S. Korea is one of a few nations who has skillfully ridden out of a global economic crisis, and has seen a faster-than-expected economic recovery. Financial uncertainties in Europe, however, have started to weigh on the Korean economy. Against this backdrop, the Public Procurement Service (PPS) came up with a plan to hold Korea Public Procurement Expo 2010 (KOPPEX 2010) at COEX in Seoul from April 21 through 23, in order to breathe new life into Korean suppliers.
KOPPEX 2010, which marks the 61 anniversary of the establishment of the Public Procurement Service (PPS), will feature the Green Product pavilion, the Best Product Pavilion, the Employment Pavilion and the Export Promotion Pavilion.
In addition, FURSYS, a Korean office furniture supplier, and Caravan, a Korean manufacturer of instant canopies and structured shelters, will make presentations on their successful entry to overseas public procurement markets. The Export-Import Bank of Korea (Korea Eximbank) and KOTRA, a national trade promotion organization, will introduce their policies aimed at facilitating foreign market entry. KOPPEX 2010 will be attended by 47 foreign public-sector buyers and professional procurers from 10 nations including America, China and the Philippines.
Products worthy of attention
CT&T, a Korean manufacturer of electric vehicles, will showcase its electric vehicle that is small and light just like toy cars, but is fully equipped with all of the trappings of any other car. A CT&T official said, "Unlike full-speed electric vehicles, low-speed electric vehicles are not designed for ditching gas- fueled cars but rather for making short drives.
Samjoung International will show off its NOSK (Nose+Mask=NOSK), an innovative, three-layered filter that is inserted into the nasal cavity to filter hazardous minute substances without causing any breathing difficulties. NOSK is an anti-pollution device, designed to prove its worth in yellow dust storms and industrial sites where dust control is badly needed. It is registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was supplied to the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti when the nation was devastated by a strong earthquake.
Matchmaking services
KOPPEX 2010 is a well-crafted event with much emphasis on linking foreign public-sector buyers to the best products. The recent signing of the Korea-EU FTA has ratcheted up Korea's interest in making forays into overseas public procurement markets. The Export Promotion Pavilion at KOPPEX 2010 is intended to lay the groundwork for Korean companies entering overseas public procurement markets.
Korea's biggest public procurement Expo
The Public Procurement Service (PPS) has singled out nearly 2,600 products as the best items for public procurement since 1996; and products worth KRW 4.9 trillion have been supplied to public organizations. Sales of the best items toppled the KRW 1 trillion mark in 2009, and the PPS has set its sales target for this year at KRW 1.3 trillion. From 2000 to 2009, about 1,400 companies had partaken in KOPPEX and a total of over 3,800 items had been on display. KOPPEX, whose total number of visitors tops 250,000, is on track to become Korea's biggest public procurement event.
Building on its previous successes, KOPPEX is moving toward becoming one of the best-known international public procurement expositions like America's GSA EXPO, and has dispatched a trade mission to GSA EXPO every year.
The Korea On-line E-Procurement System and its Achievements
The Korea On-Line E-procurement System (KONEPS), which started its service in September 2002, has 39,000 public entities and approximately 190,000 companies as its members. KONEPS is a system that offers one-stop procurement services, ranging from bidding and signing contracts to making payments. In 2009, 235,000 bids worth KRW 63 trillion were executed and an average of 2,324 companies made bids during the year.
In September, 2002, the PPS launched KONEPS, which was one of the Korean government's 11 e-government projects and intended for the across-the-board implementation of an electronic procurement system in the public sector.
Since then, KONEPS has continuously upgraded its ubiquitous services to meet the needs of its customers: searching for information and entering bids were made possible on personal digital assistants (PDA); mobile bidding services became available on mobile phones; and since April of this year a finger print-based e-bidding system has been put in place to nip illegal bidding attempts in the bud.
Major functions and anticipated effects
All of the procurement procedures, from company registration and contracts to making payments, are electronically carried out and all bids placed by public entities are publicly announced. KONEPS serves as a total one-stop solution allowing its entire member companies to tender for all public procurement contracts. The systems of over 110 organizations - including the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS), financial institutions and relevant associations - are linked to KONEPS to offer one-stop services to suppliers engaged in public procurement. KONEPS's way of doing business significantly enhances the transparency of Korea's public procurement procedures, and saves as much as KRW 8 trillion in transaction costs annually. What's more, a pilot version of KONEPS worth US$ 3 million was set up in Vietnam last year and the PPS is currently building an e-procurement system worth US$ 8 million in Costa Rica.
Nearly 70 nations around the world have sent their delegations to S. Korea to benchmark KONEPS; 15 nations including Mongolia, Romania and Russia signed MOUs on electronic procurement with S. Korea.
