Panorama of Nam Dinh city today. (Photo by Viet Du)

To improve the quality and effectiveness of administrative reform, Nam Dinh province has deployed administrative reform tasks under the direction of the Government and ministries and branches; implementing Resolution No. 04-NQ/TU dated June 18, 2021 of the Provincial Party Committee on promoting administrative reform, improving competitiveness, promoting and attracting investment in the period of 2021-2025. The Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have issued documents to direct and deploy administrative reform work, and regularly urged units to develop and implement annual and phased administrative reform plans. Units have reviewed, arranged, assigned leaders and civil servants to carry out administrative reform work. The work of evaluating and scoring the administrative reform index of departments, branches, branches and People's Committees of districts and cities has been completed and implemented urgently and seriously, ensuring objectivity, fairness, accurately reflecting the level of completion of annual administrative reform tasks. In addition, the Provincial People's Committee has maintained strict implementation of administrative reform inspection and public service inspection in the province. On average, each year, the Provincial People's Committee conducts inspections of 30% of the number of departments, branches, and People's Committees of districts and cities. The Working Group on Public Service Inspection of the Provincial People's Committee Chairman has conducted surprise inspections of the compliance with discipline and administrative discipline for all departments, branches, and the Center for Public Administration Services, Administrative Procedure Control and Investment Promotion of Nam Dinh province; promptly rectifying and urging the compliance with discipline, discipline, public service culture, and the performance of duties of cadres, civil servants, and public employees...

With the leadership and direction of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee, along with the strong participation of sectors and levels in the process of implementing administrative reform, it has contributed to comprehensively promoting the province's administrative reform in all fields. Typically, the work of restructuring the apparatus has been effectively implemented in the direction of streamlining, compactness, and functions and tasks are more fully and clearly defined. In 2024, the People's Committee of Nam Dinh province has reorganized administrative units, reducing 1 district-level administrative unit and 51 commune-level units, ensuring effective operation from September 1, 2024. The province has also streamlined the apparatus, reduced focal points and intermediary levels, ensuring effective operation and avoiding overlapping functions and tasks; At the same time, the plan to streamline the payroll and reorganize public service units for the period 2022-2025 was implemented, with a total of 42 civil servants and public employees and 41 commune-level cadres and public employees being streamlined. After implementing the streamlining of the organizational apparatus, agencies, organizations and units in the province have been operating stably since March 1, 2025. Before the reorganization, the Nam Dinh Provincial People's Committee had 18 affiliated administrative agencies and organizations, including 17 departments, branches and 1 administrative organization equivalent to a department (Provincial Industrial Park Management Board), along with 9 district-level People's Committees; 140 affiliated departments, branches and equivalents, with 2 administrative organizations at the departments; a total of 99 specialized departments under the district-level People's Committees. The whole province has 838 public service units, including units under the Provincial People's Committee, departments, branches and district-level People's Committees. After the reorganization, the Provincial People's Committee has only 12 departments and branches, with 101 affiliated administrative organizations (90 offices, 11 branches), a reduction of 5 departments and branches and 35 affiliated administrative organizations (32 offices, 3 branches), achieving a reduction rate of 26% of administrative organizations compared to before the reorganization. The People's Committees of districts and cities have 81 specialized departments, a reduction of 18 specialized departments, achieving an average reduction rate of 18.18%. In addition, the province has reduced 5 public service units under departments and branches with similar functions, tasks and subjects of providing public service and reduced 1 service unit under the Provincial People's Committee (Provincial Radio and Television Station).

People carry out administrative procedures at the Department of receiving and returning administrative procedure results of Xuan Truong district. (Photo: Van Trong)

In addition, with the motto "Administrative procedure reform associated with digital transformation, taking people as the center, reform playing a leading role, technology supporting and promoting", administrative reform work has been widely spread at all levels, sectors, units and localities across the province. The application of information technology in direction and administration has been deployed, promoted and achieved remarkable results. The province's reporting information system has been deployed to 100% of state agencies at all levels. In the first quarter of 2025, 3,565 incoming documents and 1,673 outgoing documents were issued and received on the system, 100% of documents exchanged between state administrative agencies in the province were done in electronic form and interconnected through the province's Document Interconnection Axis. In particular, the administrative procedure settlement information system serving the people and businesses of the province has been deployed to 100% of departments, branches, People's Committees of districts, cities, communes, wards and towns in the province, up to now there have been more than 11 million visitors; 1,761 administrative procedures of the province have been publicly posted. 100% of administrative procedure records of people and businesses have been received and publicly resolved on the Nam Dinh Provincial Public Service Portal. 100% of the province's administrative procedure settlement processes have been built electronically and publicly on the system so that people and businesses can monitor and evaluate the implementation process, thereby contributing to improving the quality of administrative procedure settlement. 100% of the province's eligible administrative procedures have been provided online in full and partially online on the system and connected and provided on the National Public Service Portal. The rate of online public services generating records has reached nearly 60%; The rate of administrative procedures conducted online is over 96%; The rate of procedures resolved on time is 99.7%. The rate of administrative procedures of people and businesses with online payments is nearly 90%. 100% of administrative procedure results are digitized or returned in electronic documents. The management of staff, civil servants, and public employees; the development and promulgation of legal documents; the inspection, review, and systematization of legal documents; and the reform of administrative procedures are also of interest to all levels and sectors and are gradually being implemented well.

In 2024, the average PAR index of departments, branches and sectors will reach 84.8 points, an increase of 8.04% compared to 2023; the People's Committees of districts and cities will reach an average of 91.93 points, an increase of 7.05%. This result puts Nam Dinh province in 20th place in the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI), in the high average group of the country, contributing effectively to the socio-economic development of the province.

Van Trong