Public Procurement Service Designates 16 Companies and 44 Products as 'Quality Assurance Procurement Items'

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service announced on the 27th that it has designated 44 products from 16 procurement companies as the '2021 2nd Quality Assurance Procurement Products.'

The Procurement Quality Institute evaluates the quality management capabilities of each procurement company three times a year and designates quality assurance procurement products accordingly.

Through the evaluation, grades such as 'S', 'A', 'B', and 'Preliminary' are assigned, and based on the grade, exemptions from delivery inspections (up to 5 years) and additional points during bidding are differentially granted to enhance product quality.

In the second evaluation this year, 53 products from 22 companies were assessed, among which 34 products from 12 companies received a B grade, and 10 products from 5 companies were included in the Preliminary grade.

Among these, 9 products from 4 companies, including Seonjin Aluminum Co., Ltd., were recognized for their strengthened quality management efforts and were upgraded from the Preliminary grade to the B grade.

As of this month, a total of 487 products from 149 companies have been designated as quality assurance procurement products. The annual transaction scale of designated products supplied to public institutions is expected to exceed 1.2 trillion KRW.

The annual delivery performance of quality assurance procurement products to public institutions has increased to 640.7 billion KRW in 2018, 1.0247 trillion KRW in 2019, and 1.2094 trillion KRW in 2020. This year, as of last month, products worth 918.1 billion KRW have been delivered.

Kim Ji-wook, head of the Procurement Quality Institute, stated, “When designated as a quality assurance procurement product, companies can reduce inspection costs, and public institutions can quickly receive high-quality products, resulting in improved purchasing efficiency. We will continue to hold online system briefings and provide customized consulting for each company so that companies with excellent technological capabilities and quality management can enhance their reliability through designation as quality assurance procurement products.”