[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Last year, the scale of public procurement exceeded 175.8 trillion won. This represents a 28.1% increase compared to 2017 (137.2 trillion won), and the role of the Public Procurement Service (PPS), the dedicated public procurement agency, has grown accordingly.
On the 18th, the PPS announced the "2017~2020 PPS Achievements," which included this information.
The main achievements of the PPS from 2017 to 2020 include ▲ strengthening the strategic role of public procurement ▲ realizing proactive administration in public procurement ▲ contributing to the elimination of remnants from the Japanese colonial era.
First, during this period, the PPS supported start-ups and venture companies in pioneering public sales channels through the exclusive mall for start-ups and ventures called ‘Venture Nara’.
As a result, the sales volume increased about 16 times from 5.2 billion won in 2017 to 81.3 billion won in 2020. As of last month, the cumulative transaction amount through Venture Nara was recorded at 172.6 billion won.
The activation of innovative procurement contributed to making the public sector the first buyer of innovative products, thereby enhancing corporate technological innovation and the quality of public services. The scale of the innovative prototype purchase project, in which the PPS directly purchases and provides to demand agencies, also increased from 2.4 billion won in 2019 to 44.5 billion won this year.
Amid the spread of COVID-19, the PPS also played a role in securing public safety through proactive administration and crisis response.
In March last year, the PPS signed emergency procurement contracts with 181 mask manufacturers and stably supplied 1.2 billion masks until July. Recently, it ensured that ultra-low temperature freezers, syringes, and vaccine transportation services necessary for COVID-19 vaccination could be contracted and supplied according to the scheduled timeline.
The PPS also contributed to the elimination of Japanese colonial remnants. Since 2017, it has been responsible for investigating properties owned by Japanese nationals, achieving the nationalization of 6,003 plots out of 7,549 plots subject to nationalization (an area 1.6 times that of Yeouido), which is a representative accomplishment.
Kim Jeong-woo, Administrator of the PPS, said, “Over the past four years, the PPS has supported national policy tasks and transformed the public procurement system into ‘strategic public procurement’ to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. We will continue to focus our institutional capabilities to realize public procurement that pursues innovation, coexistence, and public safety.”
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