Public Procurement Service to Establish 'Next-Generation Nara Market' by 2023

Annual Implementation Plan Data for the Next-Generation Nara Market Construction Project. Provided by the Public Procurement Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Public Procurement Service (PPS) is undertaking a complete overhaul of the national comprehensive electronic procurement system, Nara Market.

The PPS announced on the 25th that it will promote the "Next-Generation Nara Market Construction Project" by 2023.

This full-scale revamp of Nara Market is the first since its introduction in 2002, after 18 years. Although partial improvements and repairs have been made over time, the PPS explained that due to the difference in system usage scale between the time of introduction and the current period, issues such as a surge in failures and slowdowns have persisted, prompting the decision to proceed with a complete overhaul.

In fact, the transaction volume of Nara Market grew more than threefold from 36.2 trillion won in 2003 to 102.8 trillion won last year. During the same period, the number of registered demand institutions increased from 25,529 to 57,734, registered procurement companies from 92,042 to 434,062, and electronic public notices from about 140,000 to 436,188, highlighting the necessity for a full system overhaul.

Accordingly, the PPS has been promoting the next-generation Nara Market construction project from 2018 with a long-term perspective to fundamentally resolve these issues.

The next-generation Nara Market construction project focuses on user orientation, the adoption of the latest intelligent information technologies, and the unification of electronic procurement channels, aiming for phased reform work to be completed by 2023.

First, this year, the PPS plans to focus on initial analysis and design (ISMP) to analyze and design tasks, identify informatization elements, establish integration standards for its own electronic procurement system, and secure related budgets.

Next year, it will undergo a verification process for the integration of its own electronic procurement system and proceed with preparations for the actual service launch.

A total budget of 132 billion won (based on the preliminary feasibility study results) is expected to be invested in the next-generation Nara Market construction, with 35.9 billion won in 2021, 47.4 billion won in 2022, and 48.7 billion won in 2023 to be spent respectively.

Jung Moo-kyung, Administrator of the PPS, said, "Nara Market is a core infrastructure of public procurement and a major national system used by numerous demand institutions and procurement companies," adding, "The PPS will concentrate its capabilities to ensure the successful completion of the next-generation Nara Market construction."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.