[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 404 Reported in Senate (RS)]






                                                      Calendar No. 1107
110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 404


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 24, 2007

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security 
                        and Governmental Affairs

            October 1 (legislative day, September 17), 2008

              Reported by Mr. Lieberman, with an amendment
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal 
                               agencies.

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

<DELETED>SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Customer Service 
Enhancement Act''.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND STANDARDS FOR 
              CUSTOMER SERVICE PROVIDED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Requirement.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Performance measures and standards.--The 
        Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall develop--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) performance measures to determine 
                whether Federal agencies are providing high-quality 
                customer service; and</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) standards to be met by Federal 
                agencies in order to provide high-quality customer 
                service.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (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 agencies under subsection (b).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Customer Service Input.--The head of each Federal 
agency shall collect information from its customers regarding the 
quality of customer services provided by the agency. The information 
shall be collected through a survey, focus groups, or other appropriate 
methods. Each Federal agency shall include this information in its 
performance report submitted under section 1116 of title 31, United 
States Code.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Annual Report.--The Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget shall issue an annual report on the success of 
Federal agencies in meeting the customer service performance measures 
and standards developed under subsection (a).</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE 
              STANDARDS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (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).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Agency Requirements.--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) Guidelines and contact information.--
        </DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (A) In general.--The head of each Federal 
                agency, acting through its customer relations 
                representative, shall--</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (i) issue guidelines to implement 
                        the customer service standards developed under 
                        section 2 within the agency, including specific 
                        principles of customer service applicable to 
                        that agency; and</DELETED>
                        <DELETED>    (ii) publish customer service 
                        contact information, including a mailing 
                        address, telephone number, and e-mail 
                        address.</DELETED>
                <DELETED>    (B) Availability.--The guidelines and the 
                customer service contact information required under 
                this paragraph shall be available on the agency's 
                public website.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) Stationery requirements.--Each Federal agency 
        shall include its address and phone number on any agency 
        stationery. In the case of correspondence originating from a 
        regional or local office of a Federal agency, the agency shall 
        include the address and phone number of the regional or local 
        office on the stationery.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 4. REPORT BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Report Required.--Not later than two years after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit 
to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
Affairs of the Senate a report analyzing the information reported by 
agencies under section 2(b).</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Matters Covered.--The report shall include--</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) whether agencies are implementing the customer 
        service standards;</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) whether there is an increase in overall 
        quality in customer service in the Federal Government; 
        and</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (3) any recommendations the Comptroller General 
        may have to improve performance measures and standards for 
        customer service in the Federal Government.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (c) Use of Report.--The report may be used by Congress as 
well as the Director of Office of Management and Budget to update 
performance measures for customer service.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 5. INCENTIVES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    (a) Award Program.--The head of a Federal agency may 
establish an awards program to pay a cash award under chapter 45 of 
title 5, United States Code, to employees for demonstrated excellence 
in customer service.</DELETED>
<DELETED>    (b) Performance Appraisal.--Compliance with customer 
service standards developed under this Act shall, to the extent 
practicable, be an element of a performance appraisal system referred 
to in section 5307(d) of title 5, United States Code.</DELETED>

<DELETED>SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.</DELETED>

<DELETED>    In this Act:</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (1) The term ``customer'', with respect to a 
        Federal agency, means any individual or entity, including a 
        business, State or local government, other Federal agency, or 
        Congress, to which the agency provides services or 
        information.</DELETED>
        <DELETED>    (2) The term ``Federal agency'' has the meaning 
        given the term ``Executive agency'' by section 105 of title 5, 
        United States Code, except that the term does not include an 
        agency if the President determines that this Act should not 
        apply to the agency for national security reasons.</DELETED>

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Customer Service Enhancement 
Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Contact information.--The term ``contact information'' 
        means mailing addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, 
        and website addresses.
            (2) Customer.--The term ``customer'', with respect to a 
        Federal agency, means any individual or entity, including a 
        business, State or local government, other Federal agency, or 
        Congress, to which the agency provides services or information 
        directly.
            (3) Customer service.--The term ``customer service'' refers 
        to customer satisfaction with the level of services or 
        information provided to a customer, but does not refer to the 
        level of satisfaction or agreement of a customer with Federal 
        agency policies or objectives.
            (4) Federal agency.--The term ``Federal agency'' has the 
        meaning given the term ``Executive agency'' by section 105 of 
        title 5, United States Code, except that the term does not 
        include an agency if the President determines that this Act 
        should not apply to the agency for national security reasons.

SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES AND STANDARDS FOR CUSTOMER 
              SERVICE PROVIDED BY FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    (a) Establishment of Customer Service Best Practices and 
Performance Measures.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall prescribe guidance that--
            (1) establishes best practices for customer service to 
        ensure that Federal agencies are providing high quality 
        customer service; and
            (2) establishes best practices for measuring customer 
        service performance to monitor customer service quality at 
        Federal agencies.
    (b) Standards.--Customer service standards established under 
subsection (a) shall take into account--
            (1) any customer service standards of Federal agencies in 
        effect on the date of enactment of this Act;
            (2) information collected from Federal agency customers 
        regarding the quality of customer services provided by Federal 
        agencies; and
            (3) approaches for governmentwide citizen contact 
        activities described in the report entitled ``Citizens Service 
        Levels Interagency Committee Report'' by the General Services 
        Administration (dated October 2006), or any similar subsequent 
        report.
    (c) Guidance on Implementation of Customer Service Standards.--Not 
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall prescribe 
guidance governing the implementation or updating of customer service 
standards and performance measures of Federal agencies using best 
practices developed under subsection (a) and any specific customer 
service related principles applicable to individual agencies.
    (d) Annual Report.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall issue an annual report on the success of Federal agencies 
in meeting the customer service standards developed under subsection 
(a) for each of the 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS AT FEDERAL AGENCIES.

    (a) Implementation.--Each Federal agency shall implement customer 
service standards and customer service performance measures as required 
under section 3(c).
    (b) Reporting Standards to the Office of Management and Budget.--
For purposes of preparing each report under section 3(d), each Federal 
agency shall submit such information as the Office of Management and 
Budget may require on the customer service of the agency in relation to 
the standards and measures used by that agency.
    (c) Continuous Improvement of Standards.--The head of each Federal 
agency shall ensure that customer service standards are continuously 
improved as warranted based on performance measures established under 
section 3(a)(2).
    (d) Contact Information Availability.--Each Federal agency shall 
ensure the availability of appropriate contact information regarding 
customer service inquiries from the public.
    (e) Customer Service Standards Availability to the Public.--
Standards referred to under subsection (a) shall be publicly available 
on the website of each Federal agency.

SEC. 5. REPORT BY GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE.

    (a) Report Required.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report 
analyzing the information collected under section 3(b) to--
            (1) the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental 
        Affairs of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the 
        House of Representatives.
    (b) Matters Covered.--The report shall include--
            (1) whether Federal agencies are implementing the customer 
        service standards;
            (2) whether there is an increase in overall quality in 
        customer service in the Federal Government; and
            (3) any recommendations the Comptroller General may have to 
        improve performance measures and standards for customer service 
        in the Federal Government.
    (c) Use of Report.--The report may be used by Congress and the 
Director of Office of Management and Budget to update best practices 
referred to in section 3.

SEC. 6. INCENTIVES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

    The head of a Federal agency may establish an awards program to pay 
a cash award under chapter 45 of title 5, United States Code, to 
employees for demonstrated excellence in customer service.
                                                      Calendar No. 1107

110th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 404

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT

To require the establishment of customer service standards for Federal 
                               agencies.

_______________________________________________________________________

            October 1 (legislative day, September 17), 2008

                       Reported with an amendment