Expanded customer satisfaction survey due in spring
An expanded version of the second annual governmentwide customer satisfaction survey will be released this spring, providing a broader look at how federal agencies are meeting customer expectations.
The survey-a broader version of the 2000 customer satisfaction survey released last month-will include interviews with more than 90 customer groups, a major increase from earlier versions of the survey, which typically involved about 30 customer groups. Agencies determine which customers are interviewed for the survey. The survey ranks agencies on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and is conducted by the University of Michigan Business School.
"It was always our plan to broaden the survey to provide the best indication of customer satisfaction possible," said Rhudy Tennant, program manager at the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR). "We started with 30 agencies and next spring we'll expand that baseline to close to 100."
The survey will provide customer feedback to several first-time agency participants, including the U.S. Postal Service, the Small Business Administration and the Agriculture Department's Farm Service Agency. Several agencies have also decided to survey additional customer groups. For example, USDA's Food and Nutrition Service will survey recipients of its food stamp and school lunch programs, in addition to participants in the Women, Infants and Children program, who were surveyed in earlier surveys.
"All in all, I think this is a big step forward from last year," said Bob Stone, a partner in Public Strategies Group Inc. and former director of NPR. "I think a lot of agencies have gotten away from the idea that there is one definition of customers."
Stone and other experts have questioned earlier versions of the survey because agencies have pursued widely different strategies as they seek feedback on their activities. While the Veterans Benefits Administration has surveyed a random sample of veterans-considered primary customers of VA services-the Environmental Protection Agency has selected reference librarians who use the EPA Web site and respond to environmentally-related questions. EPA will still survey only reference librarians in the expanded survey due out this spring.
"It would be controversial for EPA to talk to chemical companies or metal finishing companies as customers," said Stone, "and yet for EPA to be most effective, they really need to measure how they are dealing with those people."
Stone mentioned the Education Department's Office of Student Financial Assistance and the Immigration and Naturalization Service as agencies that had made notable progress in surveying customers who are the primary users of their services. The Office of Student Financial Assistance contracted with CFI Group, a private consulting firm, to survey a sample of customers of all of its major programs, totaling 15 customer groups in all. The results of the CFI Group survey will be included in this spring's expanded governmentwide survey. The INS will survey travelers who pass agency checkpoints at U.S. borders with Mexico and with Canada.
Stone was also pleased to see that the Army, Navy and Air Force will survey personnel who are using military equipment. "I think it's wonderful that the services are surveying warfighters," he said.
Because the spring survey will include the views of so many new customer groups, it will not be strictly comparable to the 1999 and preliminary-2000 versions of the survey.
The ASCI index provides each agency with a numerical score from 0 to 100 based on customer expectations, perceived quality and perceived value. Since 1994, the ACSI index has become a gauge of customer satisfaction for more than 200 private companies in 34 industries, ranging from the Adolph Coors Co. to J.C. Penney to Zenith Electronics Corp.
The following table contains a preliminary list of all customer groups to be interviewed in the spring version of the governmentwide survey. New participants for the expanded survey are in italics.
| Agency | Customer | |
| Department of Agriculture | ||
| Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service | International travelers having plant/animal inspections | |
| Forest Service | Visitors to National Parks | |
| Food and Nutrition Service | WIC program recipients | |
| Food Safety and Inspection Service | Principal grocery shoppers and food preparers | |
| Farm Service Agency | Farmers receiving loans | |
| Recipients of federal crop insurance | ||
| Food and Nutrition Service | Food stamp recipients | |
| School lunch recipients | ||
| National Agriculture Resource Service | Data users of Agricultural statistics | |
| Natural Resources Conservation Service | Recipients of technical assistance | |
| Department of Commerce | ||
| Census Bureau | Data users in libraries, states, local agencies | |
| Patent and Trademark Office | Recent individual patent and trademark applicants | |
| Department of Defense | ||
| Defense Acquisition | Suppliers to the Defense Department | |
| Army | Warfighters receiving new equipment | |
| Navy | Warfighters receiving new equipment | |
| Air Force | Warfighters receiving new equipment | |
| Corps of Engineers | Users of recreation water facilities | |
| Army & Air Force Exchange Service | Exchange shoppers | |
| Department of Education | ||
| Education | Primary users of educational publications | |
| Users of Education-Information website | ||
| Grant Administration payments | ||
| Student Financial Assistance, Education Dept. | Electronic applicants for Title IV aid | |
| All other customer groups | ||
| Department of Energy | ||
| Energy Information Administration | Information Users | |
| Environmental Protection Agency | ||
| EPA | Reference Librarians accessing EPA Web site | |
| Federal Emergency Management Agency | ||
| Disaster assistance recipients | ||
| General Services Administration | ||
| Consumer Information Center | Users of Consumer Information Center Publications | |
| Health and Human Services | ||
| Administration for Children and Families | Parents of Head Start students | |
| Food and Drug Administration | Principal grocery shoppers and food preparers | |
| Health Care Financing Administration | Recent Medicare beneficiaries | |
| Health Care Financing Administration (4 segments) | Participants in state Medicaid/SCHIP programs | |
| Center for Disease Control | Users of website | |
| Health Resources and Services Administration | Data recipients | |
| Data recipients | ||
| Housing and Urban Development | ||
| Community Development | Community Block Grants | |
| Federal Housing Administration | Applicants for FHA mortgages | |
| Housing assistance recipients | ||
| Department of the Interior | ||
| Bureau of Land Management | Recreational visitors | |
| National Park Service | Recreational visitors to parks | |
| Fish and Wildlife Service | Visitors to conservation refuges | |
| Department of Justice | ||
| Immigration and Naturalization Service | International air travelors | |
| International travelers -- Northern U.S. border | ||
| International travelers -- Southern U.S. border | ||
| Office of Justice Programs | Data recipients of criminal justice information | |
| Department of Labor | ||
| OSHA | Health and safety professionals | |
| Employees who experience walk throughs | ||
| Employment and Training Administration | Users of One Stop centers | |
| Employment Standards Administration | Black lung part b beneficiaries | |
| Pension & Welfare Benefits | Benefit plan participants | |
| Bureau of Labor Statistics | Users of labor statistics | |
| NASA | Educators involved in NASA center programs | |
| Media Contacts | ||
| National Science Foundation | ||
| Recent grant applicants | ||
| Recent grant awardees | ||
| Office of Personnel Management | ||
| Federal retirees and annuitants | ||
| Small Business Administration | ||
| Recipients of small business financing | ||
| Recipients of business development assistance | ||
| Users of small business development centers | ||
| Social Security Administration | Recent retirement benefits recipients | |
| Survivor annuitants | ||
| Disability beneficiaries | ||
| Department of State | ||
| Users of information/website | ||
| Bureau of Counsular Affairs | Recent passport applicants | |
| Department of Transportation | ||
| Federal Aviation Administration | Commercial pilots | |
| Department of Treasury | ||
| Customs Service | International air travelors | |
| Internal Revenue Service | Electronic tax filers | |
| Paper tax filers | ||
| Tax exempt tax filers | ||
| Employee plans | ||
| Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms | Brewers, winery, and importers | |
| Veterans Administration | ||
| Veteran compensation/benefit claimants | ||
| Veterans Health Adminstration | Outpatients at VHA clinics | |
| Patients at VHA hospitals | ||
| Recipients of pharmacy services | ||
| Veterans Benefits Administration | Participants in insurance programs | |
| Board of Veterans Appeals | Veterans or beneficiaries making appeals | |
| National Cemetary Administration | Cemetary programs and services | |
| Pension Benefit Corporation | ||
| Pension beneficiaries | ||
| Export-Import Bank | ||
| Banks | ||
| Exporters | ||
| U.S. Mint | ||
| U.S. Postal Service | Recipients of regular mail | |
| Recipients of express mail |
Source: National Partnership for Reinventing Government
Post a Comment
To post a comment, you must provide a name and a valid e-mail address. Messages must be limited to 400 words. By using this Service you agree not to post material that is obscene, harassing, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable. Although Government Executive does not monitor comments posted to this site (and has no obligation to), it reserves the right to delete, edit, or move any material that it deems to be in violation of this rule.