IIB 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 538 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs 
AN ACT 
To require the establishment of customer service standards 
for Federal agencies. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:16 Sep 13, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H538.RFS
H538
tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 538 RFS
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Customer 
Service Improvement Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND 
STANDARDS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE PRO-
VIDED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES. 
(a) REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) PERFORMANCE
MEASURES
AND
STAND-
ARDS.—The Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget shall develop— 
(A) performance measures to determine 
whether Federal agencies are providing high- 
quality customer service and improving service 
delivery to their customers; and 
(B) standards to be met by Federal agen-
cies in order to provide high-quality customer 
service and improve service delivery to their 
customers. 
(2) REQUIREMENT
TO
TAKE
INTO
ACCOUNT 
CERTAIN
INFORMATION.—The 
standards 
under 
paragraph (1) shall be developed after taking into 
account the information collected by Federal agen-
cies under subsection (b). 
(b) CUSTOMER SERVICE INPUT.—The head of each 
Federal agency shall collect information from its cus-
tomers regarding the quality of customer services provided 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:16 Sep 13, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H538.RFS
H538
tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 538 RFS
by the agency. Each Federal agency shall include this in-
formation in its performance report submitted under sec-
tion 1116 of title 31, United States Code. 
(c) ANNUAL PERFORMANCE UPDATE.—The Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget shall include 
achievements by Federal agencies in meeting customer 
service performance measures and standards developed 
under subsection (a) in each update on agency perform-
ance required under section 1116 of title 31, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE STAND-
ARDS. 
(a) CUSTOMER RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE.—The 
head of each Federal agency shall designate an employee 
to be the customer relations representative of the agency. 
Such representative shall be responsible for implementing 
the customer service standards developed under section 2 
and the agency requirements under subsection (b). 
(b) AGENCY REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) GUIDELINES
AND
CONTACT
INFORMA-
TION.—The head of each Federal agency, acting 
through 
its 
customer 
relations 
representative, 
shall— 
(A) issue guidelines to implement the cus-
tomer service standards developed under section 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:16 Sep 13, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H538.RFS
H538
tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 538 RFS
2 within the agency, including specific prin-
ciples of customer service applicable to that 
agency; and 
(B) publish customer service contact infor-
mation, including a mailing address, telephone 
number, and e-mail address. 
(2) AVAILABILITY.—The guidelines and the 
customer service contact information required under 
this subsection shall be available on the agency’s 
public website. 
SEC. 4. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL. 
Compliance with customer service standards devel-
oped under this Act shall be included in the performance 
appraisal systems referred to in sections 4302(a) and 
4312 of title 5, United States Code. 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) The term ‘‘customer’’, with respect to a 
Federal agency, means any individual or entity, in-
cluding a business, State or local government, other 
Federal agency, or Congress, to which the agency 
provides services or information. 
(2) The term ‘‘Federal agency’’ has the mean-
ing given the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ by section 
105 of title 5, United States Code, except that the 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:16 Sep 13, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H538.RFS
H538
tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
HR 538 RFS
term does not include an agency if the President de-
termines that this Act should not apply to the agen-
cy for national security reasons. 
SEC. 6. DEFICIT REDUCTION. 
Any savings or reductions in expenditures resulting 
from this Act shall be used to offset the costs of implemen-
tation of this Act, and any additional savings shall be used 
to reduce the deficit. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 
2012. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
VerDate Mar 15 2010 
03:16 Sep 13, 2012
Jkt 019200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H538.RFS
H538
tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with BILLS