Company A Awarded Exclusive Contract Worth Over 600 Million Won, Plus Additional Exclusive Contract Worth Over 200 Million Won
[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Yong-chul] Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do is embroiled in controversy over allegations of favoritism toward a specific company, as it signed a private contract that differed from the design documents in the disaster risk zone project.
Boseong-gun signed a private contract with Company A for electrical and distribution panels worth over 600 million KRW in materials for this project, and it was revealed that another private contract was also conducted for materials worth over 200 million KRW.
Electrical and distribution panels are power systems that receive electricity from external sources such as power plants and redistribute it. These electrical materials are used throughout facilities including drainage pump stations, water and sewage systems, and large buildings.
Moreover, Company A, which signed the private contract with Boseong-gun, was found to be a different company from the one reflected in the original design.
The delivery conditions in the design specification documents state that contracts can only be made with a single company certified with ISO9001 or KSA9001, and the cost was calculated based on products from three excellent procurement companies located in Jeollanam-do.
However, Boseong-gun ignored this and signed a private contract with Company A, causing controversy.
Furthermore, Boseong-gun claimed that the private contract with Company A was made under the enforcement ordinance of the Local Contract Act, which allows private contracts when purchasing goods directly produced by factories located in agricultural and fishing village industrial complexes under the Rural and Fishing Village Maintenance Act. However, it disregarded the procedure that states, “If the design details reflect excellent procurement companies, before concluding the contract, a review must be conducted to select a product of superior quality than the reflected product and proceed with the contract after going through the change procedure.”
Ultimately, Boseong-gun skipped this process and signed a private contract with Company A in the agricultural industrial complex for materials exceeding 600 million KRW without any review procedures.
In particular, it is known that only the three companies that submitted estimates can construct according to the design details, and Company A was found unable to construct as per the details, leading to criticism that Boseong-gun’s favoritism toward a specific company is excessive.
On the 2nd, a county official said, “We never designed with conditions specified in the specifications or details,” adding, “If conditions were specified in the design, that would be the service company's mistake.” However, another official said, “We had no idea. We will verify the facts,” failing to provide a proper response.
An employee of a company expressed frustration, saying, “This contract could not have been made without the involvement of someone influential. The design specified excellent procurement, but the contract was changed to a company in the agricultural industrial complex.”
He continued, “Jeollanam-do and public enterprises do not change the items reflected in the design during contracts,” and called for “a thorough investigation to clarify the facts.”
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