Government
ACSI measures citizen satisfaction with over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government agencies
The ACSI model links citizen satisfaction with outcomes of complaints and citizen trust in government.
GOVERNMENT
Government entities use ACSI to track user satisfaction with the quality of their services over time and compare these results to other organizations in both the private and public spheres. ACSI also provides cause-and-effect analysis to help agencies focus resources where improvements will have the most impact.
At a glance:
Government
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Inaugural year:
1994
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Updated:
annually
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Most recent data:
2021
In addition to its extensive coverage of the private sector, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) benchmarks citizen satisfaction for a multitude of federal agencies and departments, as well as two high-usage services of local governments (police and solid waste management). In 1999, the federal government selected the ACSI to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction. Now, over a decade later, ACSI coverage of federal government continues to grow through CFI Group, the exclusive partner of the ACSI in the federal government. All told, the ACSI measures citizen satisfaction with over 100 services, programs, and websites of federal government agencies.
Satisfaction Benchmarks by Industry
U.S. Federal Government 2021*
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Federal Government (Aggregated) | 63.4 |
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT - Benefits Recipients | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) | Retirees | 88 |
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT - Regulatory | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) | E-Verify Users | 88 |
| U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) | SAVE Users | 80 |
| Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) | Premium Filers | 77 |
| Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs (BCA) | Passport Services | 76 |
| Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Individual E-Filers | 71 |
| Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Small Business & Self-Employed Filers | 65 |
| Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Large Business & International Filers | 62 |
| Internal Revenue Service (IRS) | Individual Paper Filers | 60 |
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT - Information Providers | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) | Publications | 89 |
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) | Financial Education Exchange | 84 |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |
Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) |
81 |
| National Park Service, NPS.gov Webmonitor | Information Users | 81 |
| National Weather Service (NWS) | Information Users | 80 |
| Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) | Market News Users | 77 |
| Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) | Participant Callers | 73 |
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT - Users of Technology/IT | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Veterans Affairs (VA) | Employee Users of IT Services | 79 |
| AGENCY/DEPARTMENT - Call Centers | Segment | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs (BCA) | Contact Center Users | 65 |
*Data collection and analysis provided by CFI Group.
Citizen Satisfaction by Federal Government
The ACSI measures government agencies, companies, industries, and sectors annually, with new data replacing data from prior years. This allows government entities to track user satisfaction with the quality of their services over time and compare these results to other organizations in both the private and public spheres.
Sector: Public Administration/Government Benchmarks
Local Government: police (central city), police (suburb), solid waste management (central city), solid waste management (suburb)
| 2020 | 2021 | Prior Year % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Administration/Government | 63.8 | 62.6 | -1.9% |
| 2020 | 2021 | Prior Year % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Government | 62.7 | 62.0 | -1.1% |
| Solid waste management (central city) | 73 | 70 | -4.1% |
| Solid waste management (suburb) | 71 | 70 | -1.4% |
| Police (suburb) | 62 | 62 | 0.0% |
| Police (central city) | 60 | 58 | -3.3% |
| 2020 | 2021 | Prior Year % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Government | 65.1 | 63.4 | -2.6% |
For both government and private-sector measurement, the ACSI uses customer interviews as input to a multi-equation econometric model. Customers’ responses about a government agency are aggregated to produce its ACSI benchmark, thus results are specific to each individually measured organization. Because most agencies do not deal in economic transactions in a strict sense, the ACSI government model includes outcomes appropriate to the public sector in lieu of price-related measures.
ACSI Government Model
The ACSI model is a cause-and-effect model with indices for drivers of satisfaction on the left side, satisfaction (ACSI) in the center, and outcomes of satisfaction on the right side. As seen in the diagram, the ACSI government model (used for most agencies) is identical to the private-sector model with a key modification in the “outcomes” component. Specifically, the outcome of citizen trust replaces the price-related outcomes found in the private-sector model (repurchase intention and price tolerance).
Because agencies provide services with little or no direct charge to the user, perceived value is not part of the government model. The drivers of expectations and perceived quality, satisfaction, and the outcome of customer complaints appear in both the government and private-sector models.
For government organizations, indicators of satisfaction are grouped into four broad categories that are used as input to measure quality (process, information, customer service, and website).
For the outcome of citizen trust, indicators are (1) the degree to which the user/customer would recommend the agency’s services to others (recommend) and (2) the extent to which the user has confidence in relying on the agency in the future (confidence).