Serious Concerns Over Favoritism Toward Specific Companies
Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Calls for Full Disclosure of Negotiated Contracts
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice announced on September 3 that it had requested the Daegu City Audit Committee, through the National Petition Portal, to inspect and take corrective action regarding the disclosure practices of negotiated contract information by public corporations, public institutions, and investment or funded organizations. These entities are either not disclosing such information on their official websites or only partially disclosing it.
The organizations that the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice requested the Daegu City Audit Committee to inspect include the Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation, Daegu Agricultural and Marine Products Distribution Corporation, Daegu Urban Development Corporation, Daegu Foundation for Arts and Culture, Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation, Daegu Technopark, and Exco Co., Ltd., totaling seven institutions.
Additionally, the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice requested an inspection of the disclosure practices of negotiated contract information at Daegu City-affiliated institutions and organizations, which are subject to the "Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies" and the "Act on Contracts to Which Local Governments Are a Party."
The Daegu Public Facilities Management Corporation only discloses details of negotiated contracts worth 20 million won or more on its website. The Daegu Credit Guarantee Foundation and Daegu Urban Development Corporation disclose contracts worth 10 million won or more, while the Daegu Foundation for Arts and Culture, Daegu Technopark, and Exco Co., Ltd. disclose only contracts worth 5 million won or more.
According to the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice, the most notable feature of the negotiated contracts for goods under 5 million won and construction or service contracts under 10 million won, which Exco Co., Ltd. did not disclose on its website but only provided to the coalition for the period from 2023 to 2024, is the concentration of contracts with specific companies. During this period, the company that secured the highest number of such contracts was IMCom, with 111 contracts. On average, this company signed 55.5 negotiated contracts per year. The total value of negotiated contracts signed by this company over two years was 322 million won.
The concentration of contract amounts is also severe. According to industry insiders, there are companies that have won more than 60% of the negotiated contract amounts in the relevant sector. The fact that Exco Co., Ltd.'s negotiated contracts for goods under 5 million won and construction or service contracts under 10 million won are so heavily concentrated with specific companies raises strong suspicions of favoritism.
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice stated, "Disclosure of information related to negotiated contracts is the minimum institutional mechanism to ensure fairness and transparency in such contracts. It is also virtually the only internal and external control over the personnel in charge of negotiated contracts at each institution, especially when the contract scale is small." The coalition added, "Failing to disclose information related to negotiated contracts, or arbitrarily setting disclosure standards to only partially disclose such information, not only violates the law but also undermines the fairness and transparency of negotiated contracts. This is an extremely serious issue."
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice plans to continue its activities to enhance the fairness and transparency of negotiated contracts at Daegu City's public corporations, public institutions, investment or funded organizations, and affiliated institutions and organizations, including the disclosure of all information related to negotiated contracts.
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