Public Procurement Service Launches 'Field Voice Responsibility TF'... "The Answer Lies in the Field"

The Public Procurement Service (PPS) will activate an emergency organization to listen to voices from the field and responsibly reflect them in policies.

On the 8th, the PPS announced the establishment and operation of the "Field Voice Responsibility Implementation Task Force (TF)." The TF, directly under the PPS Administrator, will identify reform tasks related to overall procurement operations, comprehensively manage task schedules, inter-ministerial collaboration, and communication with the public, and lead reforms in procurement administration.

The TF will include members from various ranks within the PPS, from clerks to deputy administrators. Additionally, internal innovation bodies such as the Youth Policy Advisory Group and Innovation Avengers, as well as associations related to demand institutions and procurement companies?the targets of procurement services?will participate in the TF consultative body to gather a broader range of field opinions.

The main activities of the TF will focus on four key areas: ▲regulatory innovation in procurement sites ▲growth support for small, venture, and innovative companies ▲response to future policy environments ▲reestablishment of principles and fundamentals, with an emphasis on leading reforms by intensively identifying tasks in these areas.

In the future, the scope of task identification will be expanded beyond the existing PPS-centered, localized regulatory innovation tasks to include tasks requiring whole-of-government collaboration or reform tasks with significant impact on the entire public procurement market.

The identified tasks will be continuously monitored and managed by the TF regarding implementation schedules, inter-ministerial cooperation, and communication with the public. To ensure swift reforms, the PPS plans to actively utilize methods such as "temporary regulatory suspension" and "pilot application followed by expansion."

Baek Seung-bo, Deputy Administrator of the PPS, said, “The direction and alternatives for reforming procurement administration can be found in the voices from the field. The TF will serve as a bridge connecting the PPS and the field, contributing to procurement administration innovation needed on-site and producing tangible results.”

Since the inauguration of Administrator Im Gi-geun, the PPS has steadily strengthened communication with the field. Administrator Im visited five sites this year to listen to key stakeholders’ voices and shared the opinions gathered on-site with the responsible departments, enabling some agenda items to be actually reflected in the “2024 Major Tasks.”

Among the representative policies announced after communication with the field are the decision to promptly execute a record-high 39 trillion won in the first half of this year and to advance the early ordering of 74% of new public construction projects in the first half.