Over the years, administrative procedure reform has always been one of the key tasks in the reform program of the Vietnamese Government. In 2024, under the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, administrative procedure reform continues to be strongly implemented, with many important goals and targets. The goal of reform is not only to improve the efficiency of administrative agencies but also to reduce costs and risks for people and businesses, while creating a favorable investment and business environment.
In the direction and administration, ministries, agencies and localities have made efforts to implement reform goals with important directives, plans and resolutions. The Government has issued decrees on the implementation of electronic interconnection for groups of administrative procedures in the fields of justice, residence, health insurance and social protection. In addition, the Prime Minister also directed to accelerate the reduction and simplification of administrative procedures in legal documents, in order to reduce cumbersome and costly procedures for people and businesses. One of the highlights is the establishment of provincial-level Public Administration Service Centers, piloted in 5 provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Quang Ninh and Bac Ninh. This model helps people and businesses access public services conveniently without being limited by administrative boundaries.
With the reform of administrative procedure regulations, the control and assessment of administrative procedure regulations in draft legal documents have achieved positive results. Ministries, agencies and localities have conducted impact assessments on more than 1,700 administrative procedures and appraised nearly 2,000 administrative procedures. One of the notable results is that more than 350 new administrative procedures were issued, nearly 1,500 administrative procedures were amended and supplemented, and more than 500 administrative procedures were abolished. In addition to evaluating and reducing administrative procedures, the work of simplifying regulations on documents and records was also strongly implemented. The Government has approved a plan to simplify regulations on judicial records, as well as procedures related to citizen documents, in order to reduce time and costs for people.
Regarding the reform of the implementation of administrative procedures, to evaluate the effectiveness of administrative procedure reform, the Government has implemented quality assessment indicators in the implementation of administrative procedures and the provision of online public services. One of the important indicators is the rate of records resolved on time or early. Although this rate has reached about 62% in ministries and branches, in localities, this rate is up to 94.5%, showing the difference in the implementation of administrative procedures between the central and local levels. In addition, the implementation of online public services has also achieved positive results. The rate of online records of ministries and branches reached 59.57% and that of localities reached 56%, a strong growth compared to 2023. However, the rate of digitization of records and the results of handling administrative procedures have not yet reached the set target, reaching only 61.4% in ministries and branches and 67.46% in localities.
One of the bright features in the reform of administrative procedures in 2024 is the implementation of the one-stop, one-stop mechanism (MC, MCLT) in handling administrative procedures. To date, the country has established more than 11,900 one-stop shops at all levels, helping people and businesses more conveniently access and resolve administrative procedures. These on-stop shops are all equipped with information systems to resolve administrative procedures, and are capable of digitizing records and settlement results to ensure transparency and efficiency. The Government has also piloted the model of one-level Public Administration Service Centers in 5 major provinces and cities, initially achieving positive results in reducing procedures and increasing service efficiency.
In 2024, the work of receiving and handling feedback and recommendations from people and organizations also achieved encouraging results. The total number of feedback and recommendations that have been processed reached a fairly high rate, with more than 78% of feedback being resolved. However, there are still some cases of overdue responses, requiring improvements in ensuring the settlement time.
Despite many important achievements, administrative procedure reform still faces many challenges. One of the biggest problems is the synchronization of administrative procedure settlement processes nationwide. Although the rate of synchronization of records between ministries, branches and localities has improved, there is still a large gap between regions, especially at central ministries and branches. In addition, the digitization of records and results of administrative procedure settlement is still slow, not meeting the Government's goals. Ministries, branches and localities need to continue to make efforts to promote the application of information technology, to ensure the digitization and effective provision of online public services.
Some lessons learned from the evaluation of the implementation of administrative procedure reform, in order to do better in the coming time:
- There must be high political determination, great efforts, and drastic actions of leaders at ministries, agencies, and localities in implementing administrative procedures. Ensure resources for implementation while strengthening coordination, synchronization, and closeness throughout from the central to local levels, promoting the strength of the entire political system.
- It is necessary to take people and businesses as the center, take service quality and satisfaction as a measure of the performance of state administrative agencies at all levels; promote the human factor, ensure close connection between administrative procedure reform and national digital transformation.
- It is necessary to identify and focus on directing the removal of institutional bottlenecks, technology infrastructure, data digitization, public services, and ensure information safety and security for the National Public Service Portal, information systems for handling administrative procedures, and national and specialized databases.
- Strengthen innovation in direction, administration, and evaluation of the quality of service for people and businesses in implementing administrative procedures, and provide public services based on real-time data./.