The amount of public procurement by private companies that rehired retired employees from the Public Procurement Service (PPS) has increased by an average of 1.5 times over the past five years.
According to Yang Gi-dae, a member of the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee (Democratic Party of Korea, Gyeonggi Gwangmyeong), six private companies rehired retired PPS employees over the past five years. Among them, three companies saw their public procurement amounts increase by 62 billion KRW, from 79 billion KRW before the rehiring to 141 billion KRW after the rehiring.
For example, Company A, which rehired a retired PPS official at the vice-minister level, saw its public procurement amount increase from 27.12 billion KRW to 40.46 billion KRW, a 1.5-fold increase.
Additionally, Company B, which rehired a retired manager-level employee, saw its procurement amount rise from 42.84 billion KRW to 87.93 billion KRW, and Company C, which recruited a retired manager-level employee, also experienced a significant increase from 9.74 billion KRW to 13.26 billion KRW in public procurement.
However, among the other three companies, one was not a public procurement target company, and two companies had no public procurement performance as of June following the rehiring of retired employees after February 2023.
Rep. Yang pointed out, "Most companies that rehired retired PPS employees have increased their public procurement amounts not only through open competition but also through negotiated contracts and restricted or designated competitive bidding," adding, "This raises suspicions of preferential treatment and collusion."
He further stated, "Preferential treatment in the 184 trillion KRW public procurement market seriously undermines the fairness and reliability of procurement operations," and urged, "The Public Procurement Service must establish a strengthened management system for retired employees."
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