Quang Tri sees strong progress in administrative reform

Vice Head of Quang Tri People’s Committee Office Le Huu Phuoc told the Quang Tri Newspaper about the province’s progress in pushing for administrative reform.

July 2024 marks the 5th anniversary since the Provincial Administrative Service Center of Quang Tri Province commenced operations. On this occasion, could you please highlight the significant achievements that the center has accomplished in serving public administration and fostering positive changes in administrative procedure reform within the province?

Over the past 5 years, the prominent achievement of the center has been the application of information technology in receiving and delivering results of administrative procedures throughout the province. The administrative procedure resolution system has been widely implemented across various units and localities. Both officials and leaders participate in resolving administrative procedures using the technology system, ensuring compliance with deadlines, reducing paperwork and unnecessary processes, and enhancing the efficiency of state administration.

Citizens and businesses, through the Provincial Public Service Portal, can monitor the progress of their submitted files and provide feedback on the delays of state agencies.

Since the application of technology systems in receiving and resolving administrative procedures, the rate of on-time resolution of administrative procedures province-wide has consistently exceeded 99% (99.2% in 2019 and 99.37% in 2023); the rate of overdue files has been well controlled and significantly reduced (0.8% in 2019 and 0.63% in 2023).

While the IT applications on the Administrative Procedure Resolution System and Public Service Portal may not be perfect, they have contributed to transparency in the submission, resolution, and result delivery process within state agencies and transparency between state agencies and citizens, and businesses.

The remaining important issue depends on the user’s proficiency with technology. Proficient use of technology systems by leaders and officials facilitates faster and more efficient management and task processing anytime, anywhere. Conversely, those who are not proficient and rely heavily on paper-based administrative resolution will consume more time, inevitably affecting the efficiency of administrative procedure resolution.

The next positive change is the more professional work attitude and more attentive service spirit of the team of officials in charge of receiving and delivering results at the Provincial Administrative Service Center. Since its establishment, the reception and results delivery team has consisted of 17 provincial-level specialized agencies, 2 social insurance agencies, and the provincial police, divided into 25 counters, with 25 officials assigned by the agencies and units to handle administrative procedure resolutions.

In August 2020, the Provincial Administrative Service Center, in collaboration with provincial-level specialized agencies, proposed to the Provincial People’s Committee a plan to consolidate the remaining 19 counters. This counter-consolidation initiative has reduced the number of officials from departments and sectors working at the center, allowing them to have more officials to work in their specialized agencies and units while still ensuring the quality of receiving and delivering results of administrative procedures as required.

Citizens at the Provincial Administrative Service Center. Photo: D.T

From 2019 to the present, 232 shifts of officials from provincial-level departments and agencies have taken turns to work directly at the reception and results delivery department at the center. Officials working at the center are equipped with full machinery, equipment, computers, scanners, telephones, and photocopiers to ensure the most convenient implementation of their tasks.

Furthermore, the center has built a professional working environment, taking the attitude of serving citizens and businesses as a standard and using the efficiency of receiving and delivering results of administrative procedures on the Resolution System to measure quality. The behavior and attitude of officials at the reception department at the center have positively changed.

Nowadays, citizens and businesses feel comfortable and confident when entering the premises of the Provincial Administrative Service Center, being warmly welcomed and guided by knowledgeable officers. The interaction between citizens, businesses, and officers at the reception and results delivery department at the center is friendlier, more democratic, and more service-oriented.

In addition, officials have adjusted their behaviors in their work environment as it is an open space under the observation of many citizens doing administrative procedures, the pressure of comparison with officials from other agencies working around, and the supervision of center officials. In general, officials in charge of reception and results delivery at the Provincial Administrative Service Center are changing themselves according to the true meaning of serving citizens and businesses.

The Provincial Administrative Service Center was not directly responsible for resolving administrative procedures but contributed as a catalyst, bringing about positive changes for specialized departments of various units and localities. In essence, the resolution of administrative procedures is fast and timely, largely depending on the specialized agencies of units and localities.

In the past 5 years, from July 2019 to May 2024, 75,288 procedures of 3,072 administrative procedures have been digitally transformed on the administrative procedure resolution system. This digital transformation has clarified the responsibilities of each specialized official and management level. Consequently, the authorities can timely direct and rectify units and localities with many overdue files.

The next positive result of the Provincial Administrative Service Center is the creation of truthful data, providing a basis for evaluating the province’s administrative reform. There is no longer reporting based on intuition or interpretation without evidence.

The administrative procedure resolution system of the center faithfully records measurement data such as the rate of overdue files, the rate of online file generation, the rate of fully online public services, feedback from citizens, the number of apologies for overdue files, responsibilities of related units for overdue files (including the responsibility of interconnected units), etc.

An example of recorded online public service data is as follows: in 2019, when the Provincial Administrative Service Center was established, the total number of level 3 and level 4 online public services on the provincial online public service portal was 390 services out of 1,725 administrative procedures (achieving 22.61%) with no integrated national online public services.

After 5 years, qualified administrative procedures have been provided online at the local level: 1,721 procedures (including 748 partially online public services and 973 fully online public services). The rate of providing online public services reached 83.95%.

To support leaders, heads of units, and localities in directing administrative reform work within their agencies and units, the center regularly provides evaluation reports and administrative procedure resolution data of each unit and locality monthly, quarterly, and annually. With accurate and transparent data like this, if the heads of units and localities fulfill their leadership roles, significant changes will be made to the province’s administrative reform efforts.

In summary, the one-stop service model in general, and the Provincial Administrative Service Center in particular, have contributed to innovation and enhanced the operational capacity of state administrative agencies, improving the capacity and responsibility of officials and civil servants by clearly defining the responsibilities of leaders of all levels and each official and civil servant, thereby enhancing the capacity and responsibility of officials and civil servants; administrative professional skills, as well as the spirit and attitude of serving the people, have been improved.

The relationship between state administrative agencies in resolving administrative procedures for the people has become increasingly closer. The reception, processing, and delivery of results at the reception and results delivery department have prevented inconvenience to citizens and businesses. On the other hand, it helps departments and offices focus and proactively resolve tasks under their specialized jurisdiction.

The one-stop service activities contribute to establishing the people’s trust in state agencies. The innovation of state administrative activities and the friendly service attitude of officials and civil servants have brought satisfaction to the people when resolving their tasks.

The transparency of all administrative procedures, resolution times, and fees has reduced bureaucracy and corruption. At the same time, it ensures that every citizen can participate in monitoring and managing state administration.

In the near future, how will the Provincial Administrative Service Center implement solutions to operate even more effectively, contributing step by step to the innovation and reform of administrative procedures in the province?

In the upcoming period, the first important task is to upgrade the administrative procedure handling system because the current system has become overloaded after 5 years of operation. An essential aspect of the upcoming upgrade is the application of personal and organizational data repositories. The results of administrative procedure handling stored digitally in the personal and organizational data repository on the Administrative Procedure Handling System will be reused.

As a result, citizens and businesses will no longer need to bring physical documents when dealing with administrative procedures and can use electronic copies to conduct online public services. This application will contribute to enhancing the efficiency of service provision and administrative procedure handling for citizens and businesses.

Secondly, the center needs to reorganize the Provincial Administrative Service Center. The Provincial People’s Committee has agreed to allow the center to innovate its organization and allocate new premises to ensure more convenient and efficient service provision for citizens.

The Provincial Administrative Service Center will be developed to include additional functions for controlling administrative procedures across the entire province, directly advising the Provincial People’s Committee on administrative procedure reforms. Additionally, the center is currently advising the Provincial People’s Committee to propose to the Ministry of Home Affairs to standardize the entire administrative service center workforce nationwide, with the staff of the administrative procedure receiving and result-delivering department belonging to the management structure of the center.

With the staff of the receiving and result-delivering department belonging to the center instead of the current departmental structure, and with enhanced authority, the center believes it will further leverage its strengths in the evaluation, advisory, and implementation of administrative procedure innovations across the province.

Thirdly, the center will focus more on supporting citizens and businesses both directly and online. In the upcoming period, the center will propose the allocation of additional staff proficient in law and professional procedures to guide citizens and businesses in reviewing their documents before dealing with the staff of the receiving and result-delivering departments.

Center staff will also directly guide citizens on using the center’s computers to electronically submit documents so that citizens understand how to do it and can handle procedures online in the future.

Moreover, the center will enhance dialogue and address the concerns of citizens and businesses through hotlines, the center’s fan page on Facebook, and Zalo to raise awareness among citizens about administrative procedure handling. Feedback from citizens about government agencies in handling administrative procedures will be publicly displayed on the system, providing a basis for units and localities to propose changes.

Fourthly, the center will enhance data analysis capabilities for administrative procedure handling. Analyzed data will serve as clear evidence of the true nature of administrative procedure handling by agencies and units and will be the basis for advising the Provincial People’s Committee on improving the PAPI, PAR Index, and PCI of the province. Data-based advisory work will be conducted regularly and vigorously to help heads of units and localities participate in resolving “bottlenecks” and difficulties and continually improve the province’s administrative procedure handling efficiency.

To effectively implement these solutions, the active participation of each staff member of the Provincial Administrative Service Center, the involvement of agencies, units, citizens, and businesses, and especially the close, direct guidance and involvement of leaders at all levels, heads, and heads of units and localities throughout the province are required.

Thank you for your time!

Dao Thanh Tam - Ngoc Mai