Legislation aimed at improving response times and customer service across government agencies passed the House Wednesday.
While government IT resources are shrinking, a dire need for improvements with customer interaction will be key to agencies survival.
The provision is one of many in a new bill passed out of a House committee last week to boost customer service at federal agencies. The Federal Customer Service Enhancement Act — or H.R. 538 — would direct the Office of Management and Budget to set customer service standards and name someone to be a customer relations representative at each agency.
Martha Dorris, deputy associate administrator at the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at General Services Administration, shared some ideas from last month\'s GSA conference.
A survey of 750 customers found 91 percent were satisfied overall with the services.
Federal CIO Vivek Kundra will develop policy and guidance to improve how agencies manage their websites.
President Obama issues an Executive Order requiring agencies to focus on technological and process improvements for citizen-facing services. OMB\'s Zients said the government relies too much on the old way to help citizens - phone, in person and on paper.
The website, sponsored by the General Services Administration, aims to increase collaboration on best practices for delivering customer service.
OMB finds that most website and call center operations are separate and don\'t work well together. Some agencies are following the private sector\'s lead by offering multiple channels to serve citizens. CMS and GSA both use online tools to answer questions more quickly and reliably.
New report from the Modernizing IT forum details the next steps OMB and agencies will take. The administration wants to focus on IT program management and customer service.