Agency customer satisfaction ratings to be released

The results of the first-ever governmentwide customer satisfaction survey will be released next week, offering an opportunity to compare Americans' opinions of private sector and government performance.

About 30 agencies participated in the survey, performed by Arthur Andersen, the University of Michigan Business School and the American Society for Quality under an $867,000 one-year contract. The group surveyed about 250 customers of each agency, asking questions about customers' expecations, satisfaction and trust of the agency. The surveyors then plugged the results into a computer model that placed the agencies' satisfaction ratings on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).

Since 1994, the ACSI 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 index provides each company with a numerical score from 0 to 100 based on customer expectations, perceived quality and perceived value.

Until this year, the only federal agencies that participated in the ACSI were the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Postal Service.

In 1998, the IRS' ACSI score was 53. The Postal Service received a 71. The national score for all industries was 72.6. The highest-ranked organization on the index was beverage and soft drink maker Cadbury Schweppes, with a score of 88.

Barbara Everitt Bryant, managing director of the ACSI and the former Census Bureau director under President Bush, said ACSI scores for both private firms and government agencies are determined by three factors:

• Overall satisfaction.
• How well the service a customer received lived up to expectations.
• Compared to an ideal service provider, how well the organization stacked up.

Each federal agency participating in the survey also worked with ACSI researchers to develop specific questions about its services. For example, the Census Bureau surveyed distributors of its data on the ease of use of its Web site. The IRS this year surveyed people who filed electronically to determine how the agency can make electronic filing attractive to more taxpayers.

Keith Decie, spokesman for the University of Michigan Business School, said the ACSI is more useful than standard customer surveys because it provides agencies with information about what aspects of their operations they should focus on to make customers happier. For example, a survey of students at the business school might find room for improvement in both teacher quality and the quality of facilities. But the ACSI would tell the school that an increase in teacher quality would improve student satisfaction much more than an increase in the quality of facilities, Decie said.

"This is anything but your typical beauty contest survey," Decie said. "Because the government chose to use this methodology and this index, it allows for the first time-probably in the history of the world-a look at what is the satisfaction with the government versus satisfaction with the private sector."

Decie and Bryant cautioned that comparisons between the private sector and government are limited, since people have a choice in whether they deal with private companies. In many cases, people have no choice but to deal with a government agency.

"Unfortunately, none of us say, 'Hooray, I want to pay my taxes,'" Bryant said.

The government's results will be announced on Monday, Dec. 13. GovExec.com will have the results of the survey that day.