OMB 280: Updated Guidance

The changes announced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in their annual update to Circular A-11 provide a new and expanded definition for customer experience (CX), one that includes equity and designates CX as an official priority. “A person's interactions with the Federal government can have devastating effects on both personal trust in governments themselves or willingness to participate civilly," the guidance states.

"As a Federal government, it is our responsibility to ensure that every interaction a member of the public has with their government demonstrates competence and builds trust. To that end, measures of experience (including measures of equity (e.g., participation), effort (burden/friction), and those outlined further in this guidance) are of co-equal importance as traditional measures of financial and operational performance, and which this document begins to outline an accountability framework to deliver.”

President Biden's executive order to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion has been met with OMB issuing new guidelines that differ from last years' version on how agencies should conduct customer experience research (CX). OMB has also extended its mandates beyond specific “High-Impact Service Providers” (HISPs) and is now calling on all Federal Agencies to adhere to OMB 280 guidance.

“All agencies should apply the guidance provided in this section for the design of feedback surveys and establishing experience measures for Federal services,” the guidance says.

OMB expects more federal agencies will implement the guidance in order to “establish a more consistent, comprehensive, robust, and deliberate approach to CX across government.”