Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide

Customer Experience Services

Evaluation and Buying Guide

OFFICE OF

Customer

Experience

Version 1.0 | April 2020

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Customer-rst mindset

The Federal Government is transforming how agencies improve

service delivery by putting people at the center of those eorts.

A new paradigm for this movement is considering the public

as customers. Some agencies are developing how they do

business to intentionally take on a customer-rst mindset. In

addition, new agendas and policies require agencies to measure

and improve customer experience (CX). You may represent an

agency that is already meeting those requirements and have a

thorough understanding of your customers’ journeys and needs.

Alternatively, your agency may be just getting started, or you

may simply be curious about the topic. This guide should be

informative for all of these entry points.

Many businesses provide services that they claim are used to

understand customer experiences and improve them. Some of

these claims are reliable and some may not be. The purpose

of this guide is to give evaluation recommendations to repre-

sentatives of federal agencies as they shop amongst those

providers. We provide a dual lens of what to seek and what

to be cautious of. The guide orients to leading practices in

industry and government, and the Oce of Management and

Budget’s (OMB) annual budget guidance as context for seeking

Human-centered Design (HCD) services to understand and

improve customer experience.

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

CX in government

Customer Experience is an individual’s perception of their

collective interactions with an organization or a brand. It’s not

a new concept. As long as people have purchased goods or

hired services, businesses and providers have sought to deliver

quality experiences. Today, in the private sector, the most

successful brands are highly attuned to customer needs and

intentionally design experiences to meet and exceed those

needs. The Federal Government is taking the cue. Agencies are

looking dierently at the public they serve. There is renewed at-

tention on what people need from federal services. Furthermore,

agencies are showing a commitment to identify service pain

points so they can improve them for the customer.

The business of the Federal Government is to serve the American

people.

The President’s Management Agenda (PMA) is the

Oce of Management and Budget’s plan for how the govern-

ment should transform to deliver on this promise. One of the goals

of the PMA is to provide a modern, streamlined, and responsive

customer experience across government that is comparable

to leading private-sector organizations. The PMA identied 25

High-Impact Service Providers (HISPs) who have numerous and

key interactions with taxpayers. These HISPs were tasked to create

a CX plan for their program and strategize the best ways to help

their customers. OMB, in its annual budget guidance, dened

what is required of agencies in a new section titled: “Managing

Customer Experience and Improving Service Delivery”.

1 https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/management/pma/

2 Oce of Management and Budget, Circular A-11, Section 280.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/s280.pdf

There is a lot to interpret and understand in order to act on

it. Many of the HISPs were new to CX and recognized a need

for support in order to meet requirements. But there was no

guidebook on how to do it. Agencies new to CX have asked

fundamental questions, such as:

� Who are our key customers in the CX framework?

� Which services or interactions should we focus on?

� What can and should we try to do in-house versus hiring

staff or contractors to help with?

� What qualifications, skills, and experience are we looking for?

� What will they do when they get here?

� Where do we start?

As federal agencies mature in their CX practices, the following

CX Roadmap oers an overview and guidance on what agencies

should consider as they buy CX services. This guide also provides

more specic guidance around the procurement of HCD services,

questions to ask, and other factors to look out for when reviewing

vendor submissions.

A note on the term

ʻcustomerʼ

You may be new to CX. If so,

welcome. The word customer

in CX implies a business

transaction, which it can be.

However, your customer may

be a different stakeholder, a

person for whom you’re seeking

to design a better experience

that is not transactional. This

person may be an employee or

member of the general public.

It’s important to be clear about

which customer segment youʼre

supporting at a given time.

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Focus on a persistent

customer need.

Focus will concentrate momentum. Work

with leaders and existing data to identify

an agreed-upon pain point, then leverage

contracts to bring speed and expertise to

solve it.

Identify your needs

and ask for help.

Find the people within and outside the

organization whom you can partner with.

The CX Cross Agency Priority Goal team

and other agency CX professionals can

help guide you through this process.

Engage stakeholders as partners and

co-creators versus clients or direct reports.

Shape contractor relationships so they

build the capacity of your program and

agency (e.g., processes, training, templates,

hiring guidance) while solving CX challenges.

CX Roadmap

Share your research

in the open.

Start talking to customers to ensure that

you’re solving the right problems for the

right people.

Share your insights relentlessly with

customers. Always keep them in the loop

and they will be your biggest advocates.

Integrate periodic briefings to internal

leaders within contracting agreements

to share insights, choose pilots, and

demonstrate results.

Implement & Track

Phase 3

Execute strategy

Track progress and adjust as necessary

Capture lessons learned

Explore & Set Strategy

Phase 2

Evaluate options to address needs

Select best path forward

Build a strategy

AGENCY

PRIORITY

PROJECT

PRIORITIES

REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT

CONTRACT

ADMINISTRATION

What is your

agency’s CX

priority?

What project

should you

prioritize now?

How should

you engage

with vendors?

Who should you

select to help do

the work?

How can you get

what you need

from the contract?

Phases

Identify & Define Needs

Phase 1

Set CX vision and goals

Assess support needs using the five maturity

domains from OMB’s Circular A11, Section 280

Prioritize and define needs

Start with an inspiring

vision for change.

Look forward and think of the story you

want to tell others after the initial priority

work is done. Then look backward and

build a plan to realize that vision.

Think about how you will measure

the impact of your CX efforts.

Stretch beyond the status quo. Envision

what this service could look like in 5 years

and aim to do that in 1 year.

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Identify & Define Needs

Phase 1

Explore & Set Strategy

Phase 2

Set CX vision and goals

Start by creating an aspirational description of the

customer experience that your organization wants

to provide.

Key questions for you to ask:

• What does great CX look like for our organization?

• What are the biggest CX challenges that we

want to focus on?

• What should our goals be to meet those

challenges; how will we measure progress?

Evaluate options to address needs

Consider the options for taking on priority projects

and advancing the CX maturity of your organization.

Key questions for you to ask:

• How might we leverage existing resources?

• What are our options (beyond the existing

resources)?

• For each option, what are the pros and cons,

and what kind of return on investment might

we expect?

Implement & Track

Phase 3

Execute strategy

Ensure that you have the in-house CX skills and

capacity needed to effectively execute your

acquisition strategy. Consider partnering with

other federal CX professionals.

Key questions for you to ask:

• Is there a pool of strong CX services vendors,

vetted via market research or other means?

• Are all of the key ingredients for a solid

acquisition in place (timeline, funds, Performance

Work Statement (PWS)/Statement of Objectives

(SOO), Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan

(QASP), source selection plan, etc.)?

Capture lessons learned

As you learn what works/does not work, you’ll

want to capture those lessons. This is key to

continuously improving your CX program.

Key questions for you to ask:

• Do we have a consistent process in place

for capturing and sharing lessons learned?

• Is our CX program improving based on

lessons learned?

Track progress and adjust as

necessary

As you onboard a CX services contractor, you’ll

want to communicate expectations and how you

will partner to take on priority projects and

advance the CX maturity of your organization.

Key questions for you to ask:

• Do you have a contract administration plan?

• Do you have a consistent cadence of

communications and progress reporting

activities in place?

• Have you engaged with all key stakeholders

along the way and do you have a process in

place to gather their feedback?

Select the best path forward

After taking a hard look at each option, recommend

your best path forward to decision makers.

Key questions for you to ask:

• Have you engaged with key stakeholders in

evaluating your options and selecting your

best path forward?

• What is the estimated cost and level of effort

to implement your recommendations?

• What are the expected benefits of your

selected option?

Build a strategy

Circle back to Phase 1 and create a strategy that

links your selected path with the vision, goals, and

needs that you defined. Your partnership with

acquisition staff is crucial at this stage.

Key questions for you to ask:

• What work should remain in-house vs. what

should be contracted?

• For contracted work, what is your acquisition

strategy?

• How will you measure success?

Assess support needs using the

five A-11 domains

Determine your greatest CX support needs. Frame

your assessment around the A-11 CX maturity

domains: Measurement, Governance, Organization

& Culture, Customer Research, Service Design.

Key questions for you to ask:

• What projects should we take on to address

our biggest challenges and advance our CX

maturity?

• What are the CX capacity and skill gaps that we

need to fill to effectively take on those key

projects and advance our CX maturity?

Prioritize and define needs

Consider how your CX vision and goals align with

those of your agency and leadership priorities.

Key questions for you to ask:

• What are the projects that we should focus

on first?

• What resources will we need to take on our

priority projects?

• How might we best describe those resource

needs?

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Principles for evaluating

CX service providers

The rise in attention on CX in government has brought an

inux of articles, reports, books, and guides, which vary in

emphasis and orientation. Most include putting the customer

at the center of service evaluation and improvement. For this

guide, we’ve surfaced ve CX principles pertinent to evaluating

service providers.

The evaluation criteria shared in this guide is synthesized from

108 responses to a Request for Information (RFI) completed

by businesses on their capabilities to provide HCD services

in the context of CX. GSA’s Oce of Customer Experience

(OCE) initiated the RFI, reviewed the responses, and authored

this guide. If you’re more interested in the RFI and how OCE

conducted the study, please skip to page 9.

If you’re new to this approach, you may wonder what Human-

centered Design has to do with customer experience. HCD is a

method that service providers use to understand real customer

needs and to design or improve service delivery based on that

understanding. A rm may not use the term HCD; however, CX

work will always center on the customer from start to nish.

5 CX principles

The firms which you consider

should be able to address each

of these principles in their case

studies and responses.

1. Start with empathy

for the customer

2. Use HCD practices to

understand customer

journeys and needs

3. Involve customers in service

design improvements

4. Create, test, and refine

ideas and solutions

5. Measure efforts against

outcomes that point to

tangible improvements

in customer experience

Evaluation criteria of

industry partners

What to seek

� A clear description of the firm’s Human-centered Design

methodology and how it has been applied in practice (see

case study reference below)

� Fluency in applying customer experience principles and

practices

� At least one in-depth case study that includes:

A clear focus on a customer experience project

A description of the firm’s role, the scope of their work,

and how they worked with the client and customers

The activities taken to understand customer needs and

challenges across touchpoints

An explanation for how the firm and client focused on

the domain for the project. Did the client hire the firm

to execute tasks or to help frame the problem to be

solved?

A description of the solution and how they arrived at it

Artifacts from the project, such as research materials,

maps, diagrams, or prototypes

�

A summary of the impact that the firm had on helping the

client achieve customer-centered outcomes

� Relevant examples, details, and artifacts which demonstrate

an understanding of all five OMB Circular A11, Section 280

domains (Measurement, Governance and Strategy, Culture

and Organization, Customer Research, and Service Design)

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

What to seek (continued)

� Appropriate tools and approaches have been utilized for

specific needs (e.g., personas for customer segmentation)

� Applied customer insights and evidence to set strategic

design direction for projects

� Expertise using a variety of quantitative and qualitative

customer feedback collection methods and tools

� Approach and examples of the firm collaborating with

clients throughout projects, including evidence of teaching

or training on HCD methods

� Experience working with multiple stakeholders across a

delivery system and organization chart

� Quality design artifacts including: journey maps, service

blueprints, personas, prototypes, wireframes, data visual-

izations, and customer stories. Don’t be afraid to ask for

these and other relevant examples in your engagements

with industry

� Experience and/or familiarity working with systems,

processes, policies, and regulations

� Ability to work efficiently and effectively moving through

HCD processes

� Work that spans and integrates multiple channels (e.g.,

website or kiosk) and touchpoints (e.g. login or call for

support) to improve CX

� Competent project management including: scoping,

planning, staffing, using the right methods, meeting

milestones, evaluation, reporting accomplishments,

and staying on budget

What to be cautious of

� Lack of specificity and quality of the response overall,

such as generic sales pitches

� Long list of certifications that are not relevant to

your requirements

� Heavy on methods, services, and details about the firm

while lightly covering case study details

� Emphasis on the design and deployment of complex

technology solutions; may look like narrow focus on digital

tools or touchpoints

� Lack of understanding of the differences between HCD,

Agile, and Lean methodologies. For example, a vendor

may describe a client project that followed the steps of

an Agile development process as a sample of their HCD

experience. Moreover, scout for businesses that deliber-

ately mislabel or mischaracterize work to fit RFI criteria

� Pitching a pre-packaged solution vs. a tailored approach

that is based on client’s real customer needs

� Insufficient explanation of root cause analysis, customer

understanding, and problem/opportunity framing

� Lack of relevant experience, examples, or evidence to

demonstrate fluency with subject matter or ability to

perform HCD work in service of CX projects

� Within a case study or project, there is no clear indication

of how the firm’s work has contributed to a measurable

outcome

� Length of HCD projects: they typically are short term

(weeks to months). Be skeptical of open-ended mainte-

nance projects that last for years, without defined goals

� Lack of demonstrated competence in assessing and

measuring customer experience

Shortlist of

responsibilities

Sample evaluation criteria

for full-time staff or contract

support:

� Lead and manage complex

projects from discovery and

design to technical develop-

ment and implementation

� Utilize HCD methods, tools,

and approaches, such as:

design thinking, service

design, content design,

product design, behavioral

science, ethnographic

research, usability research,

or accessibility assessment

� Develop research plans with

an understanding of how

disparate systems function

and change over time with

multiple user groups

� Execute research that helps

programs better understand

stakeholder needs to inform

improvements to products,

services, policies, and

processes

� Produce user needs specs. &

experience goals, personas,

journey maps, storyboards,

scenarios, flowcharts, and

design prototypes

� Make findings relevant and

impactful for design and

action through a variety of

formats such as insights,

stories, videos, experiences

and exhibits

� Design product and service

ideas with low and high fidelity

mockups using methods like

sketching, wireframing, and/

or prototyping

� Plan, manage, and execute

on an idea from concept to

launch to meet key milestones

and real customer needs

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Questions for framing

CX eorts and HCD

services acquisition

In building a plan for acquiring HCD support services, there

are a number of questions you’ll want to address, such as:

� What support services do you need, e.g., initial discovery

research, customer journey mapping, service design,

establishing CX measures, CX capacity building?

� Are there specific CX challenges and opportunities that

you want to take on?

� How might you leverage existing resources?

� What are your options (beyond working with the existing

resources)?

� Have you engaged with key stakeholders in evaluating

your options?

� What is the estimated cost/level of effort and benefits

for each option?

� What work should remain in-house vs. what should

be contracted?

� How will you measure success?

How might you engage

with vendors

In an eort to improve awareness of how to engage with

vendors, the White House published business strategies

for departments and agencies to use. Visit this link to learn

more about great ways to engage the vendor community:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/

SIGNED-Myth-Busting-4-Strenthening-Engagement-with-In-

dustry-Partners-through-Innovative-Business-Practices.pdf

Once you have an acquisition plan to fulll your HCD service

needs, there are a number of ways to procure those services.

GSA oers acquisition vehicles. Visit this site for more infor-

mation: https://www.gsa.gov/buying-selling/products-ser-

vices/professional-services

We also advise partnering with your agency’s procurement

services organization to explore your options for procuring

HCD services.

Reference the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovation:

https://www.fai.gov/periodic-table/

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

The RFI

GSA’s Oce of Customer Experience (OCE) is the rst agency-wide

organization to focus solely on improving customer experience

and fostering a customer-rst mentality. The team assisted

with many CX eorts under the PMA. In seeing that many

HISPs don’t have in-house expertise to perform HCD methods,

OCE wanted to make it easier for them to nd partners outside

of the government. OCE sent a Request for Information (RFI) to

industry using GSA’s Market Research as a Service. The intent

of the RFI was to provide HISPs and the rest of the government

a base from which to start their search for partnerships.

The RFI asked rms to provide the following information:

� Currently held government contracts

� NAICS code

� Business size

� Socio-economic category

The RFI also asked respondents to answer questions on

whether they had relevant experience providing certain types

of services listed in the ve domains of OMB’s Circular A11,

Section 280, Managing Customer Experience and Improving

Service Delivery:

� Measurement

� Governance

� Organization & Culture

� Customer Research

� Service Design

Lastly, the RFI asked respondents to share a CX project

with a medium to large client that spans the full-range from

discovery to design to measurement. The RFI required them

to submit one to three examples and to limit their submission

to three pages. Of note for the reader, the following data

includes vendors who currently oer HCD and CX services

through GSA contracts and some who currently do not.

Data on RFI responses

OCE received a total of 108 submissions. The following are

the small-business designations:

� 74 identifying as small-business

� 11 8(a)

� 10 Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB)

� 8 Small Disadvantaged Business

� 6 HubZone

� 6 Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned

� 6 Woman-Owned Business

� 4 Economically Disadvantaged WOSB

� 4 Veteran Owned Small Business

Here are the number of respondents who held

government contracts through GSA:

� 76 Schedule 70

� 40 00CORP

� 14 Stars 2

� 11 OASIS Unrestricted

� 10 Alliant 2

� 1 OASIS Small Business

� 34 Other GSA Contracts

� 8 No GSA contract

What is an RFI in

government?

A Request for Information (RFI) is

a step in a procurement process

that allows the government to

gather information from service

providers and stakeholders

to define the goals toward a

desired result. This is a collab-

orative step, one that creates

a shared vision for success

and leads to a more effective

Request for Proposals.

1 https://results4america.org/

tools/r-guide-requests-informa-

tion-can-improve-government-hu-

man-services-contracting/

Customer Experience Services Evaluation and Buying Guide | Version 1.0GSA | Oce of Customer Experience

Where to go for

additional information

There are great resources available to federal agencies

looking to advance CX and HCD at their organizations. Here

are a selection sources that we recommend learning from:

� The CX Cross-Agency Priority Goal: https://www.perfor-

mance.gov/CAP/cx/

� The Lab at the Office Of Personnel Management: https://

lab.opm.gov/

� The GSA OCE: https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/organiza-

tion/office-of-customer-experience

� The GSA CX Center of Excellence: https://coe.gsa.gov/coe/

customer-experience.html

� The U.S. Digital Service: https://www.usds.gov/

� Defense Digital Service https://dds.mil/

� 18F https://18f.gsa.gov/, https://methods.18f.gov/

� Veterans Experience Office https://www.va.gov/ve/

� Digital.gov’s Customer Experience Toolkit https://digital.

gov/resources/customer-experience-toolkit/

� Paperwork Reduction Act: https://pra.digital.gov

This is the rst version of this guide. You may have questions

or concerns that are not addressed here. We welcome your

feedback and comments to inform future versions.

Please let us know what you think of this. We want to make

this valuable for any federal employee trying to make a better

citizen experience. If you have any questions or comments,

please email C[email protected]v

OFFICE

V E TE R ANS

EX PE RIE NCE

OFFICE OF

Customer

Experience