Gwangju Chamber of Commerce Supports Local SMEs' Entry into Public Procurement Market

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Gwan-woo] The Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on the 13th that it will promote the '2021 Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS) Consulting Support Project' to support local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in entering the public procurement market.

This project has been implemented since 2018 with subsidies from Gwangju Metropolitan City, and through a recruitment announcement starting today, 12 local SMEs will be selected to receive specialized consulting services for Multiple Awards Schedule worth approximately 3 million KRW.

The Multiple Awards Schedule (MAS) system was introduced to address issues such as lack of product diversity and quality degradation caused by the traditional lowest-price bidder selection method. It selects multiple suppliers to encourage healthy price and quality competition, while allowing demand institutions to easily purchase products through the government procurement portal without separate contract agreements.

The public procurement market is a massive market worth 135 trillion KRW, accounting for 7% of the domestic gross domestic product (GDP). The importance of public procurement is increasing further to overcome the COVID-19 economic crisis and respond to the post-COVID era.

However, local SMEs face difficulties entering the public procurement market due to a lack of specialized personnel and information related to public procurement.

In response, the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strengthened its customized bidding information system to provide bidding information from major institutions nationwide, including the government procurement portal.

A representative of the Gwangju Chamber said, "Through the MAS consulting support project, we will help local SMEs enter the public procurement market more easily, contributing to increased sales and enhanced competitiveness of participating companies."

Choi Jong-man, the full-time vice chairman, said, "Many local companies have core technologies but face difficulties in sales channels due to poor marketing infrastructure. We will actively support not only this project but also marketing support projects such as customized product promotion meetings to help promising local companies pioneer new domestic and international sales channels and leap forward."