Together with Thanh Hoa, we remove obstacles in operating two-level government

On August 19, the working delegation of the Ministry of Science and Technology worked with the Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa province, at the Provincial Public Administration Service Center and Ha Trung commune, to grasp the situation, record the results, and at the same time remove difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of Resolution 57-NQ/TW, Decree 132/2025/ND-CP and Decree 133/2025/ND-CP.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tuoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa province, said that the province currently has 166 commune-level administrative units, including 147 communes and 19 wards. Since July 1, the two-level local government has been operating stably, effectively implementing local political tasks.

Thanh Hoa province has promptly arranged resources, ensured facilities, information technology infrastructure and put into operation 100% of the commune-level Public Administration Service Centers.

Statistics from July 1 to August 15 show that the provincial center received 7,542 administrative procedure files from people and businesses, of which 4,473 administrative procedure files were resolved; the rate of files resolved correctly and before the deadline reached 99.99%.

The Public Administration Service Centers at the commune level received 149,470 administrative procedure files from people and businesses, of which 139,415 files were processed. The rate of files processed correctly and before the deadline reached 98.83%, contributing to improving the quality of administrative reform at the grassroots level. The command and control system from the province to the commune level was operated synchronously and smoothly, helping localities quickly grasp the new mechanism and handle work promptly.

In addition, the Department has guided the establishment of 166 commune-level technical support teams with 1,179 members to support people, businesses, and civil servants in using the software. The provincial-level technical support team to coordinate support for general activities consists of 60 members.

In fact, after more than a month of operating the two-level local government, Thanh Hoa province has been highly appreciated by the Central inspection delegations, being one of the nine localities that have promptly completed preparations for all conditions for the two-level local government to come into operation.

At the working program, the representative of the Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa province reported that, along with the achieved results, the operation of the two-level government model in the province still faces difficulties due to the uneven quality of commune-level officials in terms of capacity, experience, and expertise; lack of specialized personnel in some fields; limited facilities and information technology infrastructure at the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center. Meanwhile, at the commune and ward level, the human resources in charge of digital transformation are still lacking and weak or inexperienced. Therefore, the initial implementation still encountered difficulties and confusion.

For information technology infrastructure that has been invested, but due to long-term use, it reduces efficiency and increases the time for handling work of officials and civil servants; especially in performing public services.

According to the Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa, the reception of records and administrative procedures of individuals and organizations in the province is still carried out within the limits of the administrative units of communes and wards; therefore, in some units with large populations, there is an overload situation, while neighboring units have few records and administrative procedures.

At the same time, the system of specialized software of ministries and branches deployed to localities is still slow, especially for interconnected procedures (Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Justice, etc.); searching and looking up administrative procedures on the National Public Service Portal is still complicated, not convenient for people and businesses; the VNeID application takes a long time to authenticate, is often overloaded, and operates slowly during peak hours, etc.

The obstacle in information management and search is that the digitization system of databases on inventions, designs, and trademarks is still scattered and difficult to access, while the implementation of some decentralized administrative procedures requires information and data from previously issued records...

For the staff managing and operating information systems and digital transformation at the commune level, the Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa province recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Science and Technology and relevant units have regulations on the staffing and job positions for this group of staff. Organizing professional training for local staff in implementing new specialized fields that have been decentralized and delegated such as radiation and nuclear safety, intellectual property, science and technology activities, telecommunications and Internet, quality measurement standards, etc. is also very necessary for current practical implementation.

The Department of Science and Technology of Thanh Hoa province requests the Ministry of Science and Technology to issue a document guiding the People's Committees of communes, wards and special zones after the arrangement, which are subject to mandatory or encouraged application of the Quality Management System according to the National Standard TCVN ISO 9001. This is the basis for implementing the tasks stated in Clause 4, Article 12 of Decision No. 19/2014/QD-TTg dated March 5, 2014.

In addition, the Ministry of Science and Technology is requested to share data on the List of consulting organizations, independent consultants and certification organizations that have been granted certificates of eligibility by the Standards and Quality Measurement Committee for consulting, assessment and testing, inspection, appraisal and certification organizations in receiving, resolving, processing registration dossiers and issuing certificates to resolve administrative procedures...

Through the working session, many practical figures and opinions from the grassroots have clearly shown the effectiveness as well as the problems arising in the process of implementing the new model. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Chung, Director of the Department of Telecommunications, head of the working delegation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, assessed that the provincial Department of Science and Technology has had many breakthrough solutions to solve the difficulties and problems in operating the 2-level local government. Some information about the proposal, the working delegation has synthesized and reported to the leaders of the Ministry to gradually develop solutions to remove them...

Representatives of specialized units of the Ministry of Science and Technology directly discussed and answered specific questions about local contents of decentralization and delegation of authority. At the same time, they guided localities in implementing regulations and professional processes, shared practical experiences, etc. According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Chung, the Ministry of Science and Technology committed to accompanying and supporting localities in implementing the two-level government model to ensure smooth and effective scientific and technological activities.