Senators Lankford, Hassan Applaud Passage of Bill to Improve Federal Government’s Customer Service

WASHINGTON, DC – The Senate passed the Federal Agency Customer Experience (FACE) Act of 2019, a bipartisan bill, introduced by Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), to better assess and improve the customer service experience for Americans dealing with federal agencies.

“Attention to customer service is an important part of improving the federal government’s interaction with the public it serves,” said Lankford. “The commonsense, bipartisan, bicameral FACE Act gives federal agencies the flexibility to conduct brief and voluntary surveys of the public they serve—something that should be easy but unfortunately red tape even complicates customer service. I am grateful for Senator Hassan’s work to help move this legislation. I am glad the bill passed the Senate unanimously, and I look forward to its further consideration in the House.”

“If there’s one thing that we can all agree on, it’s that dealing with customer service can be maddeningly difficult – so I’m very glad to be working across the aisle to improve the federal government’s customer service,” said Hassan. “Hearing directly from people about their experience with federal agencies will help the federal government to identify problems, address them, and better serve the public. I hope the House quickly follows our lead by passing the bill so it can be signed into law.”

The bipartisan FACE Act would allow agencies to efficiently and effectively assess customer satisfaction with government services through brief surveys developed in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA). The surveys include standard questions developed by OMB and GSA which should address (1) overall satisfaction; (2) whether an individual accomplished his/her intended purpose; (3) whether an individual was treated with respect and professionalism; and (4) timeliness of service. The bill also increases transparency within the federal government by requiring participating agencies to publish their customer feedback online and with OMB.

Earlier this year, Congressmen Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced a companion bipartisan bill in the House of Representatives.

Lankford is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and is the Chairman of the of the Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management.