Bureau of Consular Affairs, Department of State
Note: Unlike other profiles, which were compiled with agency participation, staff from the Bureau of Consular Affairs was unable to participate in research interviews or review the Passports profile this year. Data and insights are based on publicly available information on the agency’s website and in news reports about passport services.
Passports are vital documents that enable people to travel around the world, and the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the State Department issues millions of them every year. A total of 143.1 million valid U.S. passports were in circulation in fiscal year 2020.
The coronavirus pandemic significantly impacted the bureau’s ability to provide passport services in 2020 and 2021. Because of the printing equipment and other technology used to process and issue passports, bureau staff were unable to work from home, and at the beginning of the pandemic passport services were limited to only those who had to travel for emergencies. The bureau brought staff back into offices and resumed regular passport processing beginning in summer 2020. But by spring 2021, increased interest in travel, combined with lingering pandemic workplace restrictions at the bureau, resulted in a significant backlog of passport applications. As of July 2021, the bureau was estimating an average processing time of 18 weeks for regular passports, and 12 weeks for expedited service, up from 6 to 8 weeks in fiscal year 2019.
Service Overview
Primary customers
Citizens applying for or holding U.S. passports.
Key services provided to customers
- Information on and assistance with applying for, renewing and canceling passports.
- Processing of passport applications, renewals and cancellations, and issuance of passports.
- 11.7 million passports issued in fiscal year 2020. (20.7 million in fiscal year 2019).
- Expedited passports for emergency travel.
Service Snapshot
- 1.5 million passport applications received in fiscal year 2020.
- 143.1 million valid U.S. passports in circulation in fiscal year 2020.
Data Highlights
average processing time in weeks for passports as of July 2021. (up from estimates of 6-8 weeks in fiscal year 2019)
passports issued in fiscal year 2020. (20.7 million in fiscal year 2019)
Customer Experience Insights
Improvement from last year
Room for improvement
As of July 2021, the State Department was taking up to 18 weeks to process and mail routine passport applications, and up to 12 weeks to process and mail expedited applications as the agency worked to address a backlog of as many as two million applications.1
At the beginning of the pandemic, the agency limited passport services to those who needed to travel for an emergency, as most of the staff responsible for processing passports was sent home for safety. Staff members are unable to telework because passport processing requires use of IT systems that can only be accessed within the State Department’s facilities. In the fall of 2020, the agency prioritized bringing Passports staff back to the office safely, and passport processing times returned to pre-pandemic lengths by December 2020.2
However, in early 2021, as vaccinations increased and more people began planning international travel, applications surged, and the agency once again struggled to keep pace.3 The agency continues to bring more staff back into the office and is working to hire additional staff and contractors to increase passport processing capacity, but it will take time for these new staff to be trained. In the meantime, the State Department is cautioning travelers that they should plan to apply for or renew their passport at least 6 months ahead of any planned travel, as the backlog is expected to continue for some time.4
Customers cannot apply for or renew a passport online due to constraints with the department’s information technology systems. The bureau’s plans to enable customers to apply for or renew passports online have been delayed, with little progress made in recent years, according to the agency’s Office of the Inspector General.5
Staff at both the contact centers and local passport offices receive extensive training to resolve customer issues, and the organization celebrates examples of excellent service through awards and newsletters. The bureau also ensures staff members across the organization have consistent information when interacting with customers, so that people get the same guidance no matter how they contact the bureau.
Passport services application process survey results6 (fiscal year 2019, all scores out of 100 points)
- How professional was the staff where you applied for your passport? 90
- How knowledgeable was the staff where you applied for your passport? 91
- How do these numbers compare? 68.1 on scale of 0 to 100: the aggregated score across federal services measured in the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2019.
Leading Customer Experience Practices
The Partnership and Accenture developed the following list of practices to understand how agencies prioritize the customer experience, and steps they can take to improve. The list is based on research about effective customer experience practices in both government and the private sector, and aligns with practices in a customer experience maturity self-assessment for agencies developed by the Office of Management and Budget.
Footnotes
- Federal News Network, “State Dept. Promises ‘Surge’ Staffing to Confront Unprecedented Passport Backlog and Wait Times,” July 14, 2021. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3AU3auu.
- Federal News Network, “State Dept. IT modernization delays leave passport services staff unable to telework,” September 7, 2021. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3jc34bP.
- Ibid.
- Briefing with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Passport Services, Rachel Arndt, Bureau of Consular Affairs on the State Department’s Passport Services. Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/briefing-with-deputy-assistant-secretary-for-passport-services-rachel-arndt-bureau-of-consular-affairs-on-the-state-departments-passport-services/.
- Department of State Inspector General, “Inspection of the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Passport Services Directorate,” September 2021. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3vljdAC.
- Data is from a survey that was emailed to customers after they applied for or renewed a passport. Response rate: 6.1%; Survey scale: 1-10 points, unless noted otherwise. The responses for each question are used to calculate a score between 0-100.
Customer experience indicators methodology
The Partnership and Accenture developed the following list of practices to understand how agencies prioritize the customer experience, and steps they can take to improve. The list is based on research about effective customer experience practices in government and the private sector, and aligns with practices in a customer experience maturity self-assessment for agencies developed by the Office of Management and Budget.
Organizational Commitment
A strong commitment and plan from agency leaders to prioritize customer experience is essential for sustained progress.
The agency:
- Includes high-quality customer experience in its strategic goals.
- Criteria: a) customer experience with the agency’s services is listed in the strategic plan as one of the organization’s top priorities, or a supporting goal of one of the priorities b) the strategic plan provides specific actions the agency will take to improve customer experience
- Criteria: a) customer experience with the agency’s services is listed in the strategic plan as one of the organization’s top priorities, or a supporting goal of one of the priorities b) the strategic plan provides specific actions the agency will take to improve customer experience
- Specifies customer feedback as a key measure of the organization’s performance.
- Criteria: There is a performance measure included in the agency’s strategic plan, annual performance report or agency priority goals that is based on feedback directly from customers.
- Criteria: There is a performance measure included in the agency’s strategic plan, annual performance report or agency priority goals that is based on feedback directly from customers.
- Has a senior executive with the responsibility and authority to lead efforts to improve the customer experience across the organization.
- Criteria: Based on a review of the agency’s organizational chart and online descriptions of leadership positions, the agency has an executive who meets the following criteria: a) customer experience is that executive’s primary responsibility b) the executive reports to the head of the organization or a deputy c) the executive’s work spans all major service delivery channels (e.g., online services, contact centers, face-to-face services).
Ease of Customer Interactions
Interactions with the federal government should be easy, transparent and designed around user needs.
For the most common services provided, customers can:
- Complete common transactions using the service delivery channel of their choice.
- Criteria: Based on a review of the agency’s website, customers have multiple options to complete common transactions including going online, calling, using webchat and visiting field offices or other physical locations.
- Criteria: Based on a review of the agency’s website, customers have multiple options to complete common transactions including going online, calling, using webchat and visiting field offices or other physical locations.
- Obtain status updates through online self-service.
- Criteria: customers can get real-time updates through an online self-service channel that provides estimated timelines.
- Criteria: customers can get real-time updates through an online self-service channel that provides estimated timelines.
- Receive a response to feedback or answers to questions over social media.
- Criteria: Does the agency respond to questions through the direct message feature on Facebook and Twitter, or in the comment section of posts? To assess this, we examined social media posts on the service’s primary account across a three-month period. “No” indicates the agency never or rarely responds to comments; “partially” indicates the agency responds sometimes, but not consistently; and “yes” indicates the agency responds to comments on a frequent and consistent basis.
- Criteria: Does the agency respond to questions through the direct message feature on Facebook and Twitter, or in the comment section of posts? To assess this, we examined social media posts on the service’s primary account across a three-month period. “No” indicates the agency never or rarely responds to comments; “partially” indicates the agency responds sometimes, but not consistently; and “yes” indicates the agency responds to comments on a frequent and consistent basis.
- Access online information and support in languages other than English.
- Criteria: “No” indicates content is available only in English and translation features are not available on the website; “partially” indicates that some content or services are available in English and Spanish; “yes” indicates that content or services are available in English and Spanish and additional languages.
Listening to Customers and Acting on Feedback
To understand and prioritize customer needs, agencies should collect, publish, analyze and act on feedback.
The agency:
- Collects meaningful customer experience data across interactions and service delivery channels and shares it with the public.
- Criteria: In alignment with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance on customer experience measurement, the agency shares customer feedback with the public and that: a) represents multiple service delivery channels b) provides details into different aspects of the experience (i.e., beyond overall customer satisfaction)
- Criteria: In alignment with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance on customer experience measurement, the agency shares customer feedback with the public and that: a) represents multiple service delivery channels b) provides details into different aspects of the experience (i.e., beyond overall customer satisfaction)
- Collects and analyzes first-hand customer feedback to understand customers’ experiences, based on their own words.
- Criteria: In alignment with Office of Management and Budget’s guidance on customer experience measurement, in customer or user research such as interviews, focus groups, surveys and other feedback mechanisms, customers can describe their experiences in their own words, and the agency has automated analytic capabilities to identify and act on insights that emerge from customer feedback data.
- Criteria: In alignment with Office of Management and Budget’s guidance on customer experience measurement, in customer or user research such as interviews, focus groups, surveys and other feedback mechanisms, customers can describe their experiences in their own words, and the agency has automated analytic capabilities to identify and act on insights that emerge from customer feedback data.
- Aggregates and analyzes customer feedback across channels and programs, and shares feedback with relevant staff members so they can act on it.
- Criteria: Agency has an automated system to collect feedback across multiple channels and programs into a centralized location, analyze it for insights, and share those insights with relevant agency business owners or other appropriate colleagues responsible for taking action. The agency also tracks the impact of actions taken in response to customer feedback.
This customer experience profile was produced in collaboration with Accenture Federal Services.
