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