Presentation
Utilization of IT in Korean Government Procurement System

Mr. Woo-Hyoung Park
Deputy Director, Public Procurement Service of the Republic of Korea

The Korean Government has a centralized Government Procurement System, with a central entity, the Public Procurement System (PPS) coordinating procurement. The PPS and their work are backed by the law and Presidential decree, which stipulate the scope of the services to be provided by the PPS. Procurement conducted by PPS in FY2000 totaled 16.3 trillion won, accounting for about 25% of the total of public procurement in Korea.

The PPS is currently concerned with lifting customer satisfaction and continuing its efforts in fair and transparent procurement. Government procurement using IT in the PPS includes EDI/EC, which was installed in December 2000, and currently EDI/EC accounts for 80% of transactions. Currently 8,950 entities are using EDI/EC. An Internet shopping mall was also put into operation in October 1998, through which 12,000 kinds of goods are traded, used by 15,000 entities. Electronic tendering was launched in November 2000, and has received wide interest and attendance by suppliers to date.

Concerning the effect of using IT on government procurement, it is estimated that 264 billion won have been saved through effective utilization of IT. Moreover, transparency and fairness have been enhanced, and the utilization of IT in the public sector has been accelerated. This has lead to the realization that government procurement can lead to the vitalization of electronic commerce on the private sector.

On the issue of problems to be solved, one of the large problems that has presented itself is ineffectiveness caused by the separate development of e-commerce systems on the part of different public entities. This has resulted in the waste of resources. There are other transaction types in addition to on-line procurement that need to be focused on in the future.

Plans exist for the government-wide utilization of IT for procurement, including an electronic payment system, a public procurement e-marketplace, in addition to the proliferation of electronic tendering and the provision of a single window for government entities. All of these future plans are projected to save in excess of 7,300 billion won.

The PPS has made efforts to set up a government-wide electronic procurement system, in collaboration with other procurement entities, and is innovatively using current hardware systems and developing software to fulfill customer's needs.

On the issue of international collaboration to utilize IT in government procurement, the establishment of an international authentication organization is needed to make EDI and electronic tendering feasible, and further exchange of information is called for on this issue.