INTERVIEW Korea to boost standing in global procurement market
Public Procurement Service Administrator Kim Chung-woo / Courtesy of Public Procurement Service
Procurement agency helps export of virus containment goods
By Lee Kyung-min
The government will continue assisting local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the export of key goods needed to contain the pandemic, as part of efforts to help the country become a leader in the global procurement market, the head of the state-run procurement service agency said Monday.
The pandemic-sparked health crisis has awakened the need for supply of key medical and protective equipment, a task facilitated by Public Procurement Service (PPS) amid its years-long preparedness to create an ecosystem whereby effective organization of purchase and public bidding programs bolster sustainable, innovative growth.
The agency places top priority on product quality assurance and by extension competitiveness of the producers, a goal strengthened by a rigorous review of purchase and public bidding records.
“We maintain stringent management of innovative products that will help Korea boost standing in the international procurement market. With our assistance, local manufacturers of products with a competitive edge will be able to sign large contracts with governments all around the world, and state-run and private firms overseas, thereby expanding global market base further,” PPS Administrator Kim Chung-woo said in an interview with The Korea Times.
The drive is well-demonstrated by the agency helping the export of anti-infection goods worth a total $12.08 million (13.4 billion won) via Korea ON-Line E-Procurement System (KONEPS), a PPS-operated online procurement data service. Seven products including face masks, non-contact infrared thermometers and goggles have been exported to six countries including the U.S., Qatar and Egypt.
The agency also helped 13 homegrown COVID-19 test kit makers register on the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM), the procurement portal of the United Nations System representing a global market of over $10 billion annually.
Apart from the pandemic-related health firms, the agency helped local exporters of IT and high-tech products sign contracts worth a combined $3.8 million with their counterparts in the U.S., Russia and India.
“The local procurement market is near saturation, prompting many of our strong firms to seek overseas markets for sustainable growth, a strategy for both survival and a vision for growth,” he said.
The monetary size of the global procurement market was about $12.8 trillion, only 1 percent of which was claimed by Korean firms. Korea's market share averaged 1.07 percent of the annual totals between 2016 and 2020.
“It is our mission to raise the figure by making our years of experience and expertise in the procurement market count, qualities recognized by the world's procurement market participants. Governments tend to favor firms of their own as business partners over those from other countries. Helping Korean firms overcome such challenges has always been and will remain our key objective,” he said.