Public Procurement Service "Rewarded a Total of 29.96 Million KRW to Whistleblowers of Unfair Procurement Practices in the First Half of This Year"

The Public Procurement Service announced on the 30th that it paid a total of 29.96 million KRW in reward money to 31 individuals who reported unfair procurement practices by procurement companies in the first half of this year.

The reports targeted procurement companies involved in six types of unfair procurement practices: ▲submission of forged or altered documents related to bidding and contracts ▲delivery of products not directly produced (manufactured) ▲false indication of origin on delivered products ▲delivery of products that do not meet contract specifications ▲violation of preferential pricing conditions ▲false or fraudulent designation of excellent procurement products.

In the first half of this year, reporters received reward money ranging from 200,000 KRW to 4.73 million KRW per person, depending on the number of reports and the seriousness of the reported content.

The reward money has steadily increased, with 12.98 million KRW in 2022, 26.58 million KRW in 2023, and 29.96 million KRW in the first half of this year. Notably, the amount in the first half of this year exceeded the total reward money for the entire previous year.

The Public Procurement Service analyzed that the steady increase in reward money was directly influenced by actively promoting the reward system to encourage reporting of unfair procurement practices and by increasing the amount of reward payments.

Anyone can report through the Public Procurement Service website or the Unfair Procurement Reporting Center.

The Public Procurement Service conducts investigations based on reports, and if the reported company is subject to sanctions such as restriction of bidding qualifications, imposition of fines, or suspension of transactions, a fixed reward of 500,000 KRW to 1,000,000 KRW is paid. Additionally, if it is decided to recover unjust profits, a tiered reward (0.2% to 2%) based on the amount of recovered unjust profits is added to the final reward payment.

Lee Hyung-sik, Director of the Fair Procurement Bureau at the Public Procurement Service, stated, “To detect unfair procurement practices conducted nationwide, active public interest and reporting are necessary. We will continue to promote the reward payment system to uncover hidden unfair procurement practices and strive to establish the fundamental foundation of public procurement based on fairness and common sense.”