Synchronous and Effective Administrative Reform to Enhance Competitiveness

With firm leadership on administrative reform, Quang Ngai province has achieved many positive results and gradually improved the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) and the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). Our reporter has an interview on this issue with Mr. Ta Cong Dung, Director of the Department of Home Affairs, Quang Ngai province.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dang Van Minh chairs the meeting of the Steering Committee for Administrative Reform and Competitiveness Improvement  

The resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress states “Accelerating administrative reform; raising the Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index), the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) and the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI)” is one of four key tasks in the 2020 - 2025 period. Could you please tell us about the efforts Quang Ngai has made and results it has achieved in administrative reform over the past time?

Administrative reform has been made a special concern of Quang Ngai province in the 2021 - 2025 period. This shows the highest political resolve of provincial leaders, agencies, localities and the whole political system, as well as the response and consensus of people, organizations and enterprises in the province.

Sticking to the resolution of the 20th Provincial Party Congress, Quang Ngai province has focused on reforming its direction and administration and issued related documents for carrying out administrative reform tasks as per the Government-initiated Public Administration Reform Master Program for the 2021 - 2030 period in all fields, including institutional reform, administrative procedure reform, organizational reform, civil service reform, public finance reform, e-government and digital government construction and development.

In particular, the quality and feasibility of legal documents promulgated by People’s Councils and People’s Committees at all levels have been increasingly raised. Administrative procedure reform and administrative procedure control have been made more open and transparent and streamlined. The administrative apparatus at all levels has been rearranged and consolidated. The sense of responsibility and service attitude of civil servants has been enhanced. The Provincial Administrative Procedures Service - Control Center and single-window divisions at local levels have been operated effectively to facilitate organizations and citizens to settle administrative procedures, especially dealing with investment, business, land and construction formalities, thus helping boost the business environment. In 2022, up to 97.6-99.8% of records at the center and single-window divisions were settled in time. Public satisfaction with the center was 99.9%.

In addition, Quang Ngai province directed and implemented many new initiatives and solutions to speed up administrative reform: Submitting to the Provincial People's Council a resolution on 50% reduction of fees and charges on 10 groups of administrative procedures applied to organizations and individuals carrying out online public services; assigning targets of online public service delivery to local agencies (30% for provincial departments and agencies, 20% for delta districts and 10% for mountainous districts); introducing solutions to mobilize individuals and organizations to make online payments through the National Public Service Portal; building software for online public services on mobile devices to expand the method of online application submission for organizations and individuals; and translating administrative procedures (116 procedures) into four languages (English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese) for foreign investors and foreigners to have timely access to information, guidelines and policies of central and provincial authorities.

With the above efforts, how have the PAR Index, PAPI and PCI of Quang Ngai province performed?

According to a review report by the Governmental Steering Board for Public Administration Reform, the PAR Index of Quang Ngai province scored 86.45 out of 100 points in 2021, rising 13.21% to rank 39th out of 63 provinces and cities in the country, 24 places higher than in 2020. PAPI gained 40.98 points, ranking 43rd, 17 places higher than in 2020. Quang Ngai was praised for rapid progress in public administration reform in 2021 by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the standing agency of the Governmental Steering Board for Public Administration Reform.

The ranking results show Quang Ngai's decisiveness in leading and directing administrative reform tasks and its efforts to improve the business environment, enhance competitiveness and support and develop business development.

Particularly, the province’s PCI scored 62.97 points to secure the 45th position on the ranking of 63 provinces and cities, down 0.23 points and down nine places as compared to 2020. However, three out of 10 component subindices performed better than in 2021. In order to overcome limitations and promote its good results to boost its PCI performance, Quang Ngai province actively analyzed and identified problems arising from the execution of its tasks as well as causes of PCI reduction and proposed solutions to address them, with focus placed on improving component indices and indicators for higher overall rankings in the coming time.

In the coming time, what key solutions will the Department of Home Affairs deploy to further work with relevant agencies to effectively carry out the Public Administration Reform Plan and raise PAR Index, PAPI and PCI in 2021-2025?

In the coming time, the Department of Home Affairs will work with relevant agencies to advise the Provincial People's Committee to focus on directing the synchronous implementation of key tasks and solutions like effectively carrying out Decision 1256/QD-UBND dated December 22, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee on the PAR Plan; improving PAR, PAPI and PCI indices in 2021 - 2025; and completing all PAR tasks according to the Annual PAR Plan.

In addition, the department will speed up administrative reform and modernize the method of directing and administering service to people and businesses to create breakthroughs in administrative reform as per Resolution 131/NQ-CP dated October 6, 2022 of the Government and focus on effectively execute the Project on Single-window Mechanism Reform to better settle administrative procedures. The agency will continue to reorganize the organizational apparatus of administrative agencies and public non-business agencies in the province; step up civil service reforms and strengthen administrative disciplines; effectively apply the financial autonomy mechanism in public non-business units; streamline staffing and upgrade qualifications of public employees to meet requirements in the new period.

At the same time, the department will launch digitization, increase the delivery of online public services, especially full-fledged online public services; regularly assess performance based on public and business satisfaction; intensify inspection, examination, supervision, monitoring and evaluation of administrative reform, administrative discipline and administrative procedure settlement at district-level and commune-level single-window divisions, especially administrative procedures on land for organizations and citizens; and promote supervisory roles of the Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels and all classes of people in administrative reform.

Thank you so much!

By Nguyen Bach, Vietnam Business Forum