E-government needs a seamless four-tier system.

According to Deputy Head of the Government Office Le Manh Ha, the requirements for building an e-government include establishing a seamless electronic system that connects and integrates electronic documents and data at four levels, from the Government to the provincial, district, and commune levels; providing 100% of public services online; and establishing a national public service portal at a single online address (National Electronic One-Stop Shop).

Speaking at a press briefing in Hanoi on Government Resolution 36a/NQ-CP concerning e-Government, Mr. Le Manh Ha stated that to achieve the above objectives, Vietnam needs to implement a group of solutions related to financial investment, human resources, technology, and organization. Three sources of funding for implementation include budget allocations, the use of scientific and technological research funds, and the use of the public telecommunications fund for online public services.

(Illustrative photo. Doan Tan/VNA)

The areas that need priority attention are "hot" issues such as land, transportation, construction, and the environment; areas with far-reaching impacts such as business registration and investment registration; and areas prone to corruption.

Regarding the readiness of civil servants and citizens to utilize the benefits of e-government, Mr. Le Manh Ha stated that the level of readiness for application is not yet high, and more decisive action is needed in the future. Resolution 36a/NQ-CP sets a deadline of the end of 2016 for all public services to be provided at levels three and four. Units must be ready; if they fail to do so, sanctions must be imposed to ensure the achievement of the set goals. If done well, this will bring significant results.

Mr. Ha cited the example of health insurance payments totaling approximately 50,000 billion VND annually. Due to the extensive paperwork requiring verification and significant duplication, the reported loss rate is 10%, but in reality, it could reach 30%. He argued that applying information technology would reduce errors and prevent the loss of thousands of billions of VND.

Avoiding the pitfalls of the previous Project 112, the Government Office will not impose its own approach or directly implement information technology. The implementation will be assigned to information units, based on the integration and interconnection of existing systems in ministries, departments, and localities, which are currently fragmented...

Following the directives of the Government Office leadership, the Government Electronic Information Portal, in coordination with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications and relevant units, has implemented a pilot project to connect and integrate the Government Office's document management system with the systems of Ho Chi Minh City and several other provinces and cities via a pilot interconnection platform.

After three months of implementation, 27 provincial and city People's Committees and three ministries, including the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Information and Communications, have now connected and tested the document management software with the Government Office's simulated system. Of these, the Ministry of Health and 19 localities have successfully exchanged documents and provided feedback on processing status.

The Government's e-Portal will continue to coordinate with relevant agencies and units to implement system connectivity and interoperability for the remaining ministries, sectors, and localities, completing this task within this year.

In addition, from October 15th, the Government's Electronic Information Portal, in coordination with the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, will publicly disclose the progress of dossier processing in the city on the Government's Electronic Information Portal. From now until March 1st, 2016, the Government's Electronic Information Portal will continue to coordinate with ministries, sectors, and localities to publicly disclose the progress of dossier processing in accordance with the spirit of Resolution 36a/NQ-CP.

According to Vietnamplus