People are still 'confused' with online public services

(Baonghean) - The official launch of Nghe An Province's Online Public Service Portal is a great effort by the province to realize the Government's policy on building e-Government in particular and innovating the State apparatus in general. However, the implementation of high-level online public services in many agencies and localities still has many shortcomings and limitations.

Resolving administrative procedures for people at the One-stop Department of Hung Nguyen District People's Committee. Photo: Le Thanh

According to the One-Stop-Shop Department of the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen District, every day, a large number of people come to submit documents to resolve administrative procedures. When asked about how to resolve administrative procedures through the online public service portal, many people did not know about this utility.

"It's better to take a little time but be sure, the administrative procedures are complicated so I have to go to the government agency to work to feel secure" - Mr. Nguyen Ba Ngoc in Hung Nguyen town said.

Meanwhile, the district's website posted that the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district has provided 32 level 3 public services in the fields of land, justice, construction, trade, health, etc., but most people have not used them yet.

Nghi Loc District is considered the leading unit in the province in using the Online Public Service Portal. The district has publicly posted administrative procedures on the electronic information portal: 344 procedures in 29 fields (190 district-level procedures, 154 commune-level procedures; 47 level 3 public services, 9 level 4 public services.

The results of processing on the software up to September 2017 have resolved over 32,000 records, but only in one direction, that is, the staff receives the records through the one-stop shop and logs into the electronic one-stop shop software for processing. Since the implementation of online public services, the one-stop shop of the District People's Committee has only received 9 online registration records. This shows an undeniable fact: Most people and businesses go directly to the one-stop shop to declare manual procedures.

At the provincial level, the situation is similar. For example, at the Department of Transport, the implementation of level 3 public services in the field of issuing and renewing driving licenses online was implemented from May 20, 2015. However, after more than 2 years of implementing this service, people are not interested.

The public service of granting press conference permits is deployed by the Department of Information and Communications. Agencies and units only need to access the website: dichvucong.nghean.gov.vn, log in, follow the instructions, and the results are processed online. However, this service is rarely used, and the Department mainly receives requests via official dispatch and directly at the one-stop department, etc.

Up to now, Nghe An province has 16 departments, 21 urban districts and 480/480 communes participating in the province's online public service system. Of the total 5,162 online public services provided on the system, there are currently 862 high-level services, which are 3 and 4. However, the number of businesses and people using these high-level services is still very small.

Department of Information and Communications provides information technology training for staff and civil servants. Photo: Le Thanh

Officially launched on January 10, 2017, the province's online public service portal and electronic one-stop system aim to facilitate people and businesses to access public administrative services.

Currently, many areas related to handling procedures and records for people have been deployed at a high level by the province's online public service portal. People can submit documents online, only have to come once to pay fees (if any) and receive results directly at the one-stop department of the agency or unit.

However, in reality, the number of online transaction records on the network environment is still too small. People, organizations, and businesses are not familiar with or are still hesitant about this form of transaction.

Explaining why the rate of people using online public administrative services is still very low, Mr. Nguyen Ba Hao - Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications said: People and many businesses still keep the old habit of going directly to agencies to handle administrative procedures because the propaganda on using the service has not been widespread.

While the implementation of online public services still has many limitations and shortcomings, some procedures require the attachment of related files when submitting online applications, the system is not ready to digitize related documents of citizens and businesses. In addition, the information technology infrastructure is not yet adequate, so it cannot ensure the sending/receiving of information.

Le Thanh