---
title: "To Do: Allow Federal Agencies to Talk to “Customers”"
summary: |-
  Congress should allow agencies to reach out to customers who affirmatively opt in to ask their views on the quality of government services and to give them timely information.
date: "2017-07-10"
issues: ["Digital Government", "Federal Strategy and Management"]
content_type: "Knowledge Base Articles"
canonical_url: "https://itif.org/publications/2017/07/10/to-do-allow-federal-agencies-to-talk-to-customers/"
---

# To Do: Allow Federal Agencies to Talk to “Customers”

# Recommendation

Congress should allow agencies to reach out to customers who affirmatively opt in to ask their views on the quality of government services and to give them timely information.

# Details

It has become a truism of private-sector innovation that companies need to regularly communicate with their customers and users. Yet, not only is the federal government not used to doing this; in some cases, federal law makes it extremely difficult to do so. This means that often federal agencies are guessing what users actually value. Toward rectify this, Congress should allow agencies to reach out to customers who affirmatively opt in with their consent, not only to ask their views on the quality of government services, but also to give them timely information about federal services (e.g., the State Department emailing passport holders four months before their passports are due to expire). Congress should pass such legislation, and agencies should take advantage of it, using the resultant data to regularly redesign services.

**Keep reading:**

- Robert D. Atkinson, Daniel Castro, and Stephen Ezell, “Enabling Customer-Driven Innovation in the Federal Government” (ITIF, July 2017), [https://itif.org/publications/2017/07/10/enabling-customer-driven-innovation-federal-government](https://itif.org/publications/2017/07/10/enabling-customer-driven-innovation-federal-government).

---
*Source: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)*
*URL: https://itif.org/publications/2017/07/10/to-do-allow-federal-agencies-to-talk-to-customers/*