Federal Agency Customer Experience Act of 2021
Bill: S.671 | Sponsor: Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood (D-NH)
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics

Summary:
Federal Agency Customer Experience Act of 2021
This bill requires certain agencies to collect voluntary customer experience feedback with respect to their services and transactions. Each of the agencies must (1) annually publish such feedback on its website and report on such feedback to the Office of Management and Budget, and (2) report on the solicitation of such feedback.
The Government Accountability Office shall publish a report assessing the data collected and reported by the agencies.
The feedback may not be used in any appraisal of job performance of a federal employee.

To require the collection of voluntary feedback on services provided by 
                   agencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Agency Customer Experience 
Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the Federal Government serves the people of the United 
        States and should seek to continually improve public services 
        provided by the Federal Government based on customer feedback;
            (2) the people of the United States deserve a Federal 
        Government that provides efficient, effective, equitable, and 
        high-quality services and customer experiences across multiple 
        channels;
            (3) many agencies, offices, programs, and Federal employees 
        provide excellent customer experiences to individuals, but many 
        parts of the Federal Government still fall short on delivering 
        the customer experience that individuals have come to expect 
        from the private sector;
            (4) according to the 2020 American Customer Satisfaction 
        Index, the Federal Government ranks among the bottom of all 
        industries in the United States in customer satisfaction;
            (5) providing an equitable, reliable, transparent, and 
        responsive customer experience to individuals improves the 
        confidence of the people of the United States in their 
        Government and helps agencies achieve greater impact and 
        fulfill their missions; and
            (6) improving service to individuals requires agencies to 
        work across organizational boundaries, leverage technology, 
        collect and share standardized data, and develop customer-
        centered mindsets and experience strategies.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) all agencies should strive to provide a high-quality, 
        courteous, effective, and efficient customer experience to the 
        people of the United States and seek to measure, collect, 
        report, and use metrics relating to the experience of 
        individuals interacting with agencies to continually improve 
        the customer experience of the people of the United States; and
            (2) adequate Federal funding is needed to ensure agency 
        staffing levels that can provide the public with an improved 
        customer experience.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of General Services.
            (2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 3502 of title 44, United States Code.
            (3) Covered agency.--The term ``covered agency'' means an 
        agency or component of an agency that is required by the 
        Director to collect voluntary customer experience feedback for 
        purposes of section 5, based on an assessment of the components 
        and programs of the agency with the highest impact on or number 
        of interactions with individuals or entities.
            (4) Director.--The term ``Director'' means the Director of 
        the Office of Management and Budget.
            (5) Voluntary customer experience feedback.--The term 
        ``voluntary customer experience feedback'' means the submission 
        of information, an opinion, or a concern to an agency by an 
        individual or entity that--
                    (A) is voluntarily made by the individual or 
                entity; and
                    (B) relates to--
                            (i) a particular service provided to the 
                        individual or entity by the agency; or
                            (ii) an interaction of the individual or 
                        entity with the agency.

SEC. 4. GUIDELINES FOR VOLUNTARY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE FEEDBACK.

    Each agency that solicits voluntary customer experience feedback 
shall ensure that--
            (1) individuals and entities providing responses to the 
        solicitation of voluntary customer experience feedback have the 
        option to remain anonymous;
            (2) individuals and entities that decline to participate in 
        the solicitation of voluntary customer experience feedback are 
        not treated differently by the agency for purposes of providing 
        services or information;
            (3) the solicitation includes--
                    (A) the fewest number of questions as is 
                practicable; and
                    (B) not more than 10 questions;
            (4) the voluntary nature of the solicitation is clear;
            (5) the proposed solicitation of voluntary customer 
        experience feedback will contribute to improved customer 
        experience;
            (6) solicitations of voluntary customer experience feedback 
        are limited to 1 solicitation per interaction with an 
        individual or entity;
            (7) to the extent practicable, the solicitation of 
        voluntary customer experience feedback is made at the point of 
        service with an individual or entity;
            (8) instruments for collecting voluntary customer 
        experience feedback are accessible to individuals with 
        disabilities in accordance with section 508 of the 
        Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d); and
            (9) internal agency data governance policies remain in 
        effect with respect to the collection of voluntary customer 
        experience feedback from individuals and entities.

SEC. 5. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DATA COLLECTION.

    (a) Collection of Responses.--The head of each covered agency, 
assisted by and in coordination with the senior accountable official 
for customer experience of the covered agency, shall collect voluntary 
customer experience feedback with respect to services of or 
interactions with the covered agency.
    (b) Content of Questions.--
            (1) Standardized questions.--The Director, in coordination 
        with the Administrator, shall develop a set of standardized 
        questions for use by covered agencies in collecting voluntary 
        customer experience feedback under this section that address--
                    (A) overall satisfaction of individuals or entities 
                with the specific interaction or service received;
                    (B) the extent to which individuals or entities 
                were able to accomplish the intended task or purpose of 
                those individuals or entities;
                    (C) whether an individual or entity was treated 
                with respect and professionalism;
                    (D) whether an individual or entity believes that 
                the individual or entity was served in a timely manner; 
                and
                    (E) any additional metrics determined by the 
                Director, in coordination with the Administrator.
            (2) Additional questions.--In addition to the questions 
        developed under paragraph (1), the senior accountable official 
        for customer experience of a covered agency may develop 
        questions relevant to the specific operations or programs of 
        the covered agency.
    (c) Additional Requirements.--To the extent practicable--
            (1) each covered agency shall collect voluntary customer 
        experience feedback across every platform or channel through 
        which the covered agency interacts with individuals or other 
        entities to deliver information or services; and
            (2) voluntary customer experience feedback collected under 
        this section shall be tied to specific transactions or 
        interactions with customers of the covered agency.
    (d) Exemption From Public Notice and Comment.--The requirements of 
section 3506(c)(2)(A) and subparagraphs (B) and (D) of subsection 
(a)(1) and subsection (b) of section 3507 of title 44, United States 
Code, shall not apply to the collection of voluntary customer 
experience feedback by an agency that meets the requirements of this 
Act.
    (e) Report.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
        enactment of this Act and not less frequently than quarterly 
        thereafter, each covered agency shall submit to the Director, 
        in a manner determined by the Director, an aggregated report on 
        each solicitation of voluntary customer experience feedback 
        from individuals and entities conducted by the covered agency, 
        which shall include--
                    (A) the intended purpose of the solicitation;
                    (B) the appropriate point of contact within the 
                covered agency for the solicitation;
                    (C) the questions or survey instrument submitted to 
                members of the public as part of the solicitation;
                    (D) a description of how the covered agency uses 
                the voluntary customer experience feedback from the 
                solicitation to improve the customer experience of the 
                covered agency; and
                    (E) the results of the solicitation, including--
                            (i) the responses collected;
                            (ii) the total number of survey responses; 
                        and
                            (iii) the rate of response for the 
                        solicitation.
            (2) Centralized website.--The Director shall--
                    (A) include and maintain on a publicly available 
                website the information provided by covered agencies 
                under paragraph (1); and
                    (B) for the purpose of subparagraph (A), establish 
                a website or make use of an existing website, such as 
                the website required under section 1122 of title 31, 
                United States Code.

SEC. 6. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 450 days after the date on which 
all covered agencies have submitted the first reports to the Director 
required under section 5(e)(1), and every 2 years thereafter until the 
date that is 10 years after such date, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall make publicly available and submit to the Committee 
on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 
Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Representatives a 
report assessing the data collected and reported by the covered 
agencies.
    (b) Contents.--The report required under subsection (a) shall 
include--
            (1) a summary of the information required to be submitted 
        by covered agencies under section 5(e)(1);
            (2) a description of how each covered agency used the 
        voluntary customer experience feedback received by the covered 
        agency to improve the customer experience of the covered 
        agency; and
            (3) an assessment of the quality of the data collected 
        under this Act and, if applicable, recommendations to improve 
        that quality.

SEC. 7. RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION.

    No information collected pursuant to this Act may be used in any 
appraisal of the job performance of a Federal employee under chapter 43 
of title 5, United States Code, or any other provision of law.

            Passed the Senate June 22, 2022.

            Attest:

                                                             Secretary.
117th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                 S. 671

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