From: Karin Zilla (karinz@certifiedemployment.com)
Date: Mon Aug 04 2003 - 10:39:49 PDT
Message-ID: <3F2E9A65.7E4EF917@certifiedemployment.com> Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 10:39:49 -0700 From: Karin Zilla <karinz@certifiedemployment.com> Subject: [Fwd: New Federal reference program]
attached mail follows:
Message-ID: <76E44833A5BB9A4ABBAF4AADBDE1D7B80600BD15@hqs077.calpers.ca.gov> From: "Goldman, Ava" <Ava_Goldman@CalPERS.CA.GOV> Subject: New Federal reference program Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2003 09:27:41 -0700
cross-posted.
Feds Promise to Answer Your E-Mail
New government agency created to quickly respond to citizen's queries.
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Wednesday, July 30, 2003
The U.S. General Services Administration has launched what it calls the
"first comprehensive customer service department for citizens" in the U.S.
government, with a goal of responding to questions by Web, e-mail, or phone
within two business days.
USA Services, the new GSA program launched Wednesday, will allow federal
agencies to redirect questions sent to the wrong federal agency to USA
Services staff, who will then answer the questions. USA Services can also
function as a customer service center for federal agencies, with the new
program responding to frequently asked questions for each participating
agency, instead of agency staff taking time away from other duties to answer
questions from U.S. residents.
"It's going to save agencies money," said M.J. Jameson, associate
administrator in the GSA's Office of Citizen Services and Communications.
"Why should they build their own [customer service] systems when they can
use ours? Agencies will be able to devote more resources to their core
mission."
One-Stop Shop
Government officials touted USA Services, part of a President Bush
e-government initiative to use technology to better serve U.S. residents, as
a one-stop shop for people to get their questions about the federal
government answered. Although the U.S. government already has a Web
<http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,110231,00.asp> site,
FirstGov.gov, and a toll-free number, 1-800-FED-INFO, aimed at answering
constituent questions, the USA Services program will center the response
services at one place, allowing for faster and more consistent answers,
Jameson said.
USA Services will allow for a significant improvement in customer service,
added Mark Forman, administrator of the Office of E-Government and
Information Technology at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"Most citizens know, and it's really hard for people inside the bureaucracy
to recognize this, it's too hard to know who to contact in the federal
government to get information," Forman said. "USA Services will change the
way the federal government responds to citizens."
In the past, there hasn't been a government wide measure of how long it
takes for a U.S. resident to get a question answered in the federal
government, with response times varying widely, officials said. With help
from a contractor, the six member USA Services team is attempting to
generate an immediate response to all e-mail, with meaningful responses
within two days. During a pilot program with the U.S. Department of
Interior, USA Services was able to answer about 95 percent of the questions
asked, with the rest sent on to the agency for future research.
"The fact is, we've been doing it in two days, so we pledged it," Jameson
said.
Cutting Costs?
After the creation of the GSA Office of Citizen Services and Communications
in June 2002, the cost of answering e-mail during this fiscal year, which
started in October, has been about $100,000.
Quick responses will be increasingly important, as GSA predicts that
inquiries through FirstGov.gov <http://www.firstgov.gov/> , telephone
calls, e-mail, and other methods will grow from 45 million in 2002 to 74
million in 2003, with further growth after 2003.
"We are dealing with in the neighborhood of 100 million citizens inquiries
on an annual basis," said Stephen Perry, administrator of GSA. "We can
easily see that number growing to 300 million, to 400 million. This is
something the citizens are quite interested in."
Twelve U.S. agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Small
Business Administration, and the Department of Labor, have signed up with
USA Services to have questions answered through the new program.
-30-
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