Federal employees lamenting the restrictive approval process that prevents them from seeking voluntary public assessments of agencies’ customer services may some have positive feedback to give following a new bipartisan bill.
"The Federal Agency Customer Experience Act of 2017," S. 1088, has been introduced by Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., to remove extensive interagency review processes keeping agencies from gauging customer satisfaction.
"Most people think interacting with the federal government is unpleasant — but at the same time we’re making it difficult for agencies to ask the public how they can improve — it makes no sense," McCaskill said following the bill’s introduction on May 10. "This law will allow the federal government to better identify specific customer service issues and start to implement changes to make the government work better for the American people."
The nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Services released its own statement in support of the bill.
"The federal government provides critical services to the public, and many agencies have already made a strong commitment to provide those services at a level that meets or exceeds that of the private sector," said Partnership President and CEO Max Stier. "The important legislation introduced today by Sens. Lankford and McCaskill will allow agencies to continue to improve by helping them better understand the concerns of the public, continue to improve in the delivery of services and increase citizen satisfaction."