticipation in the prioritization, design, implementa18 tion, and evaluation of the policies of the Federal 

19 Government in order to— 

20 (A) enhance the quality of the policies of 

21 the Federal Government; and 

22 (B) increase the legitimacy of processes 

23 and outcomes of the Federal Government; 

24 (3) identify opportunities created by digital 

25 platforms to— 


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1 (A) facilitate and enhance the interaction 

2 between the public and the Federal Govern3 ment; and 

4 (B) incorporate innovations in 

5 participatory democracy gleaned from— 

6 (i) agencies; 

7 (ii) State, local, Tribal, and territorial 

8 governments; and 

9 (iii) governments across the world; 

10 (4) evaluate, and recommend improvements 

11 for— 

12 (A) civic dialogue and debate across the 

13 United States, with an emphasis on bridging 

14 differences and highlighting shared values; and 

15 (B) efforts to counterbalance cynical, vitri16 olic, and unproductive civil conversations on so17 cial media by finding common ground; and 

18 (5) assess, and recommend improvement for, 

19 the role of the Federal Government in using the con20 vening power and resources of the Federal Govern21 ment to complement— 

22 (A) private and philanthropic funding; 

23 (B) civic education at all educational levels 

24 and structures; and 

25 (C) the media. 


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1 (f) COMPENSATION.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—Members of the Council may 

3 not receive compensation for the performance of 

4 services for the Council. 

5 (2) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—Members of the 

6 Council shall be allowed travel expenses, including 

7 per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized 

8 for employees of agencies under subchapter I of 

9 chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 

10 away from their homes or regular places of business 

11 in the performance of services for the Council. 

12 (3) VOLUNTARY SERVICE PERMITTED.—Not13 withstanding section 1342 of title 31, United States 

14 Code, the Secretary may accept the voluntary and 

15 uncompensated services of members of the Council. 

16 (g) PERMANENCE.—Section 14 of the Federal Advi17 sory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to 

18 the Council. 

19 (h) 2-YEAR PLAN.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in 

22 consultation with the Council and the heads of ap23 propriate agencies, shall submit to Congress a 2-year 

24 plan on participatory government and civic dialogue. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—The plan required under para2 graph (1) shall include— 

3 (A) a description of the problem relating to 

4 public participation in the Federal Government 

5 and civic dialogue; 

6 (B) recommendations for agency and con7 gressional action to improve public participation 

8 in the Federal Government, including— 

9 (i) good practices; 

10 (ii) a selection of illustrative mecha11 nisms for agencies that can enable agencies 

12 to offer meaningful and impactful opportu13 nities for public participation; and 

14 (iii) a list of resources available to 

15 agencies to enable agencies to adopt and 

16 pilot recommendations; 

17 (C) recommendations for agency and con18 gressional action to improve civic conversation 

19 in the United States, including new— 

20 (i) agency programs; 

21 (ii) legislative authorities; or 

22 (iii) funding; and 

23 (D) a description of the concrete actions 

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1 ginning on the date on which the plan is sub2 mitted under paragraph (1). 

3 (3) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.—In 

4 developing and implementing the plan required 

5 under paragraph (1), the Director shall take into ac6 count other efforts of the Federal Government to 

7 improve participatory government and civic dialogue, 

8 including customer experience initiatives and broader 

9 Federal Government communication. 

10 SEC. 15. GAO REPORTS. 

11 (a) REPORT ON AGENCY EFFORTS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

14 General of the United States shall submit to Con15 gress a report that includes an assessment of agency 

16 efforts to enhance customer experience and improve 

17 communication with the public. 

18 (2) CONTENTS.—To the extent relevant infor19 mation is available, the report required under para20 graph (1) shall include the following: 

21 (A) An assessment of the extent to which 

22 selected agencies actively assesses public con23 fidence in the agency and programs of those 

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1 tomer feedback, making use of public data, fos2 tering public participation in the Federal Gov3 ernment, and evaluating communication tools 

4 and strategies. 

5 (B) An assessment of the experience of 

6 agencies, specific sectors, such as healthcare, 

7 and the Federal Government as a whole in im8 proving customer experience, including whether 

9 guidance on customer experience, as of the date 

10 of enactment of this Act, is sufficient to sup11 port the efforts of agencies. 

12 (C) An assessment of— 

13 (i) agencies with high-performing cus14 tomer experience, including strategies that 

15 enable successful efforts; and 

16 (ii) agencies that have not adopted 

17 customer experience culture or initiatives 

18 and the challenges those agencies faced in 

19 that adoption. 

20 (D) An assessment of the compliance of 

21 agencies with requirements relating to customer 

22 experience, digital experience, and communica23 tion (including through websites), including re24 quirements under— 


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1 (i) the 21st Century Integrated Dig2 ital Experience Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 note); 

3 and 

4 (ii) other relevant authorities, includ5 ing this Act. 

6 (E) Any other matter the Comptroller 

7 General of the United States determines impor8 tant to assessing customer experience or en9 hancing confidence in agencies or the Federal 

10 Government as a whole. 

11 (b) REPORT ON BEST PRACTICES.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

13 the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

14 General of the United States shall submit to Con15 gress a report that includes an examination of best 

16 practices in customer experience— 

17 (A) across the Federal Government; and 

18 (B) in State, local, Tribal, territorial, and 

19 foreign governments. 

20 (2) CONTENTS.—To the extent relevant infor21 mation is available, the report required under para22 graph (1) shall include the following: 

23 (A) An examination of the experience of 

24 agencies with sharing, disseminating, and 

25 adopting customer experience best practices 


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1 from other agencies and recommendations for 

2 improvement. 

3 (B) An examination of successful efforts 

4 by State, local, and foreign governments to im5 prove or create high quality, integrated cus6 tomer experience, especially in the digital do7 main, in order to identify useful lessons. 

8 (C) Any other matter the Comptroller Gen9 eral of the United States determines important 

10 to assessing customer experience or enhancing 

11 confidence in agencies or the Federal Govern12 ment as a whole. 

Æ 


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