This award recognizes federal government agencies that have improved customer service by:

• establishing and meeting performance metrics
• ensuring the accuracy of information delivered to citizens
• increasing awareness of programs and services
• attracting, training, and retaining quality staff

Nominations were accepted until February 15, 2008. Finalists were announced in March, and the winners were "crowned" at the Interagency Resources Management Conference (IRMCO) in Cambridge, MD, April 13-16. In addition to a trophy, the winners and finalists received one free admission to the conference, recognition on the USAServices.gov website, and recognition in the press release announcing the award-winning programs.

2008 Winners
First Place Participant Assistance Program, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor for efforts to help participants in employer-sponsored retirement and health plans extend their health coverage and obtain retirement benefits that were wrongly denied. As the program s volume of electronic inquiries has risen, EBSA has increased the amount of benefits recovered for citizens $96 million in 2007 alone while EBSA s staff size has remained the same. EBSA uses public service announcements, press releases, radio appearances and appearances at plant closings to reach their audience, and continually educates congressional staff about their program.

Second Place Recruitment OneStop: USAJOBS, U.S. Office of Personnel Management for consolidating separate online federal government job application programs, resulting in cost savings to the government and time savings to citizens. USAJOBS has saved the government over $25 million each year since its inception and continues to add time-saving features for users, such as the ability to store military records in users USAJOBS profiles. USAJOBS efforts have led to increased applicants for open positions and a higher quality federal workforce.

Third Place - Cancer Information Service, National Cancer Institute, U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the addition of English- and Spanish-language email and web chat functionality on www.cancer.gov. The Cancer Information Service also consolidated 14 contact centers into three, realizing cost savings, while continuing to maintain a customer satisfaction score of 86 out of 100. The Cancer Information Service engaged in creative outreach by producing a wallet card to help cancer patients reach their medical providers after Hurricane Katrina.

To read more about the award, visit the following page on the recently redesigned USA Services website:
http://www.usaservices.gov/aboutus/citizen_service_award.php

Feel free to contact me, or Karen Trebon ( 202-501-1802 karen.trebon@gsa.gov), with any questions.