Federal Government Making Customer Experience Progress: GAO

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) applauded the Biden Administration for taking steps to improve customer service across the federal government, which is a priority area of the President’s Management Agenda and was also the subject of an Executive Order in 2021.

In a report, GAO noted that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) successfully addressed two cross-agency priority (CAP) goals that GAO suggested: improving customer experience and improving service around life events such as retirement and having a child, that often require citizens to navigate multiple federal agencies.

Experience Improvements

GAO noted that OMB designated nearly three dozen agencies that provide or fund lots of customer interactions as High Impact Service Providers (HISPs).

The report notes that HISPs are largely fulfilling the first CAP goal by reporting customer experience feedback.

27 of the HISPs have reported customer feedback data and OMB is working with the others to get their data.  OMB’s goal is to have all 35 HISPs report experience data by the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2025.

All 35 HISPs completed assessments on their internal capacity for customer experience work and developed an action plan for addressing any gaps.  

An example highlighted is the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), which implemented a redesign of its CareerOneStop website, after collecting data on navigation difficulties by users.

Life Experiences

GAO also reviewed how federal agencies are handling customer service around five life areas: recovering from a disaster, facing financial shock, having a child and early childhood, approaching retirement, and navigating transition to civilian life.

After all, these are all confusing and challenging times in a person’s life, and to successfully take advantage of all the government resources available, Americans usually have to navigate multiple agencies.

The report notes that OMB “assigned crossagency teams to lead related pilot projects for their improvement as part of their implementation of the second customer experience CAP goal. The individual cross-agency life experience teams collaborate to identify and implement customer-driven approaches.”

Overall, the report finds that OMB addressed such priorities and successfully defined key metrics such as common outcomes, ensuring accountability, and bridging organization cultures.

Congressional Reaction

The report elicited praise on Capitol Hill.

“The Biden Administration is to be commended for the incredible work it has done to reform and enhance the public’s customer experience when interacting with federal agencies. So many benefits flow from better customer experience. It improves public perception of and satisfaction with federal agencies and ensures high-quality service delivery. This in turn drives trust in government. The report by GAO demonstrates how setting goals and measuring progress against metrics can drive powerful reforms and improve how government serves the public,” said Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA).

And the hope for continued customer service improvements was echoed by OMB’s first-ever customer experience lead Amira Boland. Boland, who’s leaving to become chief of staff at the New Practice Lab, told NextGov, that no matter which party wins the election, she believes the customer service changes have staying power.

“I'm really encouraged by how seemingly non-partisan this work is… You can go all the way back to Bush I and see how since that presidency, every presidential administration has done something in this space… I feel like, and I have to hope that this is an area where we can continue to have support, irrespective of which administration is in power,” said Boland.