Administrator Kim Sangkyu of the Public Procurement Service (PPS)

The Korea Public Procurement Expo 2015 (KOPPEX 2015) has established itself as Korea’s largest G2B tradeshow. As many as 2,440 SMEs with technology prowess have participated in the expo, with spectators reaching 470,000 since its inauguration in 2010. 

“PPS does not rest on its achievements but accelerates efforts to evolve KOPPEX into the likes of GSA Expo of the United States,” said Administrator Kim Sangkyu of the Public Procurement Service (PPS). “We strive to do our best to make Korean companies take their cues from foreign technology trends and latest technologies or seize up them as their benchmark by expanding participants in KOPPEX to buyers with purchasing power, ranking foreign officials and foreign ambassadors and attracting foreign prominent companies,” he added. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and PPS Administrator Kim in which he spoke of his procurement policies, including the one designed to promote the development of the software industry.

Question: The Korea Public Procurement Expo 2015 (KOPPEX 2015) ended recently. Are you satisfied with the outcome of the expo?

Answer:  KOPPEX is Korea’s biggest G2B exhibition that’s designed to give a helping hand to SMEs with technology which find it hard to secure buyers. 

KOPPEX 2015, marking the 16th year, featured four technology excellence pavilions and a traditional culture product pavilion, designed to promote harmony between advanced new technology items and tradition, as well as a government pavilion designed to introduce excellent procurement regimes and systems. 

A total of 177 exhibitors with technology occupied 525 booths where 700 exhibits were displayed. KOPPEX 2015 held 10 rounds of conference sessions on overseas markets targeting representatives from Korean SMEs to help them more effectively make inroads into the relevant markets. I identify the latest expo as a success with as many as more than 40,000 spectators.    

Q: I’ve heard that the latest expo displayed safety-related products, which have been drawing keen attention in the wake of the sinking of the ferry Sewol, and software items, considered to back up the creative economy.

A: The 2014 disaster of the Sewol and the recent supply of untested fire-fighting garments have heightened public misgivings over safety. PPS, acting on a tip over the supply of untested fire-fighting garments, got to the bottom of the story by comparing the supplies and tested ones. 

True to the catchphrase “Quality and Safety,” KOPPEX 2015 introduced a pavilion on safety-related products for the first time. Such new technologies of the software industry as solution of e-document conferences and intelligent remotely-controlled software were also demonstrated, thus contributing to realizing of the creative economy. 

Q: KOPPEX 2015 attracted many foreign buyers. Will you tell our readers about exporting performances?

A: Since KOPPEX 2009, PPS has had a pavilion on overseas market exploration designed to help companies that have items with an exporting competitive edge, but lack overseas marketing capabilities. The latest tradeshow invited 15 foreign buyers from five countries - Vietnam, India, Russia, Australian and New Zealand - which were selected by careful screening among those wanting to buy Korean-made products. Six excellent procurement suppliers singed a combined $9.35 million worth of contracts with the foreign buyers, up from $5.75 million in 2014. 

Q: Excellent procurement suppliers with technology now need to turn to overseas markets. What support policies does PPS have in place to back such companies?

A: The domestic procurement market is in a state of saturation as competition is getting fiercer. Korean companies will have to turn to overseas procurement markets whose pies get bigger thanks to the signing of FTAs. The size of the overseas procurement market, deemed feasible for Korean companies, is estimated at roughly $6.2 trillion, emerging as opportunities for Korean companies. 

We at PPS have so far made strenuous efforts to help Korean SMEs with technology make inroads into foreign markets. PPS implements lots of support steps such as the designation of companies with G-Pass (Government Performance ASSured) certificates, concentrating its support on the selected ones such as dispatching  them abroad as part of market exploration teams. These efforts have paid off: Korean excellent procurement suppliers made a feat of posting $210 million in exports from the overseas procurement market in 2014. 

PPS aims at raking up $300 million from the foreign procurement market this year by providing such support measures as establishing an online procurement system linking Korean companies and foreign buyers.

Q: Will you elaborate on steps to further evolve KOPPEX?

A: KOPPEX has been growing into Korea’s largest G2B tradeshow as 2,440-odd SMEs have partaken in the expo and spectators have accrued to some 470,000 so far since 2010. The expo is committed to playing an important part in parlaying SMEs’ base in the Korean procurement market into inroads into foreign markets with the goal of becoming global companies. 

PPS does not rest on its achievements but accelerates efforts to evolve KOPPEX into the likes of GSA Expo of the United States. We strive to do our best to make Korean companies take their cues from foreign technology trends and the latest technologies or seize them as their benchmark. Under the circumstance, PPS puts its emphasis on expanding participants in KOPPEX to buyers with purchasing power, ranking foreign officials, and foreign ambassadors and attracting foreign prominent companies.  

Q: You have a keen attention in promoting the exporting of the “Narajangteo,” or the Korea Online e-Procurement System (KONEPS). Do things go well?

A: KONEPS, a sort of cyber market for digitalizing the entire procurement procedure ranging from vendor registration to payments, has gained global recognition since its launch in 2002. 

KONEPS has become the subject of attention from developing counties as the e-procurement system was the first one to win the U.N. Public Service Awards in 2003, and it has been rated a world-class e-procurement brand by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank. 

KONEPS has been exported to five countries — Vietnam, Mongolia, Costa Rica, Tunisia and Cameroon. Rwanda and Jordan will likely adopt KONEPS during this year. PPS plans to hold negotiations on the exporting of the Korean e-procurement system to Ethiopia and Ukraine. I will tour Ukraine to discuss the matter. 

Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Strategy and Finance Choi Kyung-hwan and PPS Administrator Kim Sangkyu and other notables tour the Korea Public Procurement Expo 2015 that took place at COEX from March 18-20. Dignitaries look at a potter’s skills at the KOPEX 2015. (Photos:PPS)

Q: PPS created the New Technology Service Bureau early this year. Is it related with nurturing value-added industries? What’s the significance?

A: Our government’s core tasks for the realization of the creative economy are to nurture service industries that have a greater impact on creating jobs and interrelationships among industries. The creation of the New Technology Service Bureau in PPS in January indicates our government's determination with its policies to make public procurement a channel for aggressively providing support to market exploration of new technologies and service products on behalf of people, companies, and markets.   

Q: Will you explain PPS's policy to help software be supplied at fair prices through the procurement market?

A: PPS, which handles a 70 percent share of the public software market, plans to promote the development of the domestic software industry by making the most of tender and bidding systems. 

First, PPS plans to raise the portion of software put on separate biddings by public entities, which now stands at 40 percent. PPS will register new software on the shopping mall of KONEPS and require them to be put on separate biddings regardless of the amount. The portion of separate biddings on software will be increased. 

Second, software makers will be given proper rewards for additional tasks. To this end, PPS plans to launch a pilot project this year to put software design and construction on separate biddings, calling for changes and additional tasks to receive further rewards. PPS plans to revise guidelines on budget compilation to make planning projects exceeding given amounts mandatory.

Q: Will you explain about the direction of procurement policies your administration will implement during this year?

A: PPS's core value is to provide best quality products and services on top of the efficient and transparent execution of budget. PPS now has to attach procurement priority on ensuring quality and safety. 

We plan to make sure substandard procurement products do not disrupt administration services, as is the case of untested fire-fighting garments. We plan to strengthen surveillance and checks against those who disrupt market order, such as violators of regulations on country of origin for such products as manhole covers.

Given the fact that the creative economy cannot be realized without technology innovation, PPS plans to lower requirements for start-ups and venture companies to be designated as excellence procurement product makers and boost their market access. This move is part of our efforts to accelerate the realization of the creative economy though public procurement.