Circular No. 159/2010/TT-BTC stipulates financial management for the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 in the activities of administrative state agencies.

CIRCULAR

Regulations on financial management for the establishment, implementation, and maintenance

of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008

 in the operations of administrative state agencies

_____________________________

Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on State Budget;

Pursuant to Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg dated June 20, 2006 of the Prime Minister on the application of a quality management system according to the TCVN ISO 9001:2000 standard in the operations of administrative state agencies and Decision No. 118/2009/QĐ-TTg dated September 30, 2009 of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg.

After reaching consensus with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Finance shall guide the financial management work for the establishment, implementation, and maintenance of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 in the operations of administrative state agencies as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and Applicability

This Circular guides the financial management work for the implementation of establishing, applying, maintaining, improving, and perfecting a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 for administrative state agencies specified in Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg dated June 20, 2006 of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 118/2009/QĐ-TTg dated September 30, 2009 of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg and guiding documents of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Article 2. Sources of Funds

The budget for implementing tasks related to the establishment, application, maintenance, improvement, and perfection of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 in the operations of administrative state agencies shall be balanced within the annual administrative management expenditure budget, funding sources, grants, and other legitimate revenue sources (if any) of ministries, sectors, and localities.

Chapter II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Article 4. Contents of Expenditure

The contents of expenditures to implement the establishment, application, and maintenance of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 by administrative state agencies include:

1. Expenditures carried out by administrative state agencies:

a) Expenditures for developing model framework systems for quality management (hereinafter referred to as model frameworks);

b) Expenditures for publicity, dissemination, learning experiences, surveys, statistics on the application of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 in administrative agencies;

c) Office supplies, materials, rental assets (if any);

d) Expenditures for training and instructing knowledge on a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008;

đ) Expenditures for compiling guidance documents and process handling procedures;

e) Expenditures for internal assessment activities;

g) Expenditures for maintaining, expanding, improving, and perfecting the quality management system;

h) Expenditures for direct implementation activities related to the establishment and application of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 by ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, provincial People's Committees, and centrally governed cities;

i) Expenditures for direct implementation activities related to Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg dated June 20, 2006 of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 118/2009/QĐ-TTg dated September 30, 2009 of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology;

k) Other direct expenditures related to the implementation of the establishment, application, maintenance, and improvement of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008.

2. Expenditures for consulting activities:

a) Expenditures for assessing the current status of quality management work in administrative agencies before establishing a quality management system;

b) Training activity expenditures:

- Training on knowledge about a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008;

- Training on how to build documentation and operational processes;

- Internal assessment training;

c) Expenditures for practical guidance on building documentation and operational processes for application in administrative state agencies; guidance on expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Simplification of Administrative Procedures Project in the period 2007-2010 issued together with Decision No. 30/QĐ-TTg dated January 10, 2007 of the Prime Minister (hereinafter referred to as Project 30);

d) Expenditures for guidance on conducting internal assessments, implementing corrective actions, maintaining, and improving the quality management system.

3. Expenditures for certification evaluation activities:

a) Certification evaluation;

b) Supervisory evaluation;

c) Expansion and reduction evaluation;

d) Recertification evaluation.

Article 4. Budget Framework for Expenditure

The expenditures for implementing the establishment, application, and maintenance of a quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 by administrative state agencies shall be implemented according to the current financial expenditure regulations (travel expenses, conference fees, training and development expenses, investigation and survey expenses, construction of normative legal documents, procurement of goods and equipment...) and some special expenditure levels prescribed in this Circular, specifically as follows:

1. Expenditure levels for administrative agencies without a model framework:

a) For agencies at the ministry level, equivalent to ministries, and government agencies:

- Expenditures for consulting activities:

+ For agencies establishing a quality management system for the first time: maximum expenditure of 80 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of Project 30 of the Prime Minister: maximum expenditure of 50 million VND per agency.

- Expenditures for activities carried out by administrative agencies (excluding costs for building a model framework; costs for maintenance and improvement):

+ First-time establishment of a quality management system: maximum expenditure of 100 million VND per agency.

+ Expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of Project 30 of the Prime Minister: maximum expenditure of 80 million VND per agency.

In which: Maximum expenditure for building one process handling procedure for application in the agency: 2 million VND per process.

b) For agencies at the General Department, Bureau level under Ministries and equivalent:

- Expenditures for consulting activities:

+ For agencies establishing a quality management system for the first time: maximum expenditure of 60 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 40 million VND per agency.

- Expenditures for activities carried out by administrative agencies (excluding costs for building a model framework; costs for maintenance and improvement):

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 60 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 40 million VND per agency.

In which: Maximum expenditure for building one process handling procedure for application in the agency: 2 million VND per process.

2. Expenditure levels for administrative agencies that already have a framework model:

a) For Provincial People's Committees and Municipal People's Committees directly under the Central Government:

- Expenditures for consulting activities:

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 45 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 25 million VND per agency.

- Expenditure for activities carried out by the agency (excluding funding for building the framework model; maintenance and improvement funding):

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 50 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 40 million VND per agency.

Among which: The maximum expenditure for developing one process for handling tasks to be applied at the agency: 1.5 million VND per process.

b) For District People's Committees, County People's Committees, Town People's Committees, City People's Committees under provinces; specialized agencies under Provincial People's Committees and Municipal People's Committees directly under the Central Government; sectoral agencies at the Bureau level located in localities under Ministries, agencies equivalent to Ministries, and agencies under the Government:

- Expenditures for consulting activities:

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 35 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 20 million VND per agency.

- Expenditure for activities carried out by the agency (excluding funding for building the framework model; maintenance and improvement funding):

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 40 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 30 million VND per agency.

Among which: The maximum expenditure for developing one process for handling tasks to be applied at the agency: 1.5 million VND per process.

c) For agencies at the Branch Office level or equivalent under Bureau-level agencies or Departments; specialized agencies under District People's Committees, County People's Committees:

- Expenditures for consulting activities:

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 25 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 15 million VND per agency.

- Expenditure for activities carried out by the agency (excluding funding for building the framework model; maintenance and improvement funding):

+ For agencies building the quality management system for the first time: the maximum expenditure is 30 million VND per agency.

+ For agencies expanding the quality management system to meet the requirements of the Prime Minister's Project 30: the maximum expenditure is 20 million VND per agency.

Among which: The maximum expenditure for developing one process for handling tasks to be applied at the agency: 1.5 million VND per process.

d) In the case where Commune People's Committees, Ward People's Committees, Town People's Committees build and apply the quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008, the expenditure level will be 80% of the expenditure level specified in point c above.

If it is necessary to hire experts on a monthly basis, the head of the administrative state agency shall decide the expert fee within the range from 2,200,000 VND to 5,700,000 VND per person per month, depending on the expert's qualifications and advisory tasks, provided that the expert ensures continuous working hours in the month as stipulated.

Experts must have the capacity and meet the conditions prescribed in Circular No. 01/2010/TT-BKHCN issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology on February 25, 2010, regarding advisory and evaluation activities of quality management systems according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 for administrative state agencies.

3. Expenditure for administrative agencies self-building the quality management system without hiring consultants:

For administrative agencies with staff capable of self-building the quality management system without needing to hire consultants for part or all of the advisory activities, the head of the administrative agency will sign a contract with the person performing the work on a lump-sum basis, with the maximum lump-sum not exceeding 85% of the consultant fee as stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 above, based on the workload assigned within the overall advisory activity.

4. Expenditure for certification assessment activities:

a) Certification assessment: the maximum expenditure is 15 million VND per agency.

b) Supervisory assessment (once every 12 months): the maximum expenditure is 5 million VND per assessment.

c) Expanded or reduced assessment: the maximum expenditure is 7 million VND per assessment.

d) Re-certification assessment: the maximum expenditure is 10 million VND per agency.

5. Expenditure for maintaining and continuously improving the quality management system of administrative agencies: the maximum expenditure is 12 million VND per year.

6. Expenditure for building the framework model of the quality management system: the maximum expenditure is 10 million VND per framework model.

The above expenditure levels are the maximum expenditure levels, based on the financial situation of each unit, the heads of units will decide on appropriate expenditure levels and unify them throughout the unit.

Article 5. Budget preparation, execution, and settlement of funds

The preparation of budgets, management, allocation, settlement, and finalization of expenditures shall be carried out in accordance with the current regulations of the State Budget Law and related guiding documents, specifically as follows:

1. Annually, when preparing the budget revenue and expenditure plan, administrative state agencies shall base their plans on the tasks of building and applying the quality management system according to the national standard TCVN ISO 9001:2008 and the guidance provided in this Circular to prepare the state budget expenditure plan according to the aforementioned expenditure items and consolidate them into the state budget expenditure plan of their own units to submit to the competent authority for approval in accordance with the regulations.

2. The operating funds of the Ministry of Science and Technology to implement Decision No. 144/2006/QD-TTg dated June 20, 2006, and Decision No. 118/2009/QD-TTg dated September 30, 2009, of the Prime Minister amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decision No. 144/2006/QD-TTg shall be balanced in the annual state budget expenditure plan allocated.

3. The allocation, distribution, use, and settlement of expenditures shall be carried out in accordance with the current financial management and decentralized financial management regulations.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 6. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature and replaces Circular No. 111/2006/TT-BTC dated December 6, 2006, of the Ministry of Finance.

2. Administrative state agencies not subject to Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg dated June 20, 2006, of the Prime Minister and Decision No. 118/2009/QĐ-TTg dated September 30, 2009, of the Prime Minister on amending and supplementing certain articles of Decision No. 144/2006/QĐ-TTg may consider applying the equivalent level of funding when implementing the construction of a quality management system.

3. During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, the ministries, central agencies, and localities are requested to report to the Ministry of Finance for resolution ./ .