Seoul Disqualifies Company for Attempting Prior Contact with Judge in Design Competition Process

One of the Five Companies Shortlisted for Second-Round Design Competition
Disqualified Following Report of Unfair Practices

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 11th that it had immediately disqualified a company that attempted to make prior contact with a judging committee member during the design competition process for the Seoul Urban Metal Recovery Center modernization project.

The winning design of the Seoul Urban Metal Recovery Center modernization project, announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on the 2nd. Unrelated to the company mentioned in the article. Provided by the Seoul Metropolitan Government

Through its unfair practices reporting system, the Seoul Metropolitan Government identified that one of the five companies shortlisted for the second round of evaluation had attempted to contact a judge. After verifying the facts, the city decided to exclude the company from the evaluation process, based on the unanimous agreement of all judges.

To establish a fair design competition culture, the city prohibits prior contact and operates systems such as the unfair practices reporting system. This action serves as an example of institutional measures to prevent unfair practices being effectively implemented.

The city prohibits not only requests for exclusion, avoidance, or recusal between participants and judges, but also any private contact between participants and judges related to the design competition. The city has also emphasized ethical guidelines to judges through preliminary meetings and other means.

To further strengthen fairness, the city plans to implement the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Public Building Design Competition Operation Standards," which reflect improvements such as changes to the judge recommendation process and formalization of the unfair practices reporting system, within this month.

Lim Changsoo, Director of Future Space Planning at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "We will continue to improve the system so that excellent public buildings can be created by establishing a design competition system that prioritizes fairness and transparency based on expertise."