Public Procurement Service Proactively Establishes New Product Categories Including Artificial Intelligence

The Public Procurement Service announced on the 27th that it will proactively identify and establish new product classifications (detailed item names) for artificial intelligence software and other items starting next month.

Product classification is a common classification system that assigns unique numbers to items used by public institutions based on their function, purpose, and nature. It is utilized throughout the entire public procurement process, including bidding, contracting, item management, and inspection. In other words, product classification is essential to enter the public procurement market.

Reflecting this, the Public Procurement Service will discover and apply new product classifications such as artificial intelligence software to establish a foundation for technology companies to enter the procurement market.

New product names for cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence software, service robots for musical instrument performance and professional cooking, and highly safe zinc-based secondary batteries, will be prioritized and newly established next month. These product names were newly created through recommendations directly made by specialized institutions well-versed in market technology trends, such as the Korea Testing Laboratory and the Korea Conformity Laboratories.

The Public Procurement Service plans to continuously add new product names by receiving opinions from public and private specialized institutions on a quarterly basis.

The Public Procurement Service will also sequentially expand the number of converged product names, which can use two or more product names together, linked with the general product name system to about 12,000.

Converged product names are expected to be used in more than 80% of technology-developed products such as innovative products, excellent products, and Venture Nara, helping to lower the entry barriers to the procurement market for research and development (R&D) companies with high technological capabilities.

Lim Gi-geun, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, said, “There are companies that experience difficulties from the very first step of public procurement, which is product registration. The Public Procurement Service will proactively prepare new product classifications before procurement companies apply for registration to resolve these difficulties and support companies with innovative will and technological capabilities to enter the procurement market quickly without time loss.”