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Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do, is facing controversy over allegedly conducting the patent and new technology construction method review inappropriately to funnel work to a specific company in a recently commissioned government construction project.
According to Goheung-gun on the 15th, on the 12th, they commissioned seven projects worth about 9 billion KRW for the '2023 City and County Managed Reservoir Renovation Project.' The main processes include embankment construction, spillway overflow, intake works, and grouting for the repair and reinforcement of aging reservoirs.
The controversy began as the grouting patent owned by a construction company based in Goheung-gun was applied to all seven commissioned projects. The patent in question is a construction method with relatively few recent reservoir construction achievements, raising suspicions of funneling work to a specific company.
Moreover, the initial design reflected a general grouting method, but shortly before the completion of the detailed design, it was changed to the patented method, further fueling the controversy.
According to the Local Contract Act, to apply patented or new technologies in construction, a construction method review committee must be convened, and based on the results, scores are calculated and allocated.
Goheung-gun recruited five construction method companies through a public announcement on its website and selected seven external committee members to hold the construction method review committee. The committee evaluated five companies based on 20 points for quantitative evaluation and 80 points for qualitative evaluation, selecting one company as first place.
During this process, the county treated seven different projects as one for the review, intensifying suspicions. The general consensus is that projects at different locations should be evaluated separately for each project.
Regarding this, a Goheung-gun official explained, “We selected the company through a legitimate review process, so there is no particular wrongdoing,” and stated, “The suspicions are groundless.”
An anonymous expert in construction method reviews said, “If the construction sites are different, the reviews should also be conducted separately,” adding, “This could be seen as an act to benefit a specific company.”
Meanwhile, Jeollanam-do is reportedly adopting a method to avoid suspicions of funneling work by excluding the company selected in the first round when reflecting patented new technologies and distributing the work among the remaining companies.
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