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April 28, 2010Federal Student Aid Information Center Receives Third Annual Citizen Services AwardFSAIC chosen for having adopted and implemented systems and practices that translates into better communication and better services for the American taxpayer. ARLINGTON, VA, April 28, 2010 - Vangent, Inc., a leading global provider of information management and strategic business process solutions, announced that the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC), of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid, which it operates, was chosen as one of three winners of the Third Annual Citizen Service Award. FSAIC was recognized for improving the online Free Application of Federal Student Aid. Improvements included site navigation simplification, shortening the application, and improving the process to deliver income and tax data directly from the IRS. Sponsored by the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Citizen Services, this award program is designed to recognize government offices that have superior programs in citizen engagement and promote and encourage improvements in customer service. The program is open to federal, state and local government agencies. The winners were recognized at the Interagency Resources Management Conference (IRMCO, www.irmco.gov) in Cambridge, MD, April 11-14. FSAIC’s customers include students, parents, guardians, and financial aid administrators; each with their own communication preferences. Craig Janus, Senior Vice President of the Civilian, Defense and National Security division at Vangent, said, “They are mobile, technically savvy end users who readily adapt to new communication channels. Their preferred channel may shift given their particular needs, time of day, location and their point-in-process. Whether it is via the internet or over the phone, e-mail, snail mail or web chat, it’s all about customer choice and satisfaction.” In 2009, Vangent dramatically expanded Web Chat services enabling Federal Student Aid to reach many more customers. It is accessible via a wide range of operating systems and browsers, providing customers a greater range of choice of channel and enabling even higher numbers of people to apply for aid on the web and to get immediate, real-time help with their application experience. Live Help is a preferred channel for high school and college age students who have lived their whole lives in the internet age. The increase in this channel has supported the continued increase in successful submission of online applications, which in turn allowed Federal Student Aid to print far fewer paper copies of the FAFSA. With more than 99 percent of applicants using FAFSA on the Web, printing costs for paper FAFSAs have been reduced dramatically. Janus added, “We also have seen an increase in customer satisfaction for our having increased our customers’ ability to chat with us.” Vangent has been working with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) for more than 25 years. In January 2010, Vangent launched a new simplified form that includes skip logic, text pop-ups and an IRS Data Match, a capability that automatically pre-populates, transfers and verifies applicant tax data with the IRS in real-time, further streamlining the amount of time and paperwork required by citizens filing the FAFSA. The FAFSA Web site received a score of 88, the highest in the U.S. Federal Government 2009 news and information site category. The ACSI is a uniform, national, cross-industry measure of satisfaction with the quality of goods and services available in the United States. In 1999, the Federal government selected the ACSI to be a standard metric for measuring citizen satisfaction. A copy of the rankings can be accessed here.
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