Agencies pledge to act on results of customer survey

Federal agencies are promising to use feedback from the first governmentwide customer satisfaction survey to improve their products and services.

When government scores on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) were released on Monday, 29 federal agencies received a clearer picture of what some of their customers like and don't like about them.

The University of Michigan Business School and its partners administered the survey by interviewing 250 customers for each of the participating agencies. Each agency received an overall score on the ACSI, as did the federal government as a whole. Uncle Sam scored a 68.6 on a 100-point scale. By comparison, the average private sector score on the index is 72.

Several agencies got more specific feedback from survey. The Federal Aviation Administration, for example, found out that commercial pilots have difficulty understanding the agency's regulations. The FAA received a relatively low score of 58 on the clarity of its regulations.

Commercial pilots "emphasized the need for clarity and standardization of regulations and policies," the FAA said in a statement. As a result, the agency released its first attempt at plain language regulations in Tuesday's Federal Register.

The FAA pledged to write all future regulatory documents in a style that reduces confusion and makes compliance easier.

The IRS, too, is taking its customer feedback seriously. The agency found out that Americans who file their taxes electronically are happier with IRS service than those who file in the traditional manner.

Non-electronic filers gave the agency a 54 on the ACSI index, while electronic filers rated IRS service 20 points higher.

The IRS is using the survey results to bolster its push to increase electronic filing. By 2007, the agency hopes that 80 percent of American taxpayers will file and communicate with the agency electronically because the process is "so simple, inexpensive and trusted that taxpayers will prefer these to calling and mailing," the IRS said.

The Food Safety Inspection Service, a division of the Agriculture Department responsible for the safety of meat, poultry and egg products, found out from the survey that it has a marketing problem. Many shoppers and food preparers weren't aware of what FSIS does to ensure food safety and did not understand the process of meat and chicken recalls.

"We at FSIS realized that we need to improve how we communicate information directly to the public. The public needs to know more about us so that they will feel confident about the job we are doing on their behalf," FSIS said in its survey summary.

FSIS is considering building a separate brand identity from USDA as a way of building public awareness of the agency and its mission.

All 29 surveyed agencies published their plans to address customer concerns on the project's Web site, customersurvey.gov.