Hanoi to establish customer service hub for administrative reform

Hanoi will establish a customer service hub within the city's Public Administration Service Center as a step forward in the reform of the city’s administrative procedure and the implementation of a one-stop shop system.

Under a decision released by the Hanoi People's Committee this week, the hub will be responsible for handling feedback and recommendations submitted to digital platforms such as Digital Capital Citizens (iHaNoi) and through the hotline.

Accordingly, equipped with legal status, the Customer Support and Care Center will have its own seal and be authorized to open accounts with the State Treasury and banks. It will operate and transact as prescribed by law.

Residents come for public services in Hai Ba Trung District. Photo: Dinh Son

The center takes responsibility for advising and assisting the Director of the city’s Public Administration Service Center in managing and organizing activities to guide, support, handle, and respond to feedback and recommendations on digital platforms such as Digital Capital Citizens (iHaNoi) and hotline; consulting, providing information, surveying, and evaluating the satisfaction of organizations and individuals when performing administrative procedures online.

Besides, the Hanoi People's Committee issued Decision No. 6286/QD-UBND on the establishment of the Center for System Administration and Application Development under the city Public Administration Service Center.

The center also has legal status, its own seal, and its own account at the State Treasury and banks to operate and transact in accordance with the provisions of law.

In early October, the Hanoi People's Council approved the establishment of the Hanoi Public Administrative Service Center to centralize administrative procedures and intensify digital transformation to streamline services for residents and businesses. 

Hanoi becomes the first locality to complete the pilot project and set up the Public Administration Service Center as directed by the Prime Minister.

The establishment of this center follows the National Assembly's Resolution No. 142 dated June 29, 2024, and the Government's Resolution No. 108 dated July 10, 2024. These resolutions require provincial and municipal governments, including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong Province, and Quang Ninh Province, to implement a pilot model of a one-level Public Administration Service Center under the direct supervision of provincial-level People's Committees.

The center serves as a hub to assist the Hanoi People's Committee in controlling, expediting, and coordinating the resolution of administrative procedures. It is also responsible for delivering results, applying information technology, and advancing digital transformation in the provision of public services for residents and businesses.

The center accepts administrative applications from any location in Hanoi, reduces the number of single-window service points, and innovates the way administrative applications are submitted. It ensures that citizens can access public services within a 30-minute travel radius or no more than five kilometers, with services available around the clock.

The center is an important tool supporting the governance and leadership of the Hanoi People's Committee. It centralizes and simplifies administrative processes, enhance transparency, and reduce corruption.

The center will be directly managed and overseen by the Hanoi People’s Committee and will follow the comprehensive instructions of the city's Chairman. In addition, it will comply with professional guidelines and instructions from the Office of the Government.

According to Hanoi's government, the operation of Customer Support and Care Center under the city’s Public Administration Service Center will focus on placing citizens and businesses at the center, with their satisfaction serving as key measure of the center's quality and effectiveness. 

It aims to change the mindset and attitude of officials, civil servants, and staff in performing public duties. The center's operation will be guided by the principles of "commitment to innovation, cautious implementation, and practical feasibility," with the primary goal of serving citizens and businesses.

The implementation of the Hanoi Public Administration Service Center is a necessary step that builds on the success of the city's "Modern One-Stop Service" model and aims to improve the quality of administrative services in response to new circumstances, according to the Hanoi People's Committee.

It emphasized that the center enhances the efficiency of administrative procedure control, helps achieve the city's digital transformation and administrative reform targets, particularly online public services.

All of the city's online public services will be redesigned, restructured, and simplified. This includes cutting down the amount of documentation required for procedures that already have access to citizen data, reducing costs and processing time, and streamlining the reception and processing of administrative procedures.

The center will also professionalize, digitize, and ensure the flexibility of the "one-stop" service staff. It will not "take over" the functions, tasks, or authority of departments, agencies, or district-level People's Committees, but rather, it will strengthen horizontal coordination to avoid overlapping of functions and responsibilities.

The Hanoi Public Administration Service Center will help reduce the number of single-window offices from nearly 700 to 30 branches and decrease the number of civil servants handling administrative procedures from around 2,800 to some 200. This will save the state budget of over VND13.3 billion (US$537,000) monthly in salaries, benefits, and related expenses.