Korean e-procurement system booming worldwide

KONEPS, or Korea Online E-procurement System, is drawing more attention from abroad than ever, the Public Procurement Service said.

The Korean e-procurement system provides a convenient one-stop service, enabling users to process all necessary operations for procurement ― registration, bidding, contract, and payment ― together, PPS said.

Korea has signed multiple memorandums of understanding with 19 countries worldwide on e-procurement.

PPS Administrator Kang Ho-in said, “Exporting KONEPS is an effective way for Korean companies to make inroads in the global procurement market, especially when the free trade agreements with other countries are expanding our platform to the global market.”

Four countries ― Vietnam, Mongolia, Costa Rica and Tunisia ― have already imported the KONEPS to transfer to an electronic procurement system.

“Vietnam, Mongolia and Costa Rica adopted KONEPS early and have already begun running the new system,” a PPS spokesman said. “Tunisia is planning to complete establishing the KONEPS framework by the end of 2012.”

For these four countries, the contract period ranges from one to two years, at a cost of between 2.6 billion won ($2.4 million) and 10.6 billion won ($9.7 million) for each country. 

While developing countries had been the main bench-markers of Korea’s e-procurement system in the past, an increasing number of developed countries ― members of the European Union in particular ― are eyeing KONEPS, the PPS said.

“Just this year, we had as many as 40 separate visits of foreign delegates,” a PPS spokesman said. “We are having more visits from Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Norway, the EU and Eurasian Economic Community than ever.”

Demand for higher efficiency in finance amid the European financial crisis are behind the steep increase in the visiting foreign delegates to Korea, the PPS said.

The procurement agency said that the outlook for continuous export of KONEPS is promising, as Cameroon has completed a soundness check on KONEPS. “Algeria and Jordan are also currently going through the soundness assessment, and some countries including Honduras and Colombia are especially interested in importing KONEPS,” the PPS said.

The next step for exporting KONEPS worldwide is to come up with “tailored strategy” that reflects each client country’s system frame, the procurement agency said.

“For developing countries, we invite their officials to Korea to attend seminars and many other related curriculums,” a PPS official said. “In general, we build up and consolidate the cooperative network first, and offer many kinds of support.”

The agency offers instruction to countries that have already purchased KONEPS so that the online system can settle and operate stably. Officials of Vietnam, Mongolia, Costa Rica and Tunisia have taken the professional program on KONEPS in Korea, according to the PPS.

With developed countries, however, the PPS is putting more effort into signing memorandums of understanding on e-procurement and increasing export partnerships, the agency said. “We try to differentiate business strategies according to the economic conditions and the level of information technology of each developed country,” a PPS spokesman said.

“Once KONEPS is stably settled in developed countries, it will be much easier for us to export it to their neighboring countries,” he said.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)