Customer/Supplier Surveys

Purpose: 

This Order establishes and communicates policy regarding the General Services Administration’s (GSA) survey initiatives. GSA’s Voice of the Customer (VoC) program within the Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) is responsible for embedding customer-oriented thinking into GSA’s daily operations to ensure GSA delivers great customer experiences in addition to great products and services. This Order designates OGP VoC as the official entity responsible for ensuring survey materials distributed to recipients outside of GSA and/or across all of GSA meet agency standards. This policy will reduce the burden on our customers, and promote data transparency of survey results. Further, this policy allows GSA to better realize efficiencies around survey administration and leverage best practices across the enterprise. 

Questions related to this Order should be directed to the VoC division located in OGP.

Background: 

GSA employees who gather feedback i.e. customer sentiment data outside of GSA and/or across all of GSA through surveys represent the agency as a whole. We must apply a consistent approach and use best practices for survey design and execution to ensure sound methodology and data validity while providing a more positive, streamlined user experience. 

Applicability: 

This Order applies to all GSA employees and contractors acting on behalf of GSA, subject to the terms of their contracts, who conduct external customer/supplier research via surveys that collect customer sentiment data, or who conduct surveys broadly across GSA (distributions of 1,000 or more contacts within GSA). This Order applies regardless of the distribution platform or application used for collection of customer sentiment data. This Order applies if the customer experience management platform governed by VoC is being used to capture non-customer sentiment data from external-facing customers/suppliers. This Order does not apply to research conducted solely on behalf of other agencies. This Order does not apply to customer/supplier interviews, user testing, or other forms of qualitative customer research; however, questions or requests for support in these areas can be directed to the OGP VoC Division.

This Order applies to all GSA employees and contractors as they perform their duties. The following are exceptions:

1. The Office of Inspector General (OIG), given its independence under the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 (5 U.S.C. §§ 401-424).

Cancellation: 

1. This Order supersedes OCE 5460.1, GSA Customer/Supplier Surveys, dated October 1, 2018.

Summary of Changes: 

1. Updates the responsible party for survey governance from Office of Customer Experience to the Voice of the Customer Division within the Office of Government-wide Policy.
2. Removes references to specific platform based actions and shifts to platform neutral framing.
3. Clarifies applicability, roles, and responsibilities for the approval process.
4. Adds Statistical Policy Directive 15 as an applicable policy covering demographic questions.
5. Adds definitions for key terms
6. Updates to formatting.