H.R. 1660, the Government Customer Service Improvement Act of 2013

113TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. R. 1660
AN ACT

To require the establishment of Federal customer service
standards and to improve the service provided by Federal
agencies.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-

2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Government Customer

3 Service Improvement Act of 2013’’.
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SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

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In this Act:

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(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’—

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(A) means an Executive agency (as defined

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under section 105 of title 5, United States

9

Code) that provides significant services directly

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to the public or other entity; and

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(B) does not include an Executive agency

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if the President determines that this Act should

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not apply to the Executive agency for national

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security reasons.

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(2) CUSTOMER.—The term ‘‘customer’’, with

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respect to an agency, means any individual or entity

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that is directly served by an agency.

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SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE STAND-

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ARDS.

(a) GOVERNMENT-WIDE STANDARDS.—
(1) IN

GENERAL.—The

Director of the Office of

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Management and Budget shall develop Government-

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wide standards for customer service delivery, which

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shall be included in the Federal Government Per-

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formance Plan required under section 1115 of title

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31, United States Code.
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(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The standards developed
under paragraph (1) shall include—

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(A) Government-wide goals for continuous

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service improvements and efforts to modernize

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service delivery; and

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(B) where appropriate, Government-wide

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target response times for telephone calls, elec-

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tronic mail, mail, benefit processing, and pay-

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ments.

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(b) AGENCY STANDARDS.—
(1) IN

GENERAL.—The

Performance Improve-

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ment Officer for each agency shall establish cus-

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tomer service standards in accordance with the Gov-

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ernment-wide standards developed under subsection

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(a), which shall be included in the Agency Perform-

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ance Plans required under section 1115 of title 31,

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United States Code.

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(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Agency standards estab-

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lished under paragraph (1) shall include, if appro-

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priate—

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(A) target call wait times during peak and
non-peak hours;

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(B) target response times for correspondence, both by mail and electronic mail;

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(C) procedures for ensuring all applicable

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metrics are incorporated into service agree-

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ments with nongovernmental individuals and

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entities;

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(D) target response times for processing
benefits and making payments; and

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(E) recommendations for effective publica-

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tion of customer service contact information, in-

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cluding a mailing address, telephone number,

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and email address.
(c) CUSTOMER SERVICE INPUT.—

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(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Of-

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fice of Management and Budget shall establish a

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Customer Service Feedback Pilot Program. The

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pilot program shall include participation by the In-

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ternal Revenue Service and a minimum of two addi-

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tional agencies selected by the Director and shall

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continue for a period of at least three years. The Di-

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rector shall require participating agencies to imple-

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ment a customer service feedback system to collect

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information from customers of the agency regarding

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the quality of customer service provided by the agen-

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cy, including—

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(A) information on the extent to which

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agency performance complies with the Govern-

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ment-wide standards developed under sub-

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section (a); and

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(B) feedback on the quality of customer

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service provided by the agency employee or em-

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ployees with whom the customer interacted.

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(2) LIMITATION.—An agency may not publish

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or make publically available information collected

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under the feedback system that is specific to a

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named employee.

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(3) ADDITIONAL

INFORMATION IN PERFORM-

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ANCE REPORT.—In

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port made available by the agency under section

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1116 of title 31, United States Code, each agency—

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(A) shall include the information collected

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developing the performance re-

under this subsection; and

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(B) may include aggregate data collected

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under paragraph (1)(B) without including

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names of specific agency employees.

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(4) REPORT

TO CONGRESS ON CUSTOMER SERV-

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ICE FEEDBACK PILOT PROGRAM.—Not

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two years after the implementation of the Customer

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Service Feedback Pilot Program established under

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this subsection, the Comptroller General shall sub-

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mit to Congress a report assessing the pilot program

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and a recommendation on whether such program

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should be expanded Government-wide.

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(d) ANNUAL PERFORMANCE UPDATE.—The Director

4 of the Office of Management and Budget shall include
5 achievements by agencies in meeting the customer service
6 performance standards developed under subsection (a) in
7 each update on agency performance required under section
8 1116 of title 31, United States Code.
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SEC. 4. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL.

Compliance with customer service standards devel-

11 oped under this Act shall be included in employee ap12 praisal systems establish by agencies, including the per13 formance appraisal systems referred to in chapter 43 of
14 title 5, United States Code.
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SEC. 5. SERVICE IMPROVEMENT UNIT PILOT PROGRAM.

(a) ESTABLISHED.—The Director of the Office of

17 Management and Budget shall establish a pilot program,
18 to be known as the Service Improvement Unit Pilot Pro19 gram (in this section referred to as the ‘‘pilot program’’),
20 to provide assistance to agencies that do not meet the Gov21 ernment-wide standards developed under section 3.
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(b) PERSONNEL.—The heads of agencies with exper-

23 tise in change management, process improvement, and in24 formation technology innovation shall detail employees to
25 the Office of Management and Budget to work on the pilot

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1 program, based on the expertise and skills required to ad2 dress service improvement goals.
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(c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—Under the pilot program,

4 the Office of Management and Budget shall work with
5 agencies that are not meeting the customer service stand6 ards developed under section 3 to improve and modernize
7 service delivery to develop solutions, including—
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(1) evaluating the efforts of the agency to improve service delivery;

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(2) developing a plan to improve within existing

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resources and by drawing on expertise and assist-

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ance from other agencies (including the Office of

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Management and Budget) where necessary;

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(3) monitoring implementation by the agency of

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the plan developed under paragraph (2) until the

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customer service standards are met; and

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(4) submitting to the Director of the Office of

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Management and Budget monthly reports on the

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progress being made to improve service at the agen-

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cy until the customer service standards are met.

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(d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date

22 of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Office of
23 Management and Budget shall submit to Congress a re24 port on the accomplishments and outcomes of the pilot

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1 program and any recommendations relating to achieving
2 the customer service standards developed under section 3.
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(e) SUPPORT.—The Administrator of General Serv-

4 ices shall provide administrative and other support in
5 order to implement the pilot program under this section.
6 The heads of agencies shall, as appropriate and to the ex7 tent permitted by law, provide at the request of the Direc8 tor of the Office of Management and Budget up to 2 per9 sonnel authorizations who have expertise in change man10 agement, process improvement, and information tech11 nology innovation to support the pilot program.
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(f) TERMINATION.—The authority to carry out the

13 pilot program shall terminate 2 years after the date of
14 enactment of this Act.
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SEC. 6. RETIREMENT REPORTING.

(a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘agency’’

17 has the meaning given that term in section 551 of title
18 5, United States Code.
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(b) REPORTS.—

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(1) IN

GENERAL.—Except

as provided in para-

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graph (2) and not later than 90 days after the date

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of enactment of this Act, and every month there-

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after, the Director of the Office of Personnel Man-

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agement shall submit to Congress and the Comp-

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troller General of the United States, and issue pub-

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licly (including on the website of the Office of Per-

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sonnel Management), a report that—

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(A) for each agency, evaluates the timeli-

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ness, completeness, and accuracy of information

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submitted by the agency relating to employees

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of the agency who are retiring; and

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(B) indicates—

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(i) the total number of applications

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for retirement benefits, lump sum death

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benefits, court ordered benefits, phased re-

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tirement, and disability retirement that are

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pending action by the Office of Personnel

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Management; and

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(ii) the number of months each such

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application has been pending.
(2) SUSPENSION

OF

REPORTING

REQUIRE-

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MENT.—Paragraph

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tor of the Office of Personnel Management for any

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month immediately following an 18-month period in

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which the average processing time of applications de-

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scribed in paragraph (1)(B) reaches 90 days or less.

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(c) MODERNIZATION TIMELINE.—The Director of

(1) shall not apply to the Direc-

23 the Office of Personnel Management shall establish—
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(1) a timetable for the completion of each com-

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ponent of the customer-focused retirement proc-

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essing system of the Office of Personnel Manage-

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ment, including all data elements required for accu-

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rate completion of adjudication; and

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(2) the date by which all Federal payroll proc-

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essing entities will electronically transmit all per-

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sonnel data to the Office of Personnel Management.

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(d) BUDGET REQUEST.—The Office of Personnel

8 Management shall include a detailed statement regarding
9 the progress of the Office of Personnel Management in
10 completing the customer-focused retirement processing
11 system of the Office of Personnel Management in each
12 budget request of the Office of Personnel Management
13 submitted as part of the preparation of the budget of the
14 President submitted to Congress under section 1105(a) of
15 title 31, United States Code.
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SEC. 7. NO INCREASE IN EXPENDITURES.

No additional funds are authorized to carry out this

18 Act. This Act shall be carried out using amounts otherwise
19 authorized or appropriated.
Passed the House of Representatives July 31, 2013.
Attest:

Clerk.

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113TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION

H. R. 1660

AN ACT
To require the establishment of Federal customer
service standards and to improve the service provided by Federal agencies.