Eo 12862

EO 12862 SETTING CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDSEXECUTIVE
ORDEREO 12862
Effective Date: September 11, 1993

Responsible Office: Office of Management Systems
Subject: SETTING CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS

TEXT

Putting people first means ensuring that the Federal Government
provides the highest quality service possible to the American
people. Public officials must embark upon a revolution within
the Federal Government to change the way it does business. This
will require continual reform of the executive branch's
management practices and operations to provide service to the
public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the
private sector.

NOW, THEREFORE, to establish and implement customer service
standards to guide the operations of the executive branch, and by
the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. Customer Service Standards. In order to carry out the
principles of the National Performance Review, the Federal
Government must be customer-driven. The standard of quality for
services provided to the public shall be: Customer service equal
to the best in business. For the purposes of this order,
"customer" shall mean an individual or entity who is directly
served by a department or agency. "Best in business" shall mean
the highest quality of service delivered to customers by private
organizations providing a comparable or analogous service.

All executive departments and agencies (hereinafter referred to
collectively as "agency" or "agencies") that provide significant
services directly to the public shall provide those services in a
manner that seeks to meet the customer service standard
established herein and shall take the following actions:

(a) identify the customers who are, or should be, served by
the agency;
(b) survey customers to determine the kind and quality of
services they want and their level of satisfaction with
existing services;
(c) post service standards and measure results against
them;
(d) benchmark customer service performance against the best
in business;
(e) survey front-line employees on barriers to, and ideas
for, matching the best in business;
(f) provide customers with choices in both the sources of
service and the means of delivery;

(g) make information, services, and complaint systems
easily accessible; and
(h) provide means to address customer complaints.

Sec. 2. Report on Customer Service Surveys. By March 8, 1994,
each agency subject to this order shall report on its customer
surveys to the President. As information about customer
satisfaction becomes available, each agency shall use that
information in judging the performance of agency management and
in making resource allocations.

Sec. 3. Customer Service Plans. By September 8, 1994, each
agency subject to this order shall publish a customer service
plan that can be readily understood by its customers. The plan
shall include customer service standards and describe future
plans for customer surveys. It also shall identify the private
and public sector standards that the agency used to benchmark its
performance against the best in business. In connection with the
plan, each agency is encouraged to provide training resources for
programs needed by employees who directly serve customers and by
managers making use of customer survey information to promote the
principles and objectives contained herein.

Sec. 4. Independent Agencies. Independent agencies are requested
to adhere to this order.

Sec. 5. Judicial Review. This order is for the internal
management of the executive branch and does not create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by a party
against the United States, it agencies or instrumentalities, it
officers or employees, or any other person.

/s/William J. Clinton

THE WHITE HOUSE,
September 11, 1993.

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