Description
U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) is the government agency that oversees lawful immigration to the United States. Every day, USCIS staff adjudicates more than 26,000 requests for immigration benefits, processes refugee applications around the world in support of refugee admissions, responds to 150,000 inquiries and services requests, grants lawful permanent residence to more than 2,500 people and nearly 6,200 Green Cards, and ensures the employment eligibility of 100,000 new hires in the United States.
Designated Services
- Scheduling an in-person appointment at a USCIS field office
- Filing a USCIS immigration benefit form electronically
Previously-reported Services
Scheduling an in-person appointment at a USCIS field office
Description
Customers for in-person services include those with applications or petitions pending with USCIS. The largest number of those seeking appointments are generally lawful permanent residents (“Green-Card” holders) who have an expired card and need evidence of their status to maintain employment or travel. However, there are nearly 20 reasons why an in-person appointment might be scheduled, including someone who is not a permanent resident but needs authorization to travel (advance parole) or an attorney that might need to pay for a fee. Appointments scheduled by the USCIS Contact Center at field offices allow an applicant to receive some form of documentary service that is required to show their current immigration status. This may be a stamp in a passport that indicates they are a lawful permanent resident or an advance parole document that allows them to travel and re-enter the United States. The need for an in-person appointment at a field office is determined on a case-by-case basis. Applicants request an appointment by calling the toll-free number for the USCIS Contact Center.
Why this service was designated
USCIS receives millions of applications and conducts thousands of in-person appointments annually across all field offices. Previously, applicants could self-schedule through an online portal and often were seen in offices for reasons that could be handled over the phone. With the Contact Center vetting the appointment request, USCIS has greatly reduced the number of in-person appointments annually. This saves the applicant the burden of attending an in-person appointment and allows field offices to shift resources toward processing cases.
Filing a USCIS immigration benefit form electronically
Description
Applicants, petitioners, beneficiaries, and requestors seeking immigration benefits and services, as well as the legal representatives and public/private organizations that support them (e.g., attorneys, accredited representatives, community-based organizations, etc.) engage with USCIS to request new immigration benefits, renew existing benefits, and replace documents provided by the agency. Immigration benefit forms typically fall into one of the following categories: Citizenship and Naturalization-Based Forms; Employment-Based Forms; Family-Based Forms; Permanent Resident (“Green-Card”)-Based Forms; Humanitarian-Based Forms and Adoption-Based Forms.
The ability to file a form electronically affords USCIS’s customers a more straightforward, faster, and more efficient method to apply for immigration benefits. These benefits include: Avoiding common filing mistakes that could potentially result in the benefit application being rejected; immediate receipt of the online form by USCIS once successfully submitted; instant access to the receipt notice upon successful submission of the online application; immediate access to account features such as a secure inbox that allows the user to communicate directly with USCIS Contact Center Immigration Services Officers.
Why this service was designated
Filing electronically makes applying for immigration benefits easier, less error-prone, and increases operational efficiencies by eliminating manual processes. Today, nearly 30% of all applications, petitions, and requests (and required payments) are filed by its customers electronically (versus by paper), and USCIS has the capacity to intake 50% of all filings electronically. To expand electronic filing, USCIS has a goal of enabling electronic processing for all forms by Fiscal Year 2026. The effort also includes promoting and encouraging users to choose electronic filing over paper filing when available.
Previously-reported Services
Prior to the first service designation exercise in 2022, HISPs were collecting data using methods unique to each agency, resulting in data that was not standardized. This previously-reported data was collected to increase visibility and awareness regarding customer experience through feedback data. Per A-11 guidance, service providers will collect feedback in a more standardized way.
Contacting the USCIS contact center
Description
The USCIS Contact Center is the centralized resource for providing information services to the public. The Contact Center helps the public using multiple channels to provide accurate, timely and consistent information about applications and benefits. They employ a multi-tiered, integrated framework to address inquiries ranging from simple case status questions to those who have experienced significant issues or long delays.
Quarterly data reported
Q1 2023
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center phone channel inquiries via Tier 0 through Tiers 1-3 of live assistance, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million callers a year. FY23, Q1 experienced increases in all customer satisfaction survey questions. Out of the 7 survey questions, the largest percentage increases were observed in the questions “It was easy to complete what I needed to do” (increased from 75.1% to 78.3%) and “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do (increased from 70.6% to 75.8%). This increase in satisfaction was attributed to continuous content refinement within the IVR system’s capabilities that give more callers the ability to resolve their inquiry using self-service. An increase in staffing at the first level of live assistance has reduced wait times and also contributes to improved satisfaction. For future plans, the agency will be providing more robust online account services to increase self-service for needs such as address changes, biometrics rescheduling, expedite requests, and other requests commonly handled by the Contact Center.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 2930047
Surveys offered: 2930047
Responses: 27707
Q4 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million callers a year. FY22, Q4 experienced increases in customer satisfaction for 6 out of 7 survey questions. The largest percentage increases were observed in the questions “Employees I interacted with were helpful” (increased from 83.2% to 84.5%) and “I am satisfied with the service I received from the USCIS Contact Center” (increased from 79.5% to 80.7). This increase in satisfaction can, in part, be attributed to the agency’s continuous content refinement within the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system’s capabilities that give more callers the ability to resolve their inquiry using self-service. Additionally, ongoing collaboration between the Contact Center and Field Operations has increased availability of in-person appointments, which accounts for a large number and percentage of overall inquiries escalated within live service channels. The agency recognizes that while we have made strides in responding to customer needs there remains a lot that can be done to ensure all those in need of timely and responsive service are able to access it. Accordingly, the agency is working to decrease call times, provide notice of call backs, create online appointment requests, and expand appointment capacity. For future plans, the agency will be providing more robust online account services to increase self-service for needs such as address changes, expedite requests and other requests commonly handled by the Contact Center.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3735596
Surveys offered: 3735596
Responses: 35123
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration help to around 14 million people annually. FY22, Q3 experienced a minor decrease in customer satisfaction for all seven survey questions. This overall decline, and corresponding increase in call volume was partially attributed to the overall increase in agency backlogs that resulted from agency closures and limited services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The largest declines were in the questions “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do,” (decreased from 74.3% to 71.0%) and “It was easy to complete what I needed to do” (decreased from 77.5% to 74.6%). The slight decrease in “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do,” may be attributed to our vendor experiencing retention and recruiting challenges, causing longer wait times for calls, particularly in Spanish. To improve performance, USCIS deployed banner messaging, refined options for call queues, and directed our vendor to aggressively increase recruiting and retention efforts. Additionally, our agency continues to refine the Interactive Voice Response system’s capabilities and content to give more callers the ability to resolve their inquiry using self-service. For future plans, the agency will be providing more robust online account services to increase self-service for needs such as case status, address changes, and expedite requests, which are commonly handled by the Contact Center.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3012698
Surveys offered: 3012698
Responses: 33757
Q2 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million individuals a year. FY22, Q2 experienced an increase in customer satisfaction in 6 out of 7 survey questions. The largest percentage gains were observed in the questions “It was easy to complete what I needed to do” (increased from 76.2% to 77.5%) and “I am satisfied with the support I received from the USCIS contact center (increased from 81.2% to 82.2%). The slight decrease in “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do”, may be attributed to our vendor experiencing a reduction in bilingual agents, causing longer wait times for calls in Spanish. To improve performance, USCIS deployed banner messaging and throttling options for call queues and our vendor introduced new onboarding bonuses to bolster bilingual agent recruiting efforts.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3397047
Surveys offered: 3397047
Responses: 35747
Q1 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million individuals a year. FY22, Q1 experienced an increase in satisfaction in 7 out of 7 survey questions. The percentage gains over FY21 are substantial with the largest improvements observed in the questions “It was easy to complete what I needed to do” (increased from 73.3 to 76.2) and “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed…” (increased 64.7 to 74.7). We addressed the technical issues from FY21 Q3-Q4 with emergency patch fixes. To improve the Contact Center’s performance, our Tier 1 vendor is actively recruiting more agents under a new contract, and the agency continues to refine the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system’s capabilities and content to give more callers the ability to resolve their inquiry using self-service. For future plans, the agency will be providing more robust online account services to further increase self-service for needs such as address changes, submitting expedite requests and other requests commonly handled by the Contact Center.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 2909720
Surveys offered: 2909720
Responses: 12947
Q4 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million individuals a year. During FY21 Q4 we experienced a 23% decline in the number of survey respondents and an overall decline of 1.6%-3.9% in six of the seven survey questions. There was a 9.4% decrease from 74.1% in Q3 to 64.7% in Q4 for the survey question, “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do.” We attribute the overall decline in customer satisfaction to technical bug issues we experienced during Q4 within our Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System and Tier 1 understaffed call centers due to a longer process of staff clearance and attrition. To remedy the technical issues, our mitigating strategy consisted of upgrading our servers and adding additional server alerts to notify us of issues which may impact customer routing transfer times and agent average speed of answer times. This will also assist with improving the technical experience and interaction with our users. We also continue to work with the Office of Security and Integrity to expedite the security onboarding process for new agents, and we continue to refine our promotion of our digital tools to reduce call volumes and provide alternative self-help tools for users.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3651670
Surveys offered: 3651670
Responses: 22927
Q3 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data covers the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million individuals a year. FY21, Q3 experienced an increase in satisfaction in 3 out of 7 survey questions. Additionally, similar to FY21 Q2, data suggests the public is generally satisfied with contact center staff. For example, for the statements “This interaction increased my confidence” and “It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed…” 81.0% and 74.1% of respondents, respectively, agreed or strongly agreed. During Q3, there were some systems issues that impacted transfers to our live assistance. To improve the contact center’s performance, our agency is increasing its webform services, our Tier 1 vendor is actively recruiting more agents with the new contract, and the agency continues to refine the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and content refinement, in order to give more callers the ability to resolve their inquiry using self-service.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3541068
Surveys offered: 29707
Responses: 29707
Q2 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
The survey data represents the USCIS Contact Center, a multi-tiered operation providing immigration assistance to over 14 million individuals annually. As provided within our submission last quarter, our contact center implemented an automated survey tool (Qualtrics) in FY20 and started using Qualtrics to track and report the OMB A-11 questions in FY21, Q1. Transitioning to Qualtrics has allowed us to eliminate the manual telephone survey and substantially increase the number of quarterly survey responses from 1,800 (prior to Qualtrics) to 38,519 in Q1 and 34,019 in Q2.
The survey scores for Q2 are relatively stable across all seven questions, with very little change from Q1. The highest rated questions were “I was treated fairly” and “Employees I interacted with were helpful” with 86.4% and 86.3% agreeing or strongly agreeing, respectively. The lowest rated questions were ““It took a reasonable amount of time to do what I needed to do” and “It was easy to complete what I needed to do” with 73.6% and 76.3% agreeing or strongly agreeing, respectively.
To improve the contact center’s performance, we continue to actively increase staffing and refine the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system so that more callers can resolve their inquiry using self-service.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow up survey after contact with 1-800 number
Channel: computer
People served: 3998774
Surveys offered:
Responses: 34019
Description
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is one of the world’s largest law enforcement organizations and is charged with keeping terrorists and their weapons out of the U.S. while facilitating lawful international travel and trade. On a typical day in fiscal year 2020, CBP staff processed 650,178 passengers and pedestrians, $6.64 billion worth of imported goods, and 90,000 entries of merchandise at our air, land, and seaports of entry.
Designated Services
Previously-reported Services
Completing the I-94 form using the CBP One Mobile App
Description
All persons entering the United States, that are not U.S. Citizens, returning resident aliens, aliens with immigrant visas, and most Canadian citizens, can create an account through the CBP One Mobile App to apply and pay for the I-94 Form before entering the United States. The I-94 Form confirms that a foreign, nonimmigrant visitor has entered the United States legally. It includes information such as visa status and the permitted duration of stay in the United States and is typically issued by CBP Officers at the Ports of Entry.
Why this service was designated
The CBP One Mobile App and I-94 Form allows nonimmigrant persons to move through processing at the Ports of Entry more efficiently, reducing processing delays and improving their experience with CBP Officers. All foreign travelers with a mobile phone can benefit from using this App, particularly on busy travel days. In addition, once a traveler is in the United States, the CBP One Mobile App provides travelers with instant access to their I-94 proof of admission, last ten years of travel history, or the remaining number of days in the authorized length of stay in the United States.
Completing CBP Form 1300
Description
Ship and boat captains and operators of commercial vessels use CBP Form 1300, Vessel Entrance, or Clearance Statement (VECS). The forms allow CBP to fulfill regulatory requirements to verify vessel manifest documents, accurately assess fees and taxes, levy fines, and keep accurate vessel arrival and departure information records. In conjunction with the United States and other countries, the United Nations Intergovernmental Maritime Organization (IMO) developed VECS as a single form to replace numerous other forms used by various countries for the entrance and clearance of vessels.
Why this service was designated
It is estimated there are 188,928 annual submissions with an estimated 30 minutes to complete CBP Form 1300. CBP Form 1300 is used to collect essential commercial vessel data including: detailed information on the vessel, cargo, purpose of the entrance; certificate numbers and expiration; record of fees and tonnage tax payments at the time of formal entrance and clearance in U.S. ports. VECS will impact an estimated 94,464 burden hours on ship and boat captain operators resulting in the more efficient movement of goods to the public.
Previously-reported Services
Prior to the first service designation exercise in 2022, HISPs were collecting data using methods unique to each agency, resulting in data that was not standardized. This previously-reported data was collected to increase visibility and awareness regarding customer experience through feedback data. Per A-11 guidance, service providers will collect feedback in a more standardized way.
Contacting the CBP contact center
Description
CBP’s Traveler Communications Center was established in October of 2017 to serve as a 24/7 resource for traveler compliance and a central place to address common questions for those traveling to the United States.
Description
FEMA’s mission is to help people before, during and after disasters. 2020 set a new annual record of 22 “billion dollar” disasters - for the first time in the history, FEMA responded to simultaneous disasters in Washington, D.C., five territories and all 50 states for a record 230 presidentially declared emergencies, supporting more than 25 million people affected by natural disasters.
Designated Services
Applying for disaster assistance
Description
FEMA provides Individual Assistance (IA) to help individuals and families with their recovery. FEMA assistance can be financial (e.g., payments to help with expenses for temporary housing, home repairs, personal property, transportation or medical expenses caused by the disaster), direct (e.g., lodging or temporary housing provided by FEMA), or can be provided through partners (e.g., disaster unemployment assistance, legal services, and connection to voluntary agencies). Customers for this service are the individuals and families who need help with necessary expenses and disaster-caused unmet needs that are not covered by insurance or other sources. While personal insurance is the first line of support after a natural disaster, some populations may be underinsured or uninsured and may have disaster-related needs that insurance does not cover. FEMA services are not meant to compensate for all disaster-caused losses and cannot replace insurance coverage. However, they still provide critical assistance to disaster survivors, allowing them to begin their recovery process.
Why this service was designated
Every year, disasters impact individuals and families across the United States. Surviving and recovering from a natural disaster may be the most challenging time in someone’s life. In 2020, FEMA responded to simultaneous federally declared disasters in Washington, D.C., five territories, and all 50 states. In 2022, FEMA received 2.4 million registrations for assistance, ultimately providing in excess of $3.2 billion to survivors for housing and other disaster-related needs.
Quarterly data reported
Q1 2023
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, FEMA received 530 customer experience survey responses from survivors of nine Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4663-KY, 4665-MO, 4668-AZ, 4671-PR, 4672-AK, 4673-FL, 4675-FL, 4676-IL, and 4677-SC). Customer satisfaction with employee helpfulness remained FEMA’s top performing area.
The area that needs the most improvement continues to be addressing customer needs. While most survey results were very similar to the previous quarter, this area’s rating decreased from 75% last quarter to 67% this quarter. The decrease was in part influenced by the two Hurricane Ian DRs in Florida, 4673-FL and 4675-FL, which contributed about a quarter of the responses and reported lower satisfaction across all questions.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, FEMA worked with more than 950,000 individuals and families to register for FEMA assistance. This large influx of registrations had a sizable impact on our call center hold times which likely contributed to decreased satisfaction showed by our survey results.
One of FEMA’s standing goals is to meet survivors where they are in our programs, outreach, and communications. As part of an effort to better communicate with survivors, FEMA rolled out revised correspondence to survivors beginning with DR-4677-SC in November 2022. As our revised letters go out to additional survivors, we will closely monitor customer feedback to understand the impact these letter changes have on improving survivor satisfaction.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or Online
Channel: computer
People served: 2209578
Surveys offered: 3827
Responses: 530
Q4 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the fourth quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, FEMA received 392 customer experience survey responses from survivors of five Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4652-NM, 4655-MT, 4657-OK, 4663-KY and 4665-MO). Customer satisfaction with employee helpfulness remained FEMA’s top performing area. The area that needs the most improvement continues to be addressing customer needs. Satisfaction across all questions increased this quarter. The increase was in part influenced by DR 4665-MO which contributed over half the responses and were very positive across all questions.
As a part of FEMA’s ongoing efforts to remove barriers and improve the service provided to survivors, IA implemented Enhanced Applicant Services (EAS) initiatives for the 2022 Hurricane Season. EAS initiatives are conducted by a dedicated team of caseworkers in the field who assist identified applicants with navigating the IA application and assistance process, provide referrals to meet immediate and unmet needs, and help them transition to disaster case management service providers if required. EAS initiatives were implemented in DR-4663-KY, DR-4665-MO, and are in process for DR-4671-PR, DR-4672-AK and DR-4673-FL.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or Online
Channel: computer
People served: 34714
Surveys offered: 2262
Responses: 392
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the third quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, FEMA received 144 customer experience survey responses from survivors of three Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4630-KY, 4637-TN, and 4652-NM). Customer satisfaction with employee helpfulness remained FEMA’s top performing area. The area that needs the most improvement continues to be addressing customer needs.
Satisfaction across all questions decreased for the second quarter in a row in FY 2022. This may be due to the mix of disasters surveyed consisted of two tornadoes and a fire, with the fire accounting for 97% of the survey responses. FEMA has learned that fire events have some of the lowest customer satisfaction scores when compared to most other disaster types. FEMA is working to better understand why fire events have lower customer satisfaction scores.
FEMA continuously looks to improve service to disaster survivors. In May 2022, FEMA conducted a supplemental Customer Experience (CX) training focused on empathy, active listening, and FEMA’s core values for contact center agents, in person home damage inspectors, and the staff group that goes door-to-door engaging with survivors after a disaster.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or Online
Channel: mixed
People served: 3988
Surveys offered: 806
Responses: 144
Q2 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the second quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, FEMA received 314 customer experience survey responses from survivors of 11 Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4614-NJ, 4615-NY, 4618-PA, 4626-MS, 4629-CT, 4630-KY, 4632-AL, 4633-AR, 4634-CO, 4635-WA, and 4637-TN). Customer satisfaction with employee helpfulness remained FEMA’s top performing area. The area that needs the most improvement continues to be addressing customer needs.
This e-mail only customer satisfaction survey has now been utilized for three quarters (since FY21 Q4). In this quarter, satisfaction across all questions decreased, returning to rates similar to fourth quarter of FY 2021. This may be due to the mix of disasters surveyed also returning to mostly severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding events, which accounted for 67% of the survey responses. This is unlike last quarter, where 89% of the survey responses were related to hurricane events.
FEMA has been working to supplement quantitative data from surveys like this one with qualitative data to provide a more holistic picture of the survivor experience. For example, a project to revise our outbound letters that we send to disaster survivors, as well as an effort underway to reimagine how survivors experience direct housing are both leveraging survivor focus groups to inform changes to how we deliver services to survivors. Additionally, FEMA recently organized opportunities for FEMA SES leaders to observe real time calls into FEMA’s helpline with the goal of deepening their understanding of survivor experience and disaster impacts on individuals, families and communities.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or Online
Channel: computer
People served: 250385
Surveys offered: 2205
Responses: 314
Q1 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022, FEMA conducted 406 customer experience surveys from survivors of 10 Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4607-MI, 4609-TN, 4610-CA, 4611-LA, 4614-NJ, 4615-NY, 4617-NC, 4618-PA, 4626-MS, and 4629-CT). FEMA’s top performing areas continue to include customer satisfaction with employee helpfulness and being able to complete what they needed to do with ease. The area that needs the most improvement is addressing customer needs.
There was an increase in satisfaction across all questions compared to last quarter, which may be due to the mix of disasters surveyed being different (this quarter was mostly hurricane events, last quarter was mostly severe storms, tornadoes, and flooding events).
This is our second quarter of data collected via email surveys, and we are not yet able to generalize changes into trends, understand differences in satisfaction levels across feedback channels (email vs outbound phone calls), or identify causation for highs and lows. Driven by feedback outside this email survey, we continue to prioritize a) determination letters, and b) registration on disasterassistance.gov as key pain points to address.
We continue to move forward with plans to conduct focus groups of revised letters, with rollout expected later this year. Additionally the recent executive order on customer experience includes a commitment from FEMA to improve our online disaster assistance registration process.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or Online
Channel: computer
People served: 1077691
Surveys offered: 2570
Responses: 406
Q3 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
During the third quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, FEMA conducted 2,995 Initial and Contact surveys from survivors of 9 Presidentially declared disasters (DRs: 4577-LA, 4586-TX, 4587-OK, 4590-LA, 4595-KY, 4596-AL, 4601-TN, 4605-WV, 4606-LA). There was no significant decrease in customer satisfaction during the initial registration process, and we continue to exceed expectations in all areas of customer service (courtesy, showing interest in helping, overall customer service). There was a decrease in satisfaction during continued recovery process with the simplicity of the automated information system (-5%), and the responsiveness of FEMA representatives during calls or online at DisasterAssistance.gov (-6%). FEMA continues to exceed expectations in all areas of site inspection services. (On a 5 point scale, FEMA defines a score of 4.5-5 = exceeded expectations; 4-4.49 = meets; below 4 = doesn’t meet.)
In the third quarter of FY2021, FEMA implemented a new form of assistance to support the cost of funerals of individuals who passed away from COVID-19. Upon roll-out of this new assistance method, FEMA experienced a surge in phone calls to our call centers. Though FEMA added dedicated resources (including call center agents) solely for funeral assistance, this surge in activity may have contributed to decreased scores for the responsiveness of FEMA representatives.
Looking ahead, for the fourth quarter of FY2021, FEMA will be reporting on a new customer satisfaction survey consisting of seven questions provided by OMB. This new FEMA CX survey successfully launched on Monday, July 19, 2021. Results of these questions will be submitted to FEMA’s CX team quarterly for review, and published in a public-facing summary dashboard on performance.gov alongside other agencies’ data from the same seven questions.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Receiving Assistance
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 350305
Surveys offered: 14125
Responses: 2004
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Contacting FEMA Helpline or Going On-Line for Assistance
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 350775
Surveys offered: 5595
Responses: 1783
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or On-Line
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 339610
Surveys offered: 3540
Responses: 1212
Q2 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Registering for Assistance with a FEMA Rep or On-Line
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 389550
Surveys offered: 3702
Responses: 1375
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Receiving Assistance
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 619170
Surveys offered: 14896
Responses: 2848
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Contacting FEMA Helpline or Going On-Line for Assistance
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 389550
Surveys offered: 5932
Responses: 2075
Filing a claim under the National Flood Insurance Program
Description
Flooding damages homes businesses and property. NFIP insurance claims protect renter, homeowner, condominium unit and association owner, mobile home owner, or business owner policyholders against the financial impacts of replacing damaged goods covered under an NFIP policy. Many homeowners become NFIP policyholders to comply with lending requirements for federally backed mortgages, but others choose to protect their property to be more resilient against flooding. FEMA facilitates flood insurance claims payments through participating private insurance companies and a federal contractor that run’s FEMA’s insurance company, the NFIP Direct. The normal flood claim process requires the NFIP policyholder to report their loss to the flood insurer. The insurer then assigns an independent adjusting firm. The firm and an authorized adjuster contact the policyholder in order to meet and inspect damages, prior to the payment of any claim.
Why this service was designated
NFIP claims payments reduce the socio-economic impact of floods and allow survivors to recover more quickly after a disaster by providing money to replace damaged property covered by an NFIP policy and return to a more normal life. The NFIP protects approximately 5 million policyholders from the devastating financial effects of flooding in more than 22,500 communities across all 50 states and six territories, providing nearly $1.3 trillion in policy coverage. On average, flooding causes more than $5 billion in damage nationwide each year. The NFIP has adjusted approximately 2.5 million claims since Congress established the program in 1968. Flood insurance claim payments are a resource people can use to recover from flooding with important distinctions from other post-disaster resources such as grants which one must apply for, loans that must be repaid, or disaster assistance payments which depend on a presidential declaration. Most homeowners, commercial, and renter’s insurance policies do not cover flood damage.
Description
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is responsible for protecting the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce. Within TSA, Domestic Aviation Operations is responsible for nearly 440 Federalized airports, screening more than 2 million passengers daily and 750 million every year and Surface Operations secures a wide U.S. transportation network of roadways, railroad tracks, tunnels, ports, and pipelines.
Designated Services
Previously-reported Services
Completing TSA passenger screening
Description
TSA’s customers are the traveling public, which are made up of experienced business travelers; Trusted Travelers (Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® passengers); families traveling for vacation or to see loved ones; passengers with medical conditions, disabilities, or limited English proficiency; and airport and airline employees, who work in airports across the country. All passengers or individuals seeking access to the secured area of the airport must undergo TSA security screening, which is in place at more than 440 airports across the country. During security screening (“passenger screening”), you will interact with various types of technology, such as the Advanced Imaging Technology (body scanner), Walk-Through Metal Detector, Explosive Trace Detection, and X-ray machines – all to check for concealed threats and prohibited items.
Why this service was designated
The Transportation Security Administration screens over 2 million passengers and their property each day at over 440 airports across the country. This translates to over 750 million passengers each year. Passenger screening makes up the largest portion of TSA’s work and is a service most citizens are intimately familiar with, either from personal experiences or those of friends and family members. Participating in airport screening is part of the traveling public’s journey when they travel for leisure, work, or as part of their daily routine for the hundreds of thousands of airline or airport employees nationwide.
Getting help from TSA
Description
People often need to contact TSA to ensure they are prepared for their upcoming travel to include checking if an item is permitted or prohibited, confirming their ID is REAL ID compliant, or requesting assistance through the screening checkpoint via TSA Cares. TSA has many resources available to assist in preparing for your trip whether you are unsure if a certain item is permitted in your carry-on or checked baggage, how you will go through screening with a mobility device, how your children will be screened, or what to do if “TSA PreCheck®” does not show up on your boarding pass. People may contact us to report security threats or suspicious activity, provide feedback, submit a complaint or compliment, file a claim, or request lost and found information. Lastly, our contact channels can provide assistance for Trusted Travelers, who are not receiving TSA PreCheck® on their boarding pass.
Why this service was designated
TSA understands that preparing for travel can be somewhat overwhelming, particularly if you have not flown for a long time and are unsure of the latest rules and procedures. Preparedness is key to having a positive experience at the screening checkpoint; as it creates calm and allows our officers to focus on identifying threats.
The TSA Contact Center and TSA Cares are open 365 days a year, receive almost 2 million contacts annually, and can be reached by phone, email, or online forms and offers automated information in 12 languages. TSA’s social media team is available 365 days a year as well, and receives 2.1 million contacts annually on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. TSA uses the data collected from inquires to these contact channels to gather insights into the traveling public’s needs and experiences, which helps ensure a seamless interaction at the screening checkpoint.
Quarterly data reported
Q1 2023
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For email, the question stats were: avg. 3.4, min. 3.0, max 3.7. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.6, min. 4.2, max 4.9. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every contact is now offered the survey (previously 1 in 4). For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate at the end of the phone call (previously offered before connecting to an agent).
Notable for FY23.Q1, question 6 (easiliy understood the response) for the phone channel was up 14% (4.2) vs. FY22.Q4 (3.7) and was closer to the FY22.Q1-Q3 average (4.4). The number of “1” responses for question 6 (886) was down 17% vs. FY22.Q4 (1,056), but they were still higher than the FY22.Q1-Q3 average (535). In contrast, the participation volume (12,844) was up 77% vs. FY22.Q4 (7,257) and was closer to the FY22.Q2-Q3 average (12,160). This feedback will be shared with the TCC leadership.
During FY22.Q1, we reviewed the survey process for each channel in order to identify any potential issues. The following changes were implemented based on that review: 1) increased email survey invitation rate from 25% to 100%, 2) added QA measures to the email survey process to validate outgoing invites, 3) moved phone survey opt-in checkpoint from pre-call to post-call. These changes have increased survey participation during the last 4 quarters (email up 14-15%; phone up 3-9%).
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Note: We have no phone survey data to report for 10/01/22 through 10/03/22 due to user error (accidental deletion by contractor) (noted on the FY22.Q4 summary).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 66283
Surveys offered: 48735
Responses: 8133
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 62418
Surveys offered: 62418
Responses: 12844
Previously-reported Services
Prior to the first service designation exercise in 2022, HISPs were collecting data using methods unique to each agency, resulting in data that was not standardized. This previously-reported data was collected to increase visibility and awareness regarding customer experience through feedback data. Per A-11 guidance, service providers will collect feedback in a more standardized way.
Contacting the TSA contact center
Description
The TSA Contact Center presents the opportunity to provide feedback to all people who call or email their contact center.
Quarterly data reported
Q4 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For email, the question stats were: avg. 3.4, min. 3.0, max 3.7. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.4, min. 3.7, max 4.9. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every contact is now offered the survey (previously 1 in 4). For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate at the end of the phone call (previously before connecting to an agent).
Notable for Q4, question 6 (easiliy understood the response) for the phone channel was down 16% (3.7) vs. Q3 (4.4) and the average of Q1-Q3 (4.4). The number of “1” responses for question 6 (1,065) were nearly doubled the number for each of the previous three quarters (503, 514, 586). In contrast, the participation volume (7,257) was lower (by 1,000-5,000) than each of the previous three quarters. This feedback will be shared with the TCC leadership.
During Q1, we reviewed the survey process for each channel in order to identify any potential issues. The following changes were implemented based on that review: 1) increased email survey invitation rate from 25% to 100%, 2) added QA measures to the email survey process to validate outgoing invites, 3) moved phone survey opt-in checkpoint from pre-call to post-call. These changes have increased survey participation during the last 2 quarters (email up 15%; phone up 3-8%).
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Note: We have no phone survey data to report for 07/01/22 through 07/13/22 due to server outages that started during the previous quarter (noted on the Q3 summary). In addition, we have no phone survey data to report for 09/14/22 through 09/30/22 due to user error (accidental deletion by contractor).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 78772
Surveys offered: 58584
Responses: 10330
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 50232
Surveys offered: 50232
Responses: 7257
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For email, the question stats were: avg. 3.3, min. 2.9, max 3.7. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.6, min. 4.4, max 4.9. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every contact is now offered the survey (previously 1 in 4). For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate at the end of the phone call (previously before connecting to an agent).
During Q1, we reviewed the survey process for each channel in order to identify any potential issues. The following changes were implemented based on that review: 1) increased email survey invitation rate from 25% to 100%, 2) added QA measures to the email survey process to validate outgoing invites, 3) moved phone survey opt-in checkpoint from pre-call to post-call. These changes have increased survey participation during the last 2 quarters (email up 15%; phone up 5-8%).
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Note: We have no phone survey data to report for 06/05/22 through 06/30/22 due to a series of outages. Outage #1 involved the TCC’s phone data system. Outage #1 commenced on 05/11/22 and was fully resolved on 06/08/22. No data was lost during Outage #1. However, the resolution of the Outage #1 caused Outage #2, which involved the TCC phone survey and directly led to the no data being collected. Outage #2 was resolved in early July 2022.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 69071
Surveys offered: 53919
Responses: 9759
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 69542
Surveys offered: 69542
Responses: 11687
Q2 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. The survey is the same for both channels.
We previously reviewed the survey process for each channel in order to identify any issues. The following changes were implemented based on that review: 1) increased email survey invitation rate from 25% to 100%, 2) added QA measures to the email survey process to validate outgoing invites, 3) moved phone survey opt-in checkpoint to post-call. Since these changes, participation has increased (email up 15%; phone up 8%).
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 52959
Surveys offered: 27472
Responses: 4981
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 63094
Surveys offered: 63094
Responses: 12633
Q1 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For email, the question stats were: avg. 2.9, min. 2.4, max 3.4. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.6, min. 4.3, max 4.9. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every 4th contact is offered the survey. For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate prior to entering the wait queue.
We reviewed the survey process for each channel in order to identify any issues that could explain the discrepancies noted above. No definitive issues were identified; however, the following changes are being worked on: 1) increase email survey invitation rate, 2) implement QA measures to the email survey process, 3) move phone survey opt-in checkpoint to post-call.
For email, the top performing questions were “easily understood the response” (Q6; 3.3) and “professional, courteous, friendly” (Q7; 3.4). The lowest performing questions were “satisfaction w/ TCC” (Q1; 2.7), “confidence in TSA” (Q2; 2.6), and “response resolved inquiry” (Q3; 2.4). Our email channel is seen as professional, courteous, and friendly, but our responses are not consistently answering our customer’s inquiry.
For phone, the top performing question was “professional, courteous, friendly” (Q7; 4.9). The lowest performing questions were “response resolved inquiry” (Q3; 4.3) and “easily understood the response” (Q6; 4.3). Our phone channel is seen as highly effective by our customers based on these results; however, we continue to strive towards providing clear, accurate, and thorough responses to 100% of our customers.
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 56215
Surveys offered: 8802
Responses: 245
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 71677
Surveys offered: 71677
Responses: 8315
Q4 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We continue to see a large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For email, the question stats were: avg. 3.1, min. 2.5, max 3.5. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.6, min. 4.3, max 5.0. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every 4th contact is offered the survey. For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate prior to entering the wait queue.
For email, the top performing questions were “easily understood the response” (Q6; 3.4) and “professional, courteous, friendly” (Q7; 3.5). The lowest performing questions were “satisfaction w/ TCC” (Q1; 2.8), “confidence in TSA” (Q2; 2.8), and “response resolved inquiry” (Q3; 2.5). Our email channel is seen as professional, courteous, and friendly, but our responses are not consistently answering our customer’s inquiry.
For phone, the top performing question was “professional, courteous, friendly” (Q7; 5.0). The lowest performing questions were “response resolved inquiry” (Q3; 4.4) and “easily understood the response” (Q6; 4.3). Our phone channel is seen as highly effective by our customers based on these results; however, we continue to strive towards providing clear, accurate, and thorough responses to 100% of our customers.
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand), as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 66350
Surveys offered: 12843
Responses: 330
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 80711
Surveys offered: 80711
Responses: 9527
Q3 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We are still working to understand the large discrepancy between our email and phone channel survey results. For phone, the question stats were: avg. 4.6, min. 4.3, max 5.0. For email, the question stats were: avg. 3.3, min. 2.6, max 3.7. The survey is the same for both channels. For email, every 4th contact is offered the survey. For phone, every contact is offered the opportunity to participate prior to entering the wait queue.
For email, the top performing questions were “easy to contact (Q4),” “easily understood (Q6)” and “aware that information was available via other channels (Q9)” at 3.7. The lowest performing question was “resolved my inquiry (Q3)” at 2.6. Our email channel is clearly quick, easy, and convenient for our customers to utilize, but we still have work to do in providing quality responses that answer our customer’s inquiry.
For phone, the top performing question was “professionalism (Q7)” at 5.0. The lowest performing question was “easily understood (Q6)” at 4.3. While still high, it is not surprising that “easy to contact (Q4) was 4.6, as wait times on our phone channel have been steadily increasing over the past few months. We are continuing to work every angle (staffing, operational efficiencies, etc.) to meet the rising demand for information.
We are continuing to work closely (continual, daily oversight/ support) with our new TSA Contact Center (TCC) vendor, as we work in partnership to bring their operation to a mature state that meets their service level agreements on a routine basis. Their pain points remain staffing from both an overall perspective (enough to meet the demand) as well as a quality perspective (seasoned, knowledgeable).
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 32664
Surveys offered: 6523
Responses: 994
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 107824
Surveys offered: 107824
Responses: 8387
Q2 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
Looking Back
The Q1 email survey results were the last assessment of our old contact center vendor/ agents, as the contract switched from the old vendor to the new vendor on 11/29/2020 (email contacts from 09/2020 through 11/2020, who responded from 10/2020 through 12/2020).
Due to transition, we had to reduce our normal business hours in 11/2020. In addition, the old vendor experienced significant staffing issues during the same month. We can see the negative results of both of these facts in our Process / Efficiency score.
The Q1 email survey results were the first assessment using our newly approved PRA survey. With this survey, we added a Trust / Confidence question and made a few other minor adjustments to the questions asked. We are interested to see how the new Trust / Confidence question trends over the next few quarters.
Looking Forward
The Q2 email survey results will be the first assessment of our new contact center vendor/ agents (email contacts from 12/2020 through 02/2021, who responded from 01/2021 through 03/2021). With the new vendor, we returned to our normal business hours; however, we also brought onboard nearly 100 new agents. We expect the results to reflect these facts.
Finally, a major goal for FY21 is to complete a second Passenger Experience Survey (last conducted in FY19), to collect valuable feedback at a much more direct touchpoint: the screening checkpoint.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 19322
Surveys offered: 5219
Responses: 850
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Phone Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: automated_phone
People served: 88343
Surveys offered: 88343
Responses: 5065
Q1 2021
What we learned from this quarter's data:
Looking Back
The Q1 email survey results were the last assessment of our old contact center vendor/ agents, as the contract switched from the old vendor to the new vendor on 11/29/2020 (email contacts from 09/2020 through 11/2020, who responded from 10/2020 through 12/2020).
Due to transition, we had to reduce our normal business hours in 11/2020. In addition, the old vendor experienced significant staffing issues during the same month. We can see the negative results of both of these facts in our Process / Efficiency score.
The Q1 email survey results were the first assessment using our newly approved PRA survey. With this survey, we added a Trust / Confidence question and made a few other minor adjustments to the questions asked. We are interested to see how the new Trust / Confidence question trends over the next few quarters.
Looking Forward
The Q2 email survey results will be the first assessment of our new contact center vendor/ agents (email contacts from 12/2020 through 02/2021, who responded from 01/2021 through 03/2021). With the new vendor, we returned to our normal business hours; however, we also brought onboard nearly 100 new agents. We expect the results to reflect these facts.
Finally, a major goal for FY21 is to complete a second Passenger Experience Survey (last conducted in FY19), to collect valuable feedback at a much more direct touchpoint: the screening checkpoint.
Service details
Transaction point: Follow-up Survey after Email Interaction with TSA Contact Center
Channel: email
People served: 13982
Surveys offered: 3523
Responses: 498