	Customer Service Award Rules and Procedures

1. Purpose. This document establishes criteria and procedures for implementation the Department of the Interior's Customer Service Excellence Award within the Office of Surface Mining.

2. Authority. The U.S. Department of the Interior has established a two-tiered Customer Service Award that provides recognition to organizations, teams, individuals, and contractors who are providing exceptional service to our customers, partners, and stakeholders.

3. Award Criteria. The Office of Surface Mining Customer Service Award is a non-monetary award. This award recognizes organizations, teams, individuals, and contractors that are providing outstanding service to our customers, both internal and external. The Customer Service Award is intended to be informal and provide instant recognition of customer-oriented interactions and activities. Nominations should focus on outstanding customer service activities or increased customer satisfaction results.

Of the two tiers, Level 1awards are bureau level and Level 2 awards are at the Secretary's level. This document covers criteria and procedures for the bureau-level award.

Those nominated and meriting an award will receive a certificate of appreciation signed by the Director and an appropriate non-monetary memento. To be nominated, an individual, team, or organization must demonstrate special initiative and/or innovation in one or more of the following areas:

A. Improving the quality or delivery of an Office of Surface Mining products or service;

B. Responding to customer inquiries in a timely and courteous manner;

C. Solving customer service problems or concerns quickly and effectively;

D. Developing new ways of doing business that benefit Office of Surface Mining customers, partners, and/or stakeholders;

E. Providing outstanding service to Office of Surface Mining customers, partners, and/or stakeholders (Explain specifically how this is accomplished)

4. Procedures. A. Nomination procedures are posted on the Office of Surface Mining Internet and Intranet web sites for easy access to the awards information.

B. All nominations must be submitted using the electronic award nomination form (used by citizens and all others not associated with the Office of Surface Mining,) or the downloaded printed form (used by all Office employees or contractor employees).

C. The accomplishment to be recognized should have been achieved within three months of the nomination.

D. The nominee's supervisor reviews the justification and approves the award. Note: For contractors the Federal employee who supervises the employee should sign the nomination form.

E. Personnel or the Office of Surface Mining Customer Forum member as necessary may request additional written justification for an award nomination.

F. The nominee's supervisor forwards a copy of the nomination form to the Office of Surface Mining Customer Service Forum member and the Personnel Office Awards Coordinator.

Customer Service Forum Member

Office of Strategic Planning, Budget
and Evaluation - Room 244-SIB
1951 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20240

Awards Coordinator

Personnel Office - Room 334-SIB
1951 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20240

G. The Awards Coordinator will prepare the certificate and forward it to the Director's Office for signature.

H. In August of each year, a committee consisting of representatives from the Director's office, each region, Personnel, and the Office of Surface Mining Customer Service Forum member will meet to review the year's award recipients and select a Bureau level winner for recognition by the Secretary. This effort will be coordinated by the Office of Surface Mining Customer Service Forum member.

I. The Office of Surface Mining winner will be submitted for the Secretary's Customer Service Excellence Award each year.

5. Recognition: A. Level 1 - Award recipient will receive a certificate of appreciation signed by the Director and an appropriate non-monetary memento.

B. Level 2 - The Departmental recipients (one per bureau) will be recognized by the Secretary at the Departmental Convocation.

This page is..

Jim Bush, Pagemaster
Office of Surface Mining
1951 Constitution Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
202-208-2719
getinfo@osmre.gov