Government Customer Service Improvement Act of 2013 - Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to develop government-wide standards for customer service delivery, which shall be included in the Federal Government Performance Plan. Requires such standards to include: (1) government-wide goals for continuous service improvements and efforts to modernize service delivery; and (2) government-wide target response times for telephone calls, electronic mail, mail, benefit processing, and payments.
Directs: (1) the Performance Improvement Officer for each executive agency to establish customer service standards in accordance with such government-wide standards, which shall be included in agency performance plans; (2) the Director of OMB to establish a Customer Service Feedback Pilot Program which shall include participation by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and two additional agencies to collect information from agency customers on the quality of customer service provided; and (3) the Director to include agency achievements in meeting customer service performance standards in each required update on agency performance.
Requires: (1) compliance with customer service standards developed under this Act to be included in agency employee appraisal systems, (2) the Director of OMB to establish a two-year Service Improvement Unit Pilot Program to provide assistance to agencies that do not meet such government-wide customer service standards, and (3) the Administrator of General Services (GSA) to provide administrative and other support to implement such Program.
Requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to: (1) submit to Congress and the Comptroller General (GAO) and issue publicly every month a report on information submitted by each federal agency about its employees who are retiring and pending applications for retirement benefits, (2) establish a timetable for completion of OPM's customer-focused retirement processing system and a deadline by which all federal payroll processing entities will electronically transmit all personnel data to OPM, and (3) include in each OPM annual budget request a statement on progress in completing its customer-focused retirement processing system.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1660 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1660
To require the establishment of Federal customer service standards and
to improve the service provided by Federal agencies.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 19, 2013
Mr. Cuellar (for himself and Mr. McCaul) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the establishment of Federal customer service standards and
to improve the service provided by Federal agencies.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Government Customer Service
Improvement Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency''--
(A) means an Executive agency (as defined under
section 105 of title 5, United States Code) that
provides significant services directly to the public or
other entity; and
(B) does not include an Executive agency if the
President determines that this Act should not apply to
the Executive agency for national security reasons.
(2) Customer.--The term ``customer'', with respect to an
agency, means any individual or entity that is directly served
by an agency.
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS.
(a) Government-Wide Standards.--
(1) In general.--The Director of the Office of Management
and Budget shall develop Government-wide standards for customer
service delivery, which shall be included in the Federal
Government Performance Plan required under section 1115 of
title 31, United States Code.
(2) Requirements.--The standards developed under paragraph
(1) shall include--
(A) Government-wide goals for continuous service
improvements and efforts to modernize service delivery;
and
(B) where appropriate, Government-wide target
response times for telephone calls, electronic mail,
mail, benefit processing, and payments.
(b) Agency Standards.--
(1) In general.--The Chief Performance Officer for each
agency shall establish customer service standards in accordance
with the Government-wide standards established under subsection
(a), which shall be included in the Agency Performance Plans
required under section 1115 of title 31, United States Code.
(2) Requirements.--Agency standards established under
paragraph (1) shall include, if appropriate--
(A) target call wait times during peak and non-peak
hours;
(B) target response times for correspondence, both
by mail and electronic mail;
(C) procedures for ensuring all applicable metrics
are incorporated into service agreements with
nongovernmental individuals and entities;
(D) target response times for processing benefits
and making payments; and
(E) recommendations for effective publication of
customer service contact information, including a
mailing address, telephone number, and email address.
(c) Customer Service Input.--The Performance Improvement Officer
for each agency shall collect information from customers of the agency
regarding the quality of customer service provided by the agency. Each
agency shall include the information collected under this subsection in
the performance report made available by the agency under section 1116
of title 31, United States Code.
(d) Annual Performance Update.--The Director of the Office of
Management and Budget shall include achievements by agencies in meeting
the customer service performance measures and standards developed under
subsection (a) in each update on agency performance required under
section 1116 of title 31, United States Code.
SEC. 4. SERVICE IMPROVEMENT UNIT PILOT PROGRAM.
(a) Established.--The Director of the Office of Management and
Budget shall establish a pilot program, to be known as the Service
Improvement Unit Pilot Program (in this section referred to as the
``pilot program''), to provide assistance to agencies that do not meet
the Government-wide standards established under section 3.
(b) Personnel.--The heads of agencies with expertise in change
management, process improvement, and information technology innovation
shall detail employees to the Office of Management and Budget to work
on the pilot program, based on the expertise and skills required to
address service improvement goals.
(c) Responsibilities.--Under the pilot program, the Office of
Management and Budget shall work with agencies that are not meeting the
customer service standards and performance measures established under
section 3 to improve and modernize service delivery to develop
solutions, including--
(1) evaluating the efforts of the agency to improve service
delivery;
(2) developing a plan to improve within existing resources
and by drawing on expertise and assistance from other agencies
(including the Office of Management and Budget) where
necessary;
(3) monitoring implementation by the agency of the plan
developed under paragraph (2) until the customer service
standards and performance measures are met; and
(4) submitting to the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget monthly reports on the progress being made to
improve service at the agency until the customer service
standards are met.
(d) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall
submit to Congress a report on the accomplishments and outcomes of the
pilot program and any recommendations relating to achieving the
customer service standards and performance measures established under
section 3.
(e) Support.--The Administrator of General Services shall provide
administrative and other support in order to implement the pilot
program under this section. The heads of agencies shall, as appropriate
and to the extent permitted by law, provide at the request of the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget up to 2 personnel
authorizations who have expertise in change management, process
improvement, and information technology innovation to support the pilot
program.
(f) Termination.--The authority to carry out the pilot program
shall terminate 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. RETIREMENT REPORTING.
(a) Definition.--In this section, the term ``agency'' has the
meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, United States Code.
(b) Reports.--
(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2) and
not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
and every month thereafter, the Director of the Office of
Personnel Management shall submit to Congress and the
Comptroller General of the United States, and issue publicly
(including on the website of the Office of Personnel
Management), a report that--
(A) for each agency, evaluates the timeliness,
completeness, and accuracy of information submitted by
the agency relating to employees of the agency who are
retiring; and
(B) indicates--
(i) the total number of applications for
retirement benefits, lump sum death benefits,
court ordered benefits, phased retirement, and
disability retirement that are pending action
by the Office of Personnel Management; and
(ii) the number of months each such
application has been pending.
(2) Suspension of reporting requirement.--Paragraph (1)
shall not apply to the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management for any month immediately following a 3-year period
in which there are no applications described in paragraph
(1)(B) that have been pending for more than 60 days.
(c) Modernization Timeline.--The Director of the Office of
Personnel Management shall establish--
(1) a timetable for the completion of each component of the
retirement systems modernization project of the Office of
Personnel Management, including all data elements required for
accurate completion of adjudication; and
(2) the date by which all Federal payroll processing
entities will electronically transmit all personnel data to the
Office of Personnel Management.
(d) Budget Request.--The Office of Personnel Management shall
include a detailed statement regarding the progress of the Office of
Personnel Management in completing the retirement systems modernization
project of the Office of Personnel Management and recommendations to
Congress regarding the additional resources needed to fully implement
the retirement systems modernization project of the Office of Personnel
Management in each budget request of the Office of Personnel Management
submitted as part of the preparation of the budget of the President
submitted to Congress under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States
Code.
SEC. 6. NO INCREASE IN EXPENDITURES.
No additional funds are authorized to carry out this Act. This Act
shall be carried out using amounts otherwise authorized or
appropriated.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
Mr. Meadows moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5207-5209)
DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 1660.
Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H5207-5208)
On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5207-5208)
Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
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