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Customer experience bill passes Senate committee
The proposal is one of many that moved through House and Senate committees last week, including a transparency bill that brings additional congressional oversight to the General Services Administration.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee passed a proposal to require the Office of Management and Budget to establish a service delivery lead out of committee on Wednesday.
The Government Service Delivery Improvement Act would also require agencies to tap a senior lead for customer experience improvements. It’s backed by Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and William Timmons, R-S.C.
It already passed the full House in May. The committee approval doesn't guarantee the measure will get a vote in the full Senate, but it is one step closer to passage.
“This bill will make it easier for Americans to access essential federal services from Social Security to Medicare to veterans’ benefits by designating officials to drive changes and increasing coordination across the government,” Khanna said in a statement when the bill passed the House. “The federal government has an obligation to deliver quality services efficiently and effectively and this bill will make good on that.”
The proposal has the support of some trade groups and government efficiency organizations, though it’s not the only CX proposal that lawmakers have been considering. A different, Senate-based proposal would require agencies to develop customer service plans.
The Senate committee also moved a technology transparency bill focused on the General Services Administration to full floor consideration this week.
The GSA Technology Accountability Act, from Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Gerry Connolly, D-Va., would require GSA to give lawmakers an annual list of the work done through the Federal Citizen Services Fund and Acquisition Services Fund. That legislation also passed the House in May.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee also had a markup Wednesday that advanced a procurement reform bill, the Federal Improvement in Technology Procurement Act, that originated with Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as well as the SHARE IT proposal from the same pair, meant to make agencies share custom code with one another.