[HERALD INTERVIEW] Public Procurement Service supports SMEs through expo

Some 460 small- and medium-sized enterprises are participating in an annual expo to market their technologies and products to large companies, public institutions and foreign buyers from Wednesday through Friday.

The Korea Public Procurement Expo 2022, organized by the Public Procurement Service and held at Halls 3, 4 and 5 of the Korea International Exhibition Center 1 at Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, will help Korean companies that suffered amid the pandemic stretch their wings in the market that has begun to normalize.

“This year’s expo is held to promote new technologies and new products of procurement companies and startups which have been struggling due to the pandemic, and give them an opportunity to explore new sales channels at home and abroad,” PPS Administrator Kim Chung-woo said in an email interview with The Korea Herald.

During the expo, one-on-one sales consultations will be arranged between the SMEs and large firms, as well as public institutions such as Korea Expressway Corp., Korea Land and Housing Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp.

The SMEs will present their products to potential clients for seven minutes, and answer questions for another seven minutes during the consultation sessions.

In addition to guided tours offered at the expo, gifts will be given to visitors who collect stamps from the exhibit halls, and quiz events will be held.

An international procurement workshop, which has been held simultaneously with the expo since 2016, will be held both online and offline this year in cooperation with the nonprofit organization Open Contracting Partnership.

Experts and procurement personnel at international organizations will attend as panels of the workshop held under the theme of “economic recovery and preparing for the future through public procurement.”

Also to be offered at the expo site are training sessions for officials at public institutions looking to purchase goods or services, and an international seminar on environmental, social and corporate governance and purchasing and procurement strategy.

The seminar, organized by the Korea Association of Procurement and Supply Management and the Korea Institute of Procurement, is scheduled to be held from 2 p.m. through 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

One-on-one online consultations will be held between local startups and 42 foreign buyers in 17 countries such as the US and Turkey at a video conference site within the exhibition hall.

On Wednesday, there will be online lectures on programs for SMEs to expand overseas, how to tap into the US government procurement market, and understanding the Korea International Cooperation Agency’s procurement contracts.

This year, the PPS will focus on early execution of procurement contracts and supporting startups run by young entrepreneurs to help stimulate the economy.

“The PPS will execute 63 percent of its procurement contracts worth some 34.2 trillion won in the first half of this year, up from 27.1 trillion won in the first half of last year,” Kim said.

“More than 10 percent of our budget (of 46.5 billion won) for purchasing innovative products will go to youth startups, and we plan to increase support for SMEs and startups. The expo this month is an example.”

The PPS will also increase supply from its stockpile of raw materials; focus on stable supply and management of public health and safety-related goods; and prioritize safety in contracts and management of public facilities, according to Kim.

Another area of focus for the PPS is implementing social values in public procurement.

The PPS plans to introduce ESG in public procurement by gradually reducing the supply of internal combustion engine vehicles on the PPS online shopping mall. It will also increase purchases of electric and hydrogen cars.

The PPS will also increase support for innovative products and expand its digital, database-based procurement service, Kim said.

Another major task the PPS is working on is upgrading the Korea Online E-Procurement System (KONEPS), where comprehensive information on procurement of all public organizations is provided and the entire government procurement process is handled.

About half a million businesses and some 60,000 institutions are currently using KONEPS, and the amount of transactions made on the system has more than tripled from 36 trillion won in its opening year of 2002 to 120 trillion won last year.

User inconvenience has increased, however, due to system failures and slow speed. The need for a new service that applies artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and blockchain technologies led to a three-year, 100-billion won project to build the next generation version of KONEPS.

“Slated to open in the first half of 2024, the new KONEPS will offer an intuitive menu and screen organization for better user experience, greater mobile service and paperless procurement administration,” Kim said.

By Lee Kwon-hyung (kwonhl@heraldcorp.com) and Kim So-hyun(sophie@heraldcorp.com)