Description
Within the government-to-government relationship, the Bureau of Indian Affairs provides services directly or through contracts, grants, or compacts to 567 Federally recognized tribes with a service population of roughly 1.9 million American Indian and Alaska Natives. Programs administered include an education system consisting of 183 schools for approximately 42,000 students.
Designated Services
Accessing a probate order
Description
Upon the death of a loved one who owned trust assets, family members of the decedent, Tribes or any party that has an interest in the estate contact the BIA to begin a probate hearing and must receive an issued probate order for the distribution of assets.
Why this service was designated
This service upholds the trust responsibilities of the Department of Interior. By ensuring the cases are prepared and submitted accurately and timely, new owners can be maintained keeping ownership to land current and accurate. There are approximately 24,500 cases that need to be prepared for adjudication. Accurate ownership means that the heirs who will inherit can exercise their rights when it comes to making decisions about the land in which they own an interest.
Receiving trust assets
Description
The heirs of the estate, along with any claimants that may be awarded a claim utilize the service upon the issuance of the probate order from the Office of Hearing and Appeals. Once a Probate order is issued, the distribution of assets will allow the heirs to benefit from their new holdings.
Why this service was designated
When the probate process is in its final phase, currently, there are no digital means to obtain a status during this process. Approximately 3,300 cases are awaiting asset distribution. BIA remains committed to improving its service delivery to ensure that assets are distributed to identified heirs; transferring what is rightfully theirs and providing some sense of closure for the passing of a loved one.
Description
Bureau of Trust Funds Administration (BTFA) maintains approximately 3,000 accounts for 250 Tribal entities with assets exceeding $4.4 billion, and over 387,000 Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accounts with assets of approximately $597 million.
Designated Services
Previously-reported Services
Managing Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accounts
Description
Each Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accountholder has an IIM account established for them, by BTFA, because they have an interest in trust or restricted lands, (on an Indian Reservation), or funds. An individual often inherits fractional owner interests through either a will or a probate process. They can also be acquired through a gift deed process. An Individual Indian Money (IIM) account is an interest-bearing account managed by BTFA on behalf of an individual who has money or other assets held in trust for them by the Federal government. Managing IIM accounts usually begins with a compelling beneficiary “life need” to access the monetary assets held in their IIM account to pay for necessities like utilities, housing, food, and medical needs. The beneficiary may engage with the account in a few different ways. The beneficiary may check the balance and recent transaction history, update account information with a new address or change disbursement instructions, access the trust revenue funds that have posted into IIM account, make a request for disbursement of funds from their account. The beneficiary may also seek information about their owner interests in tracts of land so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to participate in the Department of the Interior’s Land Buy Back Program.
Why this service was designated
Ownership of an IIM account is important to an Indian trust beneficiary, especially if they receive trust fund revenue from land/resources managed in trust by the federal government. When a beneficiary relies on trust income, accurate and timely account management services are critically important. BTFA manages approximately 406,000 IIM accounts. BTFA’s Field Operations division responds to an average of 200,000 beneficiary requests annually.
Quarterly data reported
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
As expected, the CSI overall satisfaction score was high (86), an increase of 7 points over Q2. The drivers for this high Q3 score were: Employee Helpfulness and Employee Effectiveness. For Q3, the "Strongly Agree" score for Efficiency dropped by 3 points. However, the "Strongly Agree" score for EASE increased by 3 points over Q2.
Service details
Transaction point: Trust Beneficiary Call Center
Channel: phone
People served: 41162
Surveys offered: 2183
Responses: 81
Accessing "Beneficiary Services"
Description
Only individuals with an interest in trust or restricted land and/or funds managed by BTFA qualify to use the BTFA services. Each individual IIM accountholder has an IIM account established for them, by BTFA, because they have an interest in trust or restricted lands, (on an Indian Reservation), and/or funds. These fractional owner interests are often inherited by an individual, through either a will or a probate process. They can also be acquired through a gift deed process. Therefore, not every individual American Indian is an IIM accountholder.
Occasion 1: Beneficiary has need for current and accurate information regarding their trust and monetary assets. Specifically, beneficiaries will request the IIM account balance that comes from receipt of trust fund revenue; and the recent transaction history.
Occasion 2: Beneficiary has need to update account with new address or change disbursement instructions.
Occasion 3: Beneficiary has an immediate need to access the trust revenue funds that have posted into IIM account. Beneficiary makes a request for disbursement of funds from their account.
Occasion 4: Beneficiary has a need for information about their owner interests in tracts of land so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to participate in the Department of the Interior’s Land Buy Back Program, (LBBP).
The beneficiaries’ need is satisfied when their requests for information and/or a completed transaction are met.
Why this service was designated
“Beneficiary Services” is BTFA’s all-encompassing, customer facing service. BTFA’s successful management of all beneficiary requests as a “beneficiary service”, regardless of the type of request or transaction, is perceived by the beneficiary to be a single, seamless service; which they are highly dependent on.
There are two primary reasons for BTFA’s customer facing service known as “Beneficiary Services”. The first reason, is that since self-service access to Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accounts is not currently available, Indian trust beneficiaries must make a request to BTFA for trust fund account management services, (i.e., requests for information, a disbursement of funds and/or account updates).
The second reason for BTFA’s decision to offer an all-encompassing trust fund management service, is supported by an operational arrangement based on BTFA’s business processes - which aligns sequenced actions between the back office processing and front line transactional tasks.
- The Back Office services include: account maintenance service; safeguarding of trust funds; receipting of revenue and posting of trust funds to the correct account.
- The Front line services include: responding to requests for information about trust assets and completing beneficiary requested account service transactions such as address updates and/or a disbursements of funds.
BTFA manages approximately 406,000 IIM accounts. BTFA’s Field Operations division responds to an average of 200,000 beneficiary requests annually.
Quarterly data reported
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
As expected, the CSI overall satisfaction score was high (86), an increase of 7 points over Q2. The drivers for this high Q3 score were: Employee Helpfulness and Employee Effectiveness. For Q3, the "Strongly Agree" score for Efficiency dropped by 3 points. However, the "Strongly Agree" score for EASE increased by 3 points over Q2.
Service details
Transaction point: Trust Beneficiary Call Center
Channel: phone
People served: 41162
Surveys offered: 2183
Responses: 81
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 Trust Beneficiary contact center
Description
The Trust Beneficiary Call Center (TBCC) plays a critical role in the delivery of trust fund management services to Indian trust beneficiaries. The TBCC provides an easy-to-access primary point of contact for making inquiries about their trust assets. TBCC surveys customers who use the Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
Quarterly data reported
Description
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the premier government agency dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitats. It is the only agency in the Federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of these important natural resources for the American public.
Designated Services
Previously-reported Services
Planning a trip to a national wildlife refuge or public fish hatchery using fws.gov
Description
Customers of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife website, fws.gov, include families looking for an accessible day trip in nature supported by free-onsite programming, educators seeking outdoor inquiry-based learning opportunities, wildlife enthusiasts seeking out a specific bird or animal sightings, and expedition level adventurers seeking out a once in a lifetime Alaskan hunt, or other wilderness experiences. The fws.gov website offers a range of trip planning tools to ensure that all visitors can be prepared for a safe and positive experience on these unique public lands.
Why this service was designated
The fws.gov website draws 60+ million people each year to national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries, boosting local economies. The current virtual trip planning experience on the website uses outdated technology, and has poor search engine optimization, which means users can often get erroneous or outdated information that can negatively impact a trip they are planning.
Quarterly data reported
Q3 2022
What we learned from this quarter's data:
We just implemented touchpoints in our new CMS, so this is the first reporting period for which we have data. We don't have much to compare it against, yet. We have seen some helpful feedback from the public that we've responded to on both the content and platform sides of FWS.gov
Service details
Transaction point: Website
Channel: computer
People served: 332376
Surveys offered: 332376
Responses: 18
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.
Visiting a National Wildlife Refuge
Service url
Description
The National Wildlife Refuge System plays an essential role in providing outdoor recreation opportunities to the American public and the associated economic benefits to local communities. Millions of visitors to National Wildlife Refuges have hunted, fished, observed or photographed wildlife, participated in environmental education or interpretation on a refuge. These activities help National Wildlife Refuges serve as an economic engine for local communities, helping to support thousands of jobs and billions in visitor expenditures as well as providing vital funding for conservation.
Quarterly data reported
Description
The National Park Service manages over 400 national parks covering more than 85 million acres in all 50 states. In 2020, NPS provided refuge from the pandemic with over 200 million park visits.
Designated Services
- Planning trips and exploring National Parks using the NPS Digital Experience
- Discovering and applying to volunteer service opportunities on Volunteer.gov
Planning trips and exploring National Parks using the NPS Digital Experience
Description
Thousands of visitors worldwide plan trips or experience America’s national parks through the NPS digital experience each day. Together, the NPS digital platforms complement each other to provide an experience that encapsulates 420+ national park experiences. This experience weaves together America’s story using a behind-the-scenes thematic framework that connects stories and places through a tagging engine based on customer interests. Readers engage rangers in real-time and experience the grandeur of park landscapes or the wonder of history and culture through engaging posts and conversations on hundreds of NPS social media accounts. Visitors conveniently consume location-aware services such as interpretive tours, maps, and other content during their park visit through the new NPS App.
Why this service was designated
At any one time, 4,000-5,000 people may be on NPS.gov developing an itinerary, watching live streaming webcams, exploring photo/video galleries, or researching America’s story is told through their parks and the countless primary source documents available. The website also points users to recreation.gov to reserve campsite. Customers expect an increasingly sophisticated, integrated, and media-rich digital experience to help plan an in person visit, learn about a park and its resources, and remotely experience places that they may not be able to visit.
NPS recently modernized key elements of our digital experience architecture – including implementing a content tagging engine and API – to alleviate some costs while also improving our ability to agilely respond to these customer expectations. By doing so, NPS was able to deploy the initial version of the NPS App more quickly with very limited additional resource outlay by individual parks. NPS is now in the planning phase to add new features to the app and NPS.gov to further enhance the trip planning and in-park digital experience. These will include the ability for visitors to personalize their experience and more seamlessly move between the two platforms and beyond when new opportunities arise.
Discovering and applying to volunteer service opportunities on Volunteer.gov
Description
Volunteers are members of the public who provide a defined service to the government through a volunteer services agreement. Volunteers serve in nearly every discipline, unit, and career field within NPS. Volunteers can support large one-time events or work side-by-side with NPS staff for weeks and years. Volunteer.gov is a volunteer recruitment platform and is a public-facing digital service that is a high priority system for NPS. The site currently serves approximately 5,000 volunteers a month governmentwide. Volunteer opportunities include services such as being a campground host, removing invasive species, tracking and recording the presence and health of animals or plants, providing interpretive programs, leading guided hikes or educational opportunities, and answering visitor questions in a visitor center.
Why this service was designated
NPS has a significant volunteer program: each year, nearly 300,000 volunteers collectively contribute more than 6.5 million hours of volunteer service with the NPS. As recovery from the pandemic continues, these numbers are expected to grow, making the priority service designation of this program an opportunity to increase its capabilities. Volunteers are a valuable human resource that strengthens the NPS workforce and the shared stewardship provided to the public. Plans to build out the website have been developed to offer complete volunteer management services, such as volunteer onboarding and scheduling. As the platform is further developed, NPS aims for volunteers to save time and effort through reduced manual and redundant volunteer application processes. The end goal is an improved experience for interested volunteers and streamlined operations for NPS.