[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1993)]
[Pages 1737-1738]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12862--Setting Customer Service Standards

 September 11, 1993

    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

[[Page 1738]]

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, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or 
any other person.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 11, 1993.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:39 a.m., September 
13, 1993]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
September 14.