Procurement Service Secures 59.7 Billion KRW in Supplementary Budget... Expanding Mask Stockpiles, etc.

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service recently secured 59.7 billion KRW through a supplementary budget at the National Assembly plenary session.

According to the Public Procurement Service on the 5th, this budget was secured to support overcoming the economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and will be used in four areas: additional mask stockpiling in preparation for the second wave of COVID-19, expansion of innovative product purchases, expansion of non-face-to-face infrastructure in the procurement process, and support for K-quarantine exports.

First, with the additionally secured budget (35 billion KRW), the Public Procurement Service will increase the mask stockpile from the previous 100 million units to 150 million units. This is to prepare for the resurgence and prolongation of COVID-19 domestically and internationally in the second half of the year and to reflect the increased emergency demand for masks in case of an emergency.

The supplementary budget for expanding innovative product purchases is 20 billion KRW. With this budget, the Public Procurement Service plans to expand the number of designated innovative product items from 66 last year to 400 this year.

Additionally, to support the overseas procurement market entry of K-quarantine products, 1.42 billion KRW will be invested to support the entry of quarantine products such as diagnostic kits into overseas procurement markets through international organizations like the UN, overseas procurement market surveys, and direct support for participation in overseas bids.

Furthermore, the Public Procurement Service will invest 3.25 billion KRW to expand the non-face-to-face online evaluation procurement infrastructure in response to COVID-19. Considering the recent trend of procurement contract review and evaluation shifting mainly online, the online review and evaluation infrastructure (e-procurement system) will be expanded to meet the increased demand (expected to rise from about 2,000 cases annually to 35,000 cases).

Jung Moo-kyung, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, said, “The role of central procurement becomes more important in the crisis caused by COVID-19,” and added, “The Public Procurement Service plans to accelerate project implementation so that the effects of the supplementary budget, including expanding innovative product purchases, additional mask stockpiling, expansion of non-face-to-face procurement process infrastructure, and support for K-quarantine overseas exports, can appear quickly.”