THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT TO UNVEIL
CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS
Cabinet Secretaries,Agency Heads At Events Across The Nation
Join Clinton, Gore To Create Customer-Driven Government
****** TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1994 11:45 PM (EDT) ******
WASHINGTON -- As part of their commitment to put the
federal government's customers -- the American people -- first, President Clinton and Vice President Gore will release Tuesday (9/20) the first comprehensive set of customer service standards for each department and agency of the federal government.
Cabinet secretaries and agency heads will join the President and Vice President on Customer Service Day at events across the nation to share with the American people their new standards and procedures for improving customer service.
"The American people demand and deserve a resultsdriven government," the Vice President said. "We will reach this goal by establishing customer service standards, keeping track of the federal government's performance, and publishing those results."
The President and Vice President will unveil the report, "Putting Customers First: Standards for Serving the American People," at 11:45 AM (EDT), Tuesday, September 20, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Below is information about events involving cabinet secretaries and agency heads that also will take place across the nation on Customer Service Day.
"Putting Customers First: Standards for Serving the American People" is part of Vice President Gore's National Performance Review: Creating a Government That Works Better and Costs Less, which he presented to the President last September. One of the recommendations in the report called for all departments and agencies to develop customer service standards. Within days after the NPR initiative was released, President Clinton issued an executive order calling for a customer service "revolution within the federal government to change the way it does business." Tuesday's report is the result of this executive order.
Customer Service Day
Cabinet Department and Agency Events
September 20, 1994
Note: All events are on Tuesday, September 20, unless otherwise noted. Times and sites may change, so please call to confirm.
Cabinet Officer: Attorney General Janet Reno Event Description: The Attorney General will greet a plane
arriving from out of the country, assist
travelers with the immigration process,
and demonstrate INSPASS, the Immigration
and Naturalization Service's new
automation system for inspecting
frequent international business
travelers in less than a minute.
Event Location: John F. Kennedy Airport, New York City
Time: 1:00pm
Press Contact: Bert Brandenburg
Phone: (202) 616-0189
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Bruce Babbitt Event Description: The Secretary will give an historic talk
to tourists at Faneuil Hall, which is
part of Boston National Historical Park.
Event Location: Faneuil Hall in Boston, MA
Time: 3:00 pm
Press Contact: Mary Helen Thompson
Phone: (202) 208-6416
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Mike Espy Event Description: The Secretary will serve customers in
the Mexico, MO Farm Service Center, an
office that combines several USDA
programs together in one office and
links offices with the same computer
system in order to better serve farmers
applying for loans and seeking other
services.
Event Location: USDA Farm Service Center
4616 South Clark Street
(Route 54, South End of Town)
Mexico, Missouri
Time: TBA
Press Contact: Jim Loftus
Phone: (202) 720-4623
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Ron Brown
Event Description: Secretary Brown and Deputy Secretary
Dave Barram will demonstrate three
customer service efforts. Secretary
Brown will take calls from customers who
are calling the 1-800-STAT USA lines to
order materials or make inquiries, and
he will do an Internet demonstration of
how the public can access the National
Trade Data Bank. He will also take
calls into the Commerce Department's
Trade Information Center. In addition,
all other Commerce Bureaus will have
interactive displays demonstrating
information and services available to
the public.
Event Location: The Commerce Department, Room 4830
Washington DC
Time: 1:30pm
Press Contact: Maria Cardona
Phone: (202) 482-3263
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Robert Reich Event Description: The Secretary will tour the Wheaton
Multi-Service Center to highlight the
unemployment insurance "profiling"
program, which identifies the needs of
applicants and reduces the time of
unemployment for a newly unemployed
individual. He will also announce $8
million in grants for worker profiling.
Event Location: Wheaton Multi-Service Center, Wheaton,
MD
11160 Veirs Mill Road
Wheaton Plaza
South Office Building
Time: TBA
Press Contact: Jody Franklin
Phone: (202) 219 8211
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Donna Shalala Event Description: The Secretary will visit a walk-in
center that provides assistance to
senior citizens in getting health care
benefits and administrative and legal
assistance. She will assist the staff in
serving the customers.
Event Location: Health Insurance Counseling Project of
George Washington University
2136 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Time: 9:30am
Press Contact: HHS Press Office
Phone: (202) 690-6343
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Henry Cisneros
Event Description: The Secretary will help to renovate the
home of recipients of a 203(k) loan.
This program allows people with low and
moderate incomes to buy and renovate
distressed property.
Event Location: Home of Steven and Rachel Rival
11-12 Logan St
New Britton, CT
Time: 11:00am
Press Contact: Janice Crump
Phone: (202) 708 0120
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Frederico Pe?a Event Description: The Secretary will show how federal
highway truck inspectors make roads
safer for highway passengers and
truckers by assisting with truck
inspections. He will also ride in an 18-
wheeler from downtown Atlanta to the
inspection station.
Event Location: Truck Inspection Site on Highway 1-20 in
Atlanta,GA
Time: 10:00am
Press Contact: Jim Cullinan
Phone: (202) 366-5563
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Richard Riley Event Description: The Secretary will tour the financial
aid office, meet with staff and students
to discuss improvements in student loan
operations and help distribute student
aid checks.
Event Location: Hood College, Fredricksburg, MD
Time: 11:30am
Press Contact: Kerri Morgan
Phone: (202) 401-3026
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Jesse Brown Event Description: The Secretary will help veterans file
benefits claims in VA's Regional Office
in Chicago. The Secretary will also
present a Special Adaptive Award check
to a disabled veteran to assist in
building a disabled adaptive home.
Event Location: Chicago VA Regional Office
Time: 7:30am - 1:30pm
Press Contact: Carl Henderson
Phone: (312) 353-4076
Cabinet Officer: Secretary Lloyd Bentsen
Event Description: The Secretary will tour the
international arrivals area at Dulles
Airport. He will make remarks focusing
on US Customs Service efforts regarding
customer service improvements in
processing international passengers and
cargo as part of the National
Performance Review initiative.
Event Location: Dulles Airport, MD
Time: TBA
Date: Thursday September 22, 1994
Press Contact: Jon Murchinson
Phone: 622-2960
Agency Officer: EPA Administrator Carol Browner
Event Description: The Administrator will visit a library
and meet with community and business
leaders and emergency planning
commissioners to discuss increasing
access to information about toxic
chemicals in communities.
Event Location: Library (TBA) in Kansas City, MO
Time: 11:30-12:30am
Press Contact: Melissa Bonney
Phone: (202) 260-9828
Agency Officer: ONDCP Director Lee Brown
Event Description: Director Brown and Federal Bureau of
Investigation officials will demonstrate
Drugfire, a ballistics tool, developed
with Office of National Drug Control
Policy and FBI funds. This tool,
available to state and local law
enforcement, will enable rapid sharing
of evidence crucial to solving drug-
related violent crime.
Event Location: Charlotte Police Department
Charlotte, NC
Time: Between 2pm and 4pm
Press Contact: Alexis Revis-Yeoman
Phone: (202) 395-6788
Agency Officer: SBA Administrator Erskine Bowles
Event Description: The Administrator will be at the Wharton
Small Business Development Center to
listen to the concerns of small
businesses and to discuss how the SBA
can serve them better. The Small
Business Development Centers are the
Small Business Administration's
nationwide effort to team up with the
private sector to provide technical and
management assistance to small
businesses, expanding what government
can do to help small business owners
become viable and competitive.
Event Location: The Small Business Development Center
The University of Pennsylvania, Wharton
School
Vance Hall, 4th Floor
3733 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA
Time: 1:30pm
Press Contact: Nicole Elkon
Phone: (202) 205-6740
Agency Officer: OPM Director Jim King
Event Description: Director King will unveil the Office of
Personnel Management's customer service
standards and discuss OPM's outreach
efforts to historically Hispanic
colleges and veterans groups. He will
also demonstrate OPM's new computer
technology for speeding the federal job
search.
Event Location: OPM San Antonio Service Center
8610 Broadway, Room 305
San Antonio, TX
Time: 10:00am, CST
Press Contact: Rosalie Cameron
Phone: (202) 606-1800
Agency Officer: FEMA Director James Lee Witt Event Description: The Director will hold a press
conference to release the results of a
customer satisfaction survey in which
5,000 disaster victims were surveyed on
a wide range of customer services
before, during and after disasters, from
Hurricane Andrew in 1992 through the
Northridge, CA earthquake of 1994. The
findings were very positive.
Event Location: Federal Emergency Management
Administration HQ
500 C St, SW
Washington DC
Time: 10:30am
Press Contact: Morrie Goodman
Phone: (202) 646 4600
Agency Officer: GSA Administrator Roger Johnson
Event Description: The General Services Administration
Administrator will speak to a group of
corporate executives in California,
focussing on GSA's customer service
standards and government streamlining
efforts overall.
Event Location: La Meridien Hotel
4500 McArthur Blvd.
Newport Beach, CA
Time: 6:00pm
Press Contact: Hap Connors
Phone: (202) 501-1231
Agency Officer: SSC Commissioner Shirley Chater
Event Description: The Social Security Commission
Commissioner will greet customers and
take applications for social security
card numbers.
Event Location: Social Security Administration Office
2100 M Street, NW
Time: 10:00-11:00am
Press Contact: Phil Gambino
Phone: (410) 965-8904
Cabinet Officer: Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy, Christine Ervin Event Description: The Assistant Secretary will highlight
the Department's home weatherization
program by accompanying a team to a
customer's home to demonstrate ways to
weatherize, conserve energy and reduce
energy bills.
Event Location: Prince George's County, MD
Time: TBA
Press Contact: Anne Elliott
Phone: (202) 586-1607
Cabinet Officer: Education Deputy Secretary Madeleine
Kunin
Event Description: The Deputy Secretary will tour the
financial aid office, meet with staff
and students to discuss improvements in
student loan operations and help
distribute student aid checks.
Event Location: Old Dominion University, Financial Aid
Office
Hampton Blvd and 49th St.
Norfolk, VA
Time: 10:15am
Press Contact: Kerri Morgan
Phone: (202) 401-3026
Cabinet Officer: Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary
Hershel Gober
Event Description: The Deputy Secretary will join
volunteers in offering various services
to patients at the medical center,
including staffing a "hobby cart" and
serving coffee in the Ambulatory Care
area.
Event Location: Baltimore VA Medical Center
Time: 8:30am - 12:00 noon
Press Contact: Ozzie Garza
Phone: (202) 273-5740
Agency Officer: OPM Deputy Director Lorraine Green
Event Description: The Deputy Director will introduce OPM's
customer service standards, focus on
OPM's outreach efforts to historically
Black colleges and veterans groups, and
demonstrate OPM's new computer
technology that helps speed the federal
job search.
Event Location: OPM's Huntsville, AL Service Center
520 Wynn Drive, NW
Huntsville, AL
Time: 10:00am CST
Press Contact: Rosalie Cameron
Phone: (202) 606-1800
Agency Officer: GSA Deputy Administrator Julia Stasch
Event Description: The Deputy Administrator will introduce
GSA's customer service plan by filling
up a GSA Fleet Vehicle with natural gas,
checking the oil and performing other
types of vehicle maintenance in
accordance with the benchmarks in the
GSA customer service plan.
Event Location: Amoco Gas Station
823 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington DC
Time: 11:00am
Press Contact: Hap Connors
Phone: (202) 501-1231
Cabinet Officer: State Department Assistant Secretary
Dick Moose
Event Description: The Assistant Secretary will officially
open the new Washington Passport Agency
and distribute passports to new
customers.
Event Location: The Washington Passport Agency
1111 19th Street, NW
Washington D.C.
Time: 12:00 noon
Press Contact: Nyda Budig
Phone: (202) 647-2979
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