SOP Library

SOP NO: GM-AO-2K2-10-002

Mission: General Memorandum Order

Area: Industry Regulation (IND-REG)

Activity: Memorandum (IR-MEMO)

Title: Interim Guidelines on the operation of NFA Customer Assistance Units in the Central Office
and NFA-NCR District Offices

Date Approved/Issued: 10/24/2002

Date Effective: 10/24/2002

Digest:

In 1999, the NFA created CAUs nationwide to attend to inquiries, requests and
complaints of customers relative to the products and services carried by NFA,
particularly on matters such as product quality, pricing, weight, packaging and
the like. In the past, the operation of CAU is activated when necessary to
receive and act on complaints and inquiries about rice prices and supply
throughout the country. However, the seasonal activation of the CAUs and the
monitoring and reporting of its activities on a weekly basis reduced its
effectiveness .

In the light of some complaints about irregularities in the implementation of some

NFA’s program, particularly in Metro Manila, the objective of CAU needs to be
vigorously pursued to genuinely serve NFA’s stakeholders.
 To quickly respond to the needs of the public, particularly the NFA customers,
and immediately address their problems concerning the NFA.

These guidelines shall be implemented only by the Central Office and the District
Offices of the NFA-NCR until an SOP has been issued to implement herein
provisions nationwide. The various CAU established in the Field Offices shall
continue to implement the CAU projects in their areas following the Guidelines
on the Creation and Operation of NFA Customer Assistance Units ( No. BR-
PR05 issued on December 4, 1999 and effective on December 15, 1999.)

1. Statement of Policies

1.1 Creation of Customer Assistance Units

a. A Customer Assistance Unit (CAU) shall be established in the lobby of

the NFA Central Office, in the Business Regulations Department
(BRD) office, and in every district office of the NFA-NCR. The CAU
shall attend to inquiries, requests and needs of customers relative to
the products and services carried by the NFA .

b. The CAUs shall be conspicuously located in the above-mentioned

offices for easy access to the public.

c. The CAU shall be equipped with updated information on the grains

and food industry i.e., prices of rice and other commodities carried by
the NFA, deployment schedule of NFA rolling stores, etc. It shall
also be provided with handouts such as primers on NFA services and
programs for ready distribution to the visiting customers.

d. The Business Regulations Department (BRD) shall be the lead

department for this project. BRD shall monitor the establishment of
the CAUs and their performance. BRD shall also submit prepare
regular reports to the Administrator snd the Deputy Administrator for
Finance and Administrator regarding the performance of the CAUs.
1.2 Operation of the CAU

a. The CAU in the District Office shall be headed by the District

Registration and Licensing Officer (DRLO). The DRLO shall be
assisted by other NFA personnel who are knowledgeable and properly
trained to handle inquiries and requests with expediency and utmost
courtesy.

The Regional RLO of the NFA-NCR shall monitor the operations of the
District CAUs and coordinate the sharing of information and facilities
among them for effective operation.

b. NFA customers may seek assistance from the CAU either by e-mail,
mail, telephone, text messaging or in person. The CAU may entertain
inquiries, complaints and requests outside of NFA concerns such as
prices of commodities which are covered by the Department of Trade
and Industry. Such inquiries shall be referred by the CAU to the
concerned government agencies for their appropriate action.

c. The CAU shall immediately provide assistance or reply to queries if it

is capable of doing so. If the nature of the complaint needs further
action, the CAU shall refer the case to the concerned office within 24
hours upon its receipt. In this case the CAU shall advise the client to
call the CAU for result within two days. However, the CAU shall advise
the client immediately once an assistance/reply or an action has been
obtained/performed,.

d. All requests, inquiries and complaints received by the CAU shall be

documented using a prescribed form (Exhibit 1). Visiting customers
shall be required to accomplish the form indicating their names,
address and other personal data including the nature of assistance
sought from NFA (complaint, inquiry, etc.) and the action(s) taken on
said inquiry/complaint. For inquiries/requests received by telephone,
the CAU staff who received the call shall fill- out the form.

d.1 The Complaint/Request/Inquiry Form shall be assigned a

sequence number to be provided by the CAU unit upon its
accomplishment. The assignment of the sequence number shall
be in the following manner:

CAU-xxxx-nnnnn

where xxxx is the CAU unit eg. COL for CAU Central Office
Lobby; and nnnnn is the number order of the
complaint/request/inquiry received
 eg.

CAU-CDO-00005 will be the 5th complaint/request/inquiry of

the NCR Central District Office.

d.2 The following CAU shall carry the following codes:

BRD - CAU at Business and Regulations Department

COL - CAU at the Central Office Lobby
CDO - CAU at the Central District Office
EDO - CAU at the East District Office
NDO - CAU at the North District Office
SDO - CAU at the South District Office

e. All requests, inquiries and complaints received by the CAU shall be

recorded on the Status Report (Exhibit 2) maintained and updated
daily by the CAU, indicating therein the status of action/s taken. The
status report shall reflect all requests, inquiries and complaints
received for the day and all those which are “in process”, unserved or
not acted upon. A copy of the day’s status report shall be attached to
the Daily Accomplishment Report (Exhibit 3) of the CAU which shall
be submitted to the BRD on or before 5:00 PM. The cutoff time of
4:00 PM shall be observed in reproducing a copy (of the Status
Report) for attachment to the daily Accomplish Report.

f. The CAU shall regularly follow-up actions taken on customer

inquiries, requests and complaints referred to various NFA offices and
other government agencies to ensure that the assistance the
customers required are served.

2. Procedures and Responsibilities

2.1 Establishment of Customer Assistance Units

BRD

a. Establishes CAU at the Central Office and assigns therein NFA

personnel who are knowledgeable and properly trained to handle
inquiries and requests with expediency and utmost courtesy.

b. Coordinates with concerned departments (e.g. DMO, EXD, DPA, TRDD,

etc.) regarding information on NFA projects/programs, services, and
policies which are of significance to different NFA
stakeholders/customers.
 c. Prepares training/reading materials containing information provided by
the concerned departments to be used in training the CAU staff (i. e.
handouts, etc.) and for distribution to customers (i.e. primers, etc.).

d. Conducts training/briefing of NFA personnel to be assigned at the CAU.

Ensures that courses on courtesy and customer relations are included.

DPA

Publish information regarding the creation and operation of the CAU to

the public .

NCR Regional/District Offices

a. Establishes CAU. Assigns personnel to the CAU who are

knowledgeable and properly trained to handle inquiries and requests
with expediency and utmost courtesy. Designates the District
Registration and Licensing Officer as head of the CAU.

b. Coordinates with concerned sections/units (e.g. Marketing Operations,

Accounting, etc. ) regarding information on NFA projects/programs,
services, and policies which are of significance to different NFA
stakeholders/customers.

c. Prepares training/reading materials containing information provided by

the concerned departments to be used in training the CAU staff (i. e.
handouts, etc.) and for distribution to customers (i.e. primers, etc.).

d. Conducts training/briefing of NFA personnel to be assigned at the CAU.

Ensures that courses on courtesy and customer relations are included.

e. Disseminates information to the public regarding the creation of the

CAU including the address, telephone numbers and contact person(s).

f. Informs immediately the BRD, by wire, once a CAU becomes

operational.

2.2 Operation of the Customer Assistance Unit

CAU Staff

a. Asks customer to accomplish/fill out Requests/Complaints Form. If

request/complaint received is through telephone, e-mail, text, etc.
accomplish form by asking customer the necessary data.
 b. Takes immediate action on customer’s requests/complaints. If
immediate response is not possible, informs customer accordingly and
set the date on which customer may expect the needed response.

c. Refers requests/complaints to concerned C.O. departments/P.O.

section/other government agencies when necessary. Follows-up action
taken on customer inquiries/complaints/requests referred to ensure that
they were promptly acted upon.

Concerned CO Department / D.O. Section/Other Government Agencies

Renders feedback to CAU, within 24 hours, actions taken on customer

requests/complaints referred to them.

NFA-NCR District Offices

Submits daily to the Regional Office and BRD on or before 5:00 PM a

report on the day’s CAU’s accomplishment, based on the daily status
report, indicating among others the number of inquiries, nature of
inquiries and type of customers (i.e., farmer, consumer, retailer)
attended to (Exh. 3).

BRD

Monitors overall performance of the CAUs at the different stations.

Based on the report submitted by the CAU-BRD, CAU-CO Lobby and
the CAUs of the District Offices, prepares a consolidated daily report
(Exh. 4) on the accomplishment of the CAUs including significant
observations and feedback. The consolidated daily report shall be
submitted to the Administrator and the Deputy Administrator for Finance
and Administration on or before 10:00 AM of the following day.

These guidelines on operation of the Customer Assistance Unit shall take effect this
24th day of October, 2002.