Public Procurement Service Abolishes Payment Restrictions on Rewards for Reporting Unfair Procurement Practices

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service (PPS) will remove restrictions on the payment of rewards for reporting unfair procurement practices.

The PPS announced on the 3rd that it plans to significantly improve the reward system starting this year to actively encourage reporting of unfair procurement practices.

Even if the case has already been disclosed through the media, applicants can apply for rewards if they submit new facts or evidence beyond the publicly available information. Additionally, the limit on the number of reward payments per reporter (4 times per year) will be removed, and unnecessary administrative procedures will be improved. These are the key points of the system improvement.

Previously, the PPS raised the maximum reward amount to 10 million KRW and set the reward rate at up to 1% of the amount recovered from unfair gains to promote reporting of unfair procurement practices last year.

As a result, 13 reporters who reported illegal activities such as violations of direct production and delivery of products different from contract specifications received a total of 13 million KRW in rewards last year.

Lee Jong-wook, Administrator of the PPS, stated, “To eradicate unfair procurement practices, it is essential to activate public interest reporting and conduct thorough investigations and strict measures on the reported content.” He added, “The PPS will continue to improve the system to prevent illegal and fraudulent procurement practices.”