Federal Customer Experience: OMB Can Better Assess the Improvement Efforts of High Impact Service Providers

Fast Facts

Federal agencies provide medical benefits to veterans, manage border security, educate national park visitors, and serve the public in many other ways. The Office of Management and Budget is responsible for coordinating efforts to improve customer service at federal agencies. OMB set goals for agency improvements and gathered information from agencies such as their plans for customer service improvements. However, we found the goals OMB set weren’t specific enough to allow it to measure progress. Such goals could help it determine what approaches are working and better target its efforts. We recommended setting targets, timeframes, and more.

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Highlights

What GAO Found

Federal agencies serve the public in a vast number of ways, such as providing medical benefits to veterans, managing border security, and educating visitors to national parks. Given the breadth of these services, efforts have been made to improve customer service (agencies' individual interactions with customers) and customer experience (the public's perceptions of and overall satisfaction with those interactions).

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) established two Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) goals to improve federal customer experience, covering the period from 2022 through January 2025. The next set of CAP goals are to be released no later than February 2026. Further, the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act, enacted in January 2025, requires that OMB coordinate government efforts to improve federal service delivery from high impact service providers. This includes establishing government-wide standards, policies, guidelines, and performance measures.

One of the customer experience CAP goals focused on high impact service providers—federal entities that provide or fund services that have a large customer base or a critical effect on those served. There are currently 37 high impact service providers designated by OMB. From 2022 through 2024, OMB obtained annual capacity assessments and action plans from them about their customer experience improvement efforts.

• Capacity assessments summarized the practices and resources available to support customer experience work within the high impact service providers.
• Action plans described anticipated service improvements that the providers intended to take in future years. Most of the action plans emphasized digital improvements, such as the creation of mobile applications or the improvement of existing websites.

While obtaining such information from service providers is helpful, GAO found that OMB could not use the information to assess progress on the providers' customer experience improvements. For example, OMB established a goal that all providers would have the talent required to accomplish a range of customer experience activities by the end of fiscal year 2024. This goal included a time frame for improving talent. However, it did not communicate what was to be achieved (e.g., what specific changes in talent and skill were needed) or how that achievement would be measured (i.e., a quantifiable target).

OMB could better target its efforts to improve services to the public by developing goals with quantitative targets and time frames, and related performance measures, for the level of improvements it expects. This is consistent with OMB's responsibilities under the Government Service Delivery Improvement Act and key practices for federal performance management. For example, OMB had previously developed a goal to, “Increase energy productivity (amount of real gross domestic product in dollars/energy demand) 50 percent by 2030.” This goal included a time frame, a definition of energy productivity, and a quantitative target. Similarly clear expectations would better position OMB and the service providers in their efforts to improve services to the public.

Why GAO Did This Study

The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) provides for the establishment of CAP goals—4-year outcome-oriented goals—to improve the management of government. According to the act, OMB is responsible for overseeing these goals. GPRAMA also includes a provision for GAO to periodically assess the act's implementation, including the CAP goals.

This report (1) describes information OMB obtained from high impact service providers about their customer experience improvement efforts; and (2) examines how OMB used this information to assess progress toward customer experience goals.

GAO reviewed information from OMB and the 37 high impact service providers identified by OMB. GAO compared OMB actions to key practices for federal performance management.

Recommendations

GAO is recommending that OMB, in consultation with federal agencies, establish goals for federal customer experience and service delivery activities. These should include quantitative targets and time frames for the expected level of improvements, and related performance measures.

OMB did not provide comments on our draft report.

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Recommendations

GAO is recommending that OMB, in consultation with federal agencies, establish goals for federal customer experience and service delivery activities. These should include quantitative targets and time frames for the expected level of improvements, and related performance measures.

OMB did not provide comments on our draft report.