President Issues EO on Improving Federal Gov't Services for the Public
On April 27, 2011, the President issued an Executive Order on streamlining service delivery and improving customer service in order to improve the quality of services delivered to the public by the Federal government.
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Meet and Improve Customer Service Standards
Executive departments and agencies, including independent agencies (agencies), would have to continuously evaluate their performance in meeting the government’s customer service standard and work to improve it. According to the EO, the Federal Government has a responsibility to streamline and make more efficient its service delivery to better serve the public.
Required to Publish Plans to Streamline and Improve Service to Public
Within 180 days of the date of the E.O., each agency is required to develop, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a Customer Service plan to address how the agency will provide services in a manner that seeks to streamline service delivery and improve the experience of its customers1. The plan, which must be published on the agency’s Open Government Web page, will set forth the agency's approach, intended benefits, and an implementation timeline for the following actions:
- establish one major initiative that will use technology to improve the customer experience;
- establish mechanisms to solicit customer feedback on Government services and use such feedback regularly to make service improvements;
- set clear customer service standards and expectations, including, where appropriate, performance goals for customer service required by the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRA, Public Law 111-352);
- improve the customer experience by adopting proven customer service best practices and coordinating across service channels (such as online, phone, in-person, and mail services);
- streamline agency processes to reduce costs and accelerate delivery, while reducing the need for customer calls and inquiries; and
- identify ways to use innovative technologies to accomplish the customer service activities above, thereby lowering costs, decreasing service delivery times, and improving the customer experience.
1”Customer" refers to any individual or to any entity, including a business, tribal, State or local government, or other agency, to which the agency directly provides significant services.
(On January 18, 2011, the President issued EO 13563, which requires retrospective review of significant rules. Within 120 days of the date of the order (May 18, 2011), each agency is required to develop and submit to OMB a preliminary plan under which the agency will periodically review its existing significant regulations. See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/19/11 news, 11011915, for BP summary.)