On September 11, 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12862, âSetting Customer Service Standardsâ which clearly define his vision that the Federal agencies will put the people first. Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. Section 1(b) of Executive Order 12862 requires government agencies to âsurvey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing servicesâ and Section 1(e) requires agencies âsurvey front-line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best in business.â
On March 30, 2016, President Obama established the Core Federal Services Council, which again emphasized the need to deliver world-class customer service to the American people. The Council, composed of the major high-volume, high-impact Federal programs that provide transactional services directly to the public, were encouraged âto improve the customer experience by using public and private sector management best practices, such as conducting self-assessments and journey mapping, collecting transactional feedback data, and sharing such data with frontline and other staff.â
In March 2018, the Administration of President Trump launched the Presidentâs Management Agenda (PMA) and established new Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals. Excellent service was established as a core component of the mission, service, stewardship model that frames the entire PMA, embedding a customer-focused approach in all of the PMAâs initiatives. This model was also included in the 2018 update of the Federal Performance Framework in Circular A-11, ensuring âexcellent serviceâ as a focus in future agency strategic planning efforts. The PMA included a CAP Goal on Improving Customer Experience with Federal Services, with a primary strategy to drive improvements within 25 of the nationâs highest impact programs. This effort is supported by an interagency team and guidance in Circular A-11 requiring the collection of customer feedback data and increasing the use of industry best practices to conduct customer research.
In December 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14058: Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, which defines actions all agencies should take to improve customer experience through performance plans, digital modernization, and information collections. The Presidentâs Management Agenda also names as a key priority delivering excellent, equitable and secure Federal services and customer experience.
These Presidential actions and requirements establish an ongoing process of collecting customer insights and using them to improve services. This new request will enable the Institute of Museum and Library Services (hereafter âthe Agencyâ) to act in accordance with OMB Circular A-11 Section 280 to ultimately transform the experience of its customers to improve both efficiency and mission delivery, and increase accountability by communicating about these efforts with the public.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
