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Strategic Objective
Enhance relationships with customers, suppliers and stakeholders
Strategic Objective
Overview
GSA will improve customer knowledge through increased use of business intelligence, furthering strategic partnerships and improved financial stewardship. We will make it easier for federal agencies to acquire what they need to achieve their mission. We will also assess our performance in acquisition, technology, and real property services through annual surveys to attain customer perceptions concerning the quality, reliability, value, timeliness, and responsiveness of GSA in meeting federal agency needs. Customer data will be used to drive continuous improvement.
We will continue to improve relationships with current and potential suppliers, and develop tools and processes to make it easier for suppliers to efficiently meet the needs of government customers. We will analyze market and vendor data to negotiate better rates, discounts, improved services and other benefits for federal agencies. We will increase vendor outreach and communications to strengthen trust with suppliers.
GSA will enhance federal government interaction with the American public by providing innovative tools and solutions that better enable the American public to access federal information; increasing federal use of existing public engagement tools, technology, and expertise; improving access and increasing the American public’s use of communication mediums aimed at public engagement.
Strategies:
- Increase customer loyalty through strategic partnerships with customers and an agency-specific team approach to provide federal customers with access to customized support at all levels, from the agency executive through procurement decision makers.
- Offer a multi-layered team of people and programs to capture the voice of the customer, identify and improve gaps, deliver customized analytics and recommendations and further improve the value GSA offers for customer agencies.
- Establish focused account strategies to ensure customers receive coordinated and consistent information, dedicated client representation understanding their strategies and needs, and an improved appreciation for how important their business and satisfaction are to GSA.
- Ensure consistency with our building services delivery by improving communication with national managers and staff, and providing training courses.
- Continue to implement our smart building program so that improvements to our buildings will include consideration for building systems, occupants, the environment, energy sources, operating policy, capital and operating expenses, while meeting customer workforce expectations.
- Continue to administer the Supplier Relationships Survey and act on survey results to improve our processes and make it easier for suppliers to do business with us, while maintaining rigorous business controls and improving purchasing transparency for federal customers.
- Leverage data to improve programs.
- Create tools and resources (reverse auctions, IT Solutions Navigator, etc) and offer regular training sessions that make it easier for agencies to identify and purchase GSA-contracted information technology solutions which fully meet their needs.
- Meet with senior leadership of government agencies to promote GSA solutions and new awards, and help agencies identify ways to save money.
- Improve the collection, analysis, and visualization of data to inform decision-making and lead to more effective policy development.
- Demonstrate the viability and scalability of new governmentwide shared solutions and expand the use of solutions to deliver value, cost avoidance and excellent customer experiences to federal agencies.
Key Performance Goals:
- Improve customer satisfaction with government-owned and leased space
- Achieve customer loyalty and supplier satisfaction for acquisition services
- Implement effective policy initiatives
- Drive greater transparency and innovation in government
- Increase citizen engagement
Contributing Programs:
- Acquisition Workforce Training
- Assisted Acquisition
- Building Operations
- Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies
- Construction and Acquisition of Facilities
- General Supplies and Services
- Government-wide Policy
- Integrated Acquisition Environment
- Integrated Technology Services
- Rental of Space
- Repairs and Alterations
- Travel, Motor Vehicle and Card Services
Progress Update
GSA, in consultation with OMB, has highlighted this objective as a focus area for improvement. GSA met its FY 2015 performance target for tenant satisfaction with 63% of tenants reporting satisfaction with buildings service. However, GSA did not meet its FY 2015 performance target for customer loyalty for acquisition services; respondents’ average ratings (7.1 on 10-point scale) were below the 7.8 performance target.
To address these results head-on, GSA hired a new Chief Customer Officer (one of the first in the federal government) to coordinate agency-wide customer data collection and analysis, and help program offices use customer insights to drive program improvements. GSA’s new Office of Customer Experience has interviewed agencies, customer groups, and program offices to map a big picture view of the GSA customer journey. The office implemented a Voice of the Customer Program to weave customer-centric thinking throughout the agency. GSA is also tackling several high-impact projects to improve customer service including consolidating call centers and creating a more customer-centric online experience.
The development of an Acquisition Gateway for products and services will provide federal acquisition specialists a one-stop website to compare available federal acquisition solutions and easily identify cost-effective solutions. FAS is consolidating the contracts under the eight Professional Services Schedules and have reduced the number of contracts.
To improve customer’s experience with real property services, PBS launched Service Delivery Excellence (SDE) with four clients to provide a consistent approach for each client agency, regardless of region. PBS has also developed and initiated over 5,400 action plans in FY 2015 to address tenant concerns in specific GSA managed buildings.
GSA continues to provide innovative tools to federal agencies that facilitate greater citizen engagement. New innovations included website platforms for agencies to manage and develop their own websites (sites.usa.gov), more easily create on-line enterprise data inventories (inventory.data.gov), and invite the public to submit ideas and solutions to specific problems (challenge.gov ideation platform). GSA also developed an application in USA.gov to allow the public to search for unclaimed money through a single website. These and other new solutions contribute to an open, citizen-centric government. They enhance access and use of valuable government information, data, and services by facilitating the exchange of ideas and knowledge between the government and the public, and improve the public’s experience with the federal government.
GSA also plays a key role in supporting the President’s Management Agenda Benchmarking Initiative designed to provide agency decision-makers with cost and quality data on core mission-support functions. Functions include: Acquisition, Financial Management, Human Capital, IT Management, and Real Property. GSA worked with the 24 CFO Act agencies to collect data on approximately 40 metrics and assisted OMB in conducting a series of 24 benchmarking meetings with agencies to discuss results and brainstorm solutions. Agencies are using the benchmarks as a tool to jumpstart data-driven discussions with components, measure performance against peer agencies, and improve visibility into shared services, among other uses.
Strategic Objective Next Steps. GSA will take the following actions in support of this strategic objective over the next two years:
1.Increase tenant satisfaction with leased and owned space by developing action plans for specific buildings to address issues highlighted in the tenant satisfaction survey
2.Increase customer loyalty to FAS through improved offerings and better customer service while increasing supplier satisfaction with the federal acquisition process
3.Revise supplier satisfaction surveys to improve response rates and better meet the needs of suppliers and customers
4.Expand the use of established government-wide shared solutions that deliver value and cost avoidance and excellent customer experiences to partners by:
- Increasing the number of organizations using digital analytics on their websites, Challenge.gov and sites.usa.gov
- Enable agencies to easily create initial on-line enterprise data inventories so that data.gov can maintain an up-to-date, on-line catalog of all agencies’ data holdings. This will help entrepreneurs, small businesses, academic institutions, organizations and individuals to find and use government data to develop innovative products and services to improve society
5.Increase digital delivery of government publications using the USA.gov platform. Enable our partner agencies to transform delivery of Digital Services to achieve open, transparent government and drive innovation by improving performance of federal websites by expanding the government-wide Digital Analytics program to include customer satisfaction metrics and analysis while continuing to increase its use across government
6.Enhance quality and customer experience for Citizen Services by:
- Improving access for citizens to get governmental information and services anytime, anywhere, from any device
- Providing integrated, quality experience to all citizens accessing government information and services
- Measuring the customer experience with these innovative solutions using the Government Customer Experience Index
