The President’s Budget aims to enhance the efficiency, accessibility, and quality of services provided by the Federal government. It outlines a comprehensive plan under President Biden’s administration to strategically prioritize modernizing government operations, improving customer experience, and ensuring equitable access to services across diverse communities. This analysis will delve into the key priorities and implications of the President’s Budget within these domains.

Modernization of Service Delivery

A significant portion of the Budget is allocated towards modernizing service delivery across various federal agencies. This includes:

Digital Transformation: The Budget emphasizes the expansion of digital services, such as online passport renewals, improvements in Social Security Administration (SSA) services, and the modernization of taxpayer services by the IRS. Such initiatives aim to make government services more accessible and user-friendly, reflecting a shift towards digital-first solutions.

Enhanced Accessibility: Efforts to improve service delivery for rural communities, senior homeowners, low-income renters, and tribal communities are notable. By investing in digital tools and pilot programs, the Budget seeks to ensure that marginalized and underserved groups have better access to federal services.

Customer Experience Focus: The investment in customer experience teams and digital service capabilities across federal agencies highlights a customer-centric approach. This includes building shared products and platforms to enable seamless services and conducting customer research to inform service improvements.

Building on Life Experience Pilot Projects

The Budget outlines initiatives to build on the success of pilot projects that target specific life experiences, such as:

Support for New Parents: Increasing funding for the Healthy Start program and initiating a maternal supply kit pilot for veteran mothers align with the administration’s commitment to supporting families during critical life moments.

Improving Efficiency and Accessibility: The allocation of funds to improve benefits-related income verification services aims to streamline access to safety net benefits, indicating a focus on reducing bureaucratic hurdles and enhancing program integrity.

Community Outreach: Continued efforts to develop new models of community outreach for older adults making retirement decisions demonstrate a recognition of the need for tailored, locally informed services.

Helps Improves Service Accessibility for Tribal Communities. In keeping with Executive Order 14112 on Reforming Federal Funding and Support for Tribal Nations, the Budget makes investments in dedicated and coordinated work, in partnership with the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services, that will make it easier for Tribal Nations and members to navigate federal services provided by the Bureaus of Indian Affairs and Trust Funds Administration. Additionally, the designation of the Indian Health Service (IHS) as a High Impact Service Provider supports IHS collecting feedback and implementing targeted reforms that will improve the quality and accessibility of health services for Native communities.

Investment in Customer Experience Capacity Across Government

The Budget’s commitment to enhancing the federal government’s capacity to deliver superior customer experience is evident in several key investments:

Builds Shared Products and Platforms to Enable Simple, Seamless, and Secure Services Across the Federal Government. The Budget provides funding for continued maintenance of the Federal Website Standards, U.S. Web Design System, Digital Analytics Program, Site Scanning Program, Digital.gov, Search.gov, Touchpoints, and Feedback Analytics. The Budget also supports design exploration for creating government-wide web content standards and search engine optimization practices, including the potential of using Search.gov to better structure and connect information across agency websites.

Expansion of Customer Experience Teams: The hiring of more than 170 full-time employees with expertise in customer experience and digital service delivery aims to bolster the government’s ability to innovate and improve service delivery.

Digital Service Capacity: With a significant investment in the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) and other digital initiatives, the Budget seeks to address challenges in accessing digital service expertise and to promote efficient, secure, and effective use of information technology.

Implications and Conclusion

The President’s Budget represents a forward-looking strategy to reimagine how the federal government interacts with and serves the American people. By prioritizing the modernization of service delivery, leveraging lessons from pilot projects, and investing in customer experience capacity, the administration aims to create a more responsive, accessible, and efficient government. This approach not only recognizes the critical role of technology and digital services in today’s society but also underscores a commitment to equity and inclusiveness in accessing federal services.

Ultimately, the successful implementation of these priorities could lead to significant improvements in public trust and satisfaction with government services, while also setting a precedent for how modern governance can adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of its citizens.

Find out more about REI’s CX Capability here. 

Author:

Sandra Gerges
Customer Experience Lead
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