[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] The efficiency of the performance certification system, implemented since 2005, will be improved.
The Small and Medium Business Distribution Center announced its support plan for the performance certification system on the 16th. The first round of applications for performance certification this year will be accepted until the 5th of next month.
The performance certification system is designed to verify and certify the performance of technology development products from small and medium enterprises (SMEs), encouraging product purchases and promoting SME technology development (R&D). It supports small and medium venture companies struggling to open sales channels in entering the public procurement market.
Certified products can be purchased by public institutions through negotiated contracts according to the National Contract Act and Local Contract Act. Additionally, they are included in the 18 types of priority purchase technology development products, which public institutions must set at 15% or more of their annual SME goods purchase amount, thereby expanding public sales channels.
The Small and Medium Business Distribution Center will change the application process from accepting applications year-round on an ad hoc basis to accepting applications through regular announcements by round starting this year. By setting a period and conducting reviews, the processing time can be shortened, and the timing of issuing performance certification certificates can be predicted in advance, making it easier to develop sales channels, according to the center.
Furthermore, to strengthen the expertise of the review process, participation of related experts such as patent attorneys will be mandatory. The review fields will also expand from the existing 8 divisions to 14 divisions to accommodate the review of new convergent products.
To advance the operation system, the schedule and results of each stage of the performance certification process will be notified to participating companies in real time. With these improvements, the review processing period is expected to be shortened from over 120 days to within 90 days.
According to the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, a total of 4,455 performance certification product certificates have been newly issued since the system's introduction until last year. The center issues about 300 certificates annually. Currently, there are 1,151 valid performance certification certificates.
The purchase performance of performance-certified products by public institutions has increased every year, accounting for 20% of all 18 types of technology development products. The purchase amount of certified products by public institutions increased from 770 billion KRW in 2016 to 1.36 trillion KRW in 2019.
Jinsu Jeong, CEO of the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, said, "We plan to strengthen the reliability and efficiency of the performance certification system to support the initial sales channels of SME technology development products in the public procurement market and to expand purchases by public institutions."
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