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Civil servants of the General Department of civil servants participated in the capacity assessment (January 2019). Photo: N.Linh.

Create a breakthrough in assessing capacity of civil servants

The Customs development strategy to 2020 has set the goal of building Vietnam Customs to become an e-customs agency with regular, modern Customs forces, gradually approaching the development of advanced countries. In the period of 2016-2020, in the context of rapidly increasing workloads from 10% to 20% annually, it is expected that by 2021, it will increase by 80% compared to the volume of work in 2015. However, to implement undertakings of the Party and the Government, by 2021, the Customs sector will still implement the 10% payroll streamlining. In addition to the successes achieved in the reform of administrative procedures, the modernization of customs operations (national single window, electronic customs procedures VNACCS/VCIS) to better serve people and businesses, means outward modernization reform, the General Department of Customs continues to promote reform activities within the customs authorities; in which more attention is paid to the construction of customs forces towards the goal: Professional, intensive, integrity, mastering modern technology with a key task of building and deploying successful model of state management according to capacity of the whole Customs sector.

Therefore, the General Department of Customs determines one of the key tasks of customs reform and modernization, which is to innovate the state management method based on capacity on job position in the spirit of Decision No. 1614/ QD-BTC dated July 19, 2016 of the Minister of Finance promulgating the Plan of reform, development and modernization of the Customs sector in the period of 2016-2020.

From 2016 up to now, the General Department of Customs has promoted activities of innovating customs management based on job position in a deep, timely manner to meet the rapidly changing practical requirements. Many documents directing and guiding strategic and short-term plans on renovating the state management method according to position-based capacity have been issued; Deploying the system of determining payroll according to each job position, ensuring quantitative, practical and scientific results; Develop and issue a system of job position lists, job descriptions and general capacity framework of Customs departments; develop training plan according to job position in 2018 - 2020.

Especially, in 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, the General Department of Customs made a breakthrough when deciding to build and successfully implement the system of assessing the capacity of customs officers with the first evaluation of the civil servants who do not hold leadership positions for 6 main professional fields (management supervision, import and export taxes, post-clearance inspection, anti-smuggling investigation, risk management, handling violations) at 6 Departments under the General Department and 7 Customs Departments of provinces and cities (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Dong Nai and Binh Duong), standard subject to the expansion of the scope of competence assessment across all fields, units and objects in the following years. This is a key activity of all staff activities, creating a premise for the organization of the job position leadership exams as well as the recruitment and selection of civil servants into professional job position.

The above-mentioned work contents have contributed to fundamentally innovating the method of state management according to capacity on job position, in order to ensure the right people and the right work; improve working performance; training and improving the quality of human resources; digitalisation of some state management activities; improve science, fairness and transparency for state management activities; meet the requirements of modernization of customs management.

In 2018, the General Department of Customs successfully organized a competency assessment exam for nearly 3,000 candidates at 6 departments at the General Department and 7 Customs Departments that have the number of civil servants and the workload at the top of the industry.

The success of the first capacity assessment of the General Department of Customs in 2018 according to sectoral standards is only the first step to create a premise to carry out the next activities in the capacity assessment series. In addition to the achieved results, some contents that need to be considered and supplemented for the next exam to be completed, such as: Need to develop a more thorough assessment of competencies with the group of candidates who are responsible specialized work of some job position at some customs departments; Complete the method of developing the topic, training, guiding the team to develop the problem; Implementing the review and finalizing the title in accordance with the standard method to meet the requirements of classification of competency levels of candidates; It is necessary to limit theoretical questions, supplement practical and intensive questions, practical with candidates' daily operations; at the same time, reviewing the framework and adding content, situations to ensure that all issues, content and situations need to be covered. In particular, in the next stages of development, it is necessary to change the questioning method and the answers for multiple choice exams; study, combine 3 forms of multiple choice tests, self-essay, answer questions on computer questions to accurately assess knowledge of level 1, 2, and 3 knowledge and assess job handling skills .

The achieved results and issues of concern from the above competency assessment exam will be the foundation for organizing the next exams to achieve the highest efficiency and at the same time as a solid basis to beat capacity of cadres and civil servants in the customs industry, building a contingent of professional customs officers and employees in line with the integration requirements in the current period.

Continue to concretize the goals of human resource management innovation

The above objectives will be concretized in 2019 and the following years. In particular, 2019 is a year of special importance for the completion of the task of renewing human resource management in the period 2016-2020. The General Department of Customs has issued Decision 801/QD-TCHQ operating a plan to renovate a number of human resource management activities according to capacity based on job position in 2019, with an orientation to 2020.

From now until the end of 2019, the General Department of Customs will carry out the following tasks: Continue reviewing, finalizing and promulgating the Capacity Framework for 8 major business fields including 6 above areas and the field of inspection, accreditation; Completing the system of assessing the capacity of sectoral civil servants with the specific task of continuing to assess more than 2,000 professional civil servants in 8 main professional fields: 28 remaining Customs Departments of provinces and cities; Develop a capacity profile for civil servants to record the results of competence assessment; Innovating training under job position; building and deploying applications, piloting the application of results of capacity assessment to the organization of personnel. Continuing to pilot the human resource management model based on job position capacity.

On the basis of assessing the results achieved from human resource management activities based on job position in the past years, the General Department of Customs has determined that the aim to 2020 is to: Enhance civil servant capacity, enhance effectiveness and effective implementation of civil servants, anti- harassment, improving customs integrity, contributing to speeding up the modernization of customs activities, towards facilitating import and export activities. Since then, the specific objectives in 2020 are to be assessed: Assessing the capacity of civil servants and civil servants holding leadership positions at the divisional level and equivalent downwards of 8 main professional fields; applying the results of competency assessment to staff organization.

Customs organizational structure: streamlining and capacity improvement

Under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Finance and the consensus of the Customs sector from the central to local levels for the work of reforming human resource management, the General Department of Customs will set the target for the period 2016-2020 and constantly build and train a contingent of customs officers with good professional qualifications, capable of fulfilling their tasks and meeting the requirements of customs modernization reform in the subsequent period.