Last Monday, the White House published anexecutive orderexplicitly focused onimproving the waysthe federal government works for the American people. From enabling online food and formula purchases for those covered by WIC (a federal nutrition program for pregnant women, new moms, and young kids) to implementing secure online passport renewal, the order is filled with exceedingly practical steps to make life easier for millions of Americans.
In its practicality, it has the chance to be truly transformative.
Officially named, “Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government,” this executive order targets 36 customer-experience improvements across 17 federal agencies. Critically, it establishes a process that holds agencies accountable not just for policy outcomes but also for the ways in which they serve the American public.
使公民发表声音使他们的政府工作的想法并不新鲜。林肯总统本人会open the doorsto the White House for post-breakfast meetings to better understand how to serve a fledgling nation of 31 million.
But as the distance between the White House and the people has grown over the years, so has the space between policy makers and the American people. This executive order is the first step in what will likely be a multiyear (or even decade-long) effort to shorten that distance and regain the nation’s trust in our government.
This isn’t the first effort of its kind. From the Clinton-Gore administration’sReinventing Government initiativeto several Obama-era executive orders designed tocut red tape or build trustbetween the federal government and communities, administrations have attempted this before. But this executive order does include some very specific commitments and a clarifying command to the bureaucracy: Focus on customer service.
想象一个与政府互动的世界很简单，无缝，甚至令人愉悦。这是行政命令不仅要求我们想象的世界，而且要定义联邦机构将如何到达那里的关键步骤，尤其是在接下来的六个月的计划和初步实施中。有很多好主意on where to start. One example: Currently, people with certain lifelong conditions like autism–conditions that will not change–must recertify their condition to maintain SSI eligibility. Eliminating or changing this requirement is among the early ideas being spurred by the order.
刺激动作实际上是第一步。尽管该订单没有附带的美元附带，但它确实确定了对行政当务之急的强烈改进的需求，并且为问责制定了途径。
Here are just a few ways the order could bringexciting changesto everyday experiences for many of us:
Online and On-Time Services
- First-time users of many government systems are surprised by what the government requires in order to access benefits and services. In our work, we’ve found that many assumed that claiming Social Security retirement benefits, renewing passports, shopping for groceries with government assistance, or finding discounted medications through Medicare were already things you could do easily and fully online before the pandemic. In actuality, many of these services require partial or total in-person engagement. Even after the pandemic began, some of our nation’s most critical programs still required going to the post office to submit documentation, applying or making changes in person, or making trips to county offices to pursue loans or assistance.
- The EO takes the extraordinary step of prioritizingthe needs of the people over the needs of federal agencies’ stated purposes—in essence, allowing agencies to catch up and digitize processes that, in 2021, feel anachronistic to do in person. If you asked someone at the State Department what their most urgent issue is, it’s unlikely they’d say online passport renewal. But for most Americans, renewing their passport is the sole interaction they’ll have with that agency. The executive order recognizes this, and gives the department the space to prioritize a project that otherwise would be long shoved to the side.
- It also smartly focuses on customer service, rather than digitization. Sometimes an answered phone call might be just what someone needs, rather than a spiffy website or app. For example, consider that the IRS agency currently has the capacity to answer only3% of the callsit receives. In the public sector, it isn’t something an agency has the space to prioritize without a presidential mandate. It’s worth noting that when agencies don’t prioritize customer service, other actors with problematic models often swoop in to take money from the very Americans who need help. One company reportedly did just that with a pay-to-play model: selling subscriptions to essentiallyallow line-jumpingin the IRS hold queue and potentially limiting phone access for individuals and tax preparers alike.
- The order does emphasize the potential use of technology yet prioritizes customer needs over “shiny new things.” This matters because digitization, without a clear goal, can lead to worse service. As we wrote inPower to the People,digitizing a broken system gets you adigitizedbroken system. Besides, there are Americans who will continue to need to access the government offline, use cash or paper checks to make renewals, or who lack the network access or technology to use automated systems. Improving technology for those able to use it can free up resources for those who lack access to technology or need other direct assistance. This could also provide the bandwidth to tackle other service barriers like literacy, transit gaps, racism and bias in finance systems, and broadband.
Bills, Bills, Bills
One of the oft-cited frustrations of students, business owners, and unemployed workers—especially during COVID-19—was the ability to easily apply for government help and track their application status. The executive order takes this reality into account: Students who are Direct Loan borrowers will now have a single repayment portal on StudentAid.gov; farmers will be able to digitally apply for loans from the Department of Agriculture; and agencies like the Small Business Administration may be able to reduce call-center wait times for small business owners.
Fewer Trips, Fewer Trip Wires
A common trip wire among Americans seeking disaster relief or using multiple public benefits is a very practical one: They simply have to be in too many places at once. People often have to work with multiple agencies at the same time—some of which require in-person interaction, mailing or faxing verifications, and collecting forms like birth certificates. This results in frequent trips to a government agency, post office, or clerk; travel time and transit costs; and, at times, missing work. Consider someone trying to get assistance after a natural disaster has leveled their home. Or a parent between jobs, trying to claim a tax credit and applying for unemployment benefits. The people doing all the right things are drained of time and resources for too little payoff.
你搬了吗？曾经？考虑一下您必须报告了多少次地址的变化，也许是您的难以置信，这些系统似乎都没有传达。按照命令，“移动住所的个人可以一次与联邦政府更新地址，并选择他们希望与之共享的其他联邦或州实体。”哈利路亚，阿们。
Tara Dawson McGuinness is the founder and director of the New Practice Lab at New America. Hana Schank is a senior advisor for public interest technology at New America. In 2021 the pair releasedPower to the Public, a book about how governments can solve public problems in the digital age by working directly with communities.