OMB Circular A-11, Part 6, Section 280 (A-11 Section 280) outlines the Federal Government’s approach to managing customer experience (CX) and improving service delivery. Pursuant to Executive Order 14058, A-11 Section 280 provides more detailed guidance on implementing and managing CX in the federal context. Updated annually, A-11 Section 280 identifies High Impact Service Provider (HISP) entities, provides agencies with guidelines to improve service delivery through a human-centered design and cross-agency coordination, and outlines requirements as part of budget, learning, and strategic planning efforts.
What is A-11 Section 280?
A-11 Section 280 is guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that establishes a structured framework of government-wide practices to mature federal entities’ capacity to manage customer experience and improve service delivery, including a streamlined approach to collecting customer feedback and integrating CX practices and human-centered design across government.
As the Federal Government’s core CX guidance, A-11 Section 280 promotes accountability and governance mechanisms to improve service design and quality by:
- Providing structure and consistency for how agencies/programs approach CX
- Ensuring progress in growing and sustaining CX program maturity, improving service delivery, and applying leading practices;
- Ensuring federal service providers are receiving and acting upon customer feedback to drive performance improvement and service recovery;
- Providing transparency through informed consent and public reporting; and,
- Encouraging the application of human-centered design principles and tools as foundational to achieving customer experience outcomes.
A-11 Section 280 provides a framework for a set of organizational routines and processes for agencies related to customer experience, including:
- Identifying services for improvement;
- Articulating responsibilities for service delivery;
- Collecting and using different types of data for service improvement;
- Conducting customer research; and
- Navigating the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA).
What’s new in A-11 Section 280?
The 2024 annual update includes:
- Integration of key components of OMB Memorandum M-23-22, Delivering a Digital-First Public Experience (05)
- Updated timelines and deadlines for key deliverables for HISPs (280.12)
- Clarified reporting and feedback requirements (14)
- Additional information about Life Experience Projects (16)
What are High Impact Service Providers (HISPs), and what do they do?
As stated in A-11 Section 280.11, High Impact Service Providers (HISPs) are "Federal entities designated by OMB that provide or fund high-impact, customer facing services." HISPs are designated because they serve a large percentage of the American public, complete a high volume of annual transactions, or due to the outsized impact on the lives of those served.
Designated HISPs must undertake the activities outlined in the guidance, including an annual enterprise-wide CX capacity assessment, focused improvement efforts for designated services, and collecting (and publicly reporting) customer feedback collections. A-11 Section 280.12 directs HISPs to:
- Designate (at least) two priority services for focused assessment and improvement;
- Deploy post-transaction customer feedback surveys;
- Collect and report customer feedback quarterly to OMB for each designated service;
- Conduct an annual CX Capacity Assessment and participate in Deep Dive conversations with OMB to discuss findings;
- Develop CX Action Plans with a focus on improvement actions for each designated service; and,
- Embed customer-focused practices into service design and delivery, including human-centered design and customer research.
Learn more about the HISPs and their services here.
What are OMB-designated Life Experiences?
Life Experiences are cross-agency initiatives designed to improve the public’s interactions with government services during key life events, such as applying for federal benefits, transitioning from military to civilian live, or planning for retirement. These moments in people’s lives often require navigating services across several programs and agencies, and even levels of government. A-11 Section 280.16 outlines a framework for the Life Experience Projects that encourages cross-agency collaboration to ensure that the government can better meet people where they are and be responsive to how they navigate these moments.
To learn more about the Life Experience see our Government-wide CX Efforts page.
