Establishment of Public SW Project Task Change Guide... Operation of Unfair Report Center

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Jo] On the 22nd, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it will establish a task change guide to ensure fair and reasonable task changes during the execution of public software (SW) projects and operate an unfair task change reporting center.

This is a follow-up measure to the supplementary measures for reducing working hours in the software sector reported at the National Policy Inspection and Coordination Meeting in February.

Software projects have the characteristic that requirements become more specific as the system is built, making task changes inevitable during the project period. However, in this process, it has been pointed out that task changes are made without sufficient consultation between the ordering agency and the contractor, or that follow-up measures such as contract amount and period adjustments are insufficient, leading to poor working conditions in the software labor environment.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Science and ICT revised the Enforcement Decree of the Software Industry Promotion Act to ensure that necessary follow-up measures such as contract amount and period adjustments are carried out, and subsequently developed and distributed a guide containing related details.

The core contents of the task change guide include ▲ recommended criteria for judging appropriate task changes ▲ task change procedures, composed of practical contents necessary for ordering agencies and software contractors in the field to handle task changes.

The criteria for judging appropriate task changes are ▲ task changes due to changes in laws and systems such as legal amendments ▲ task changes due to technical or policy environment changes ▲ minor task changes agreed upon by both ordering and contracting parties that can be performed without adjusting project costs. Among these, it is recommended that cases other than minor task changes agreed upon by both parties go through the review of the Task Change Deliberation Committee.

In addition, the task change procedures are to be carried out according to relevant laws and regulations as follows: ▲ request for task content change (contractor → ordering agency) ▲ formation of the Task Change Deliberation Committee (5 to 10 experts) ▲ task change deliberation (adjustment of contract period and contract amount) ▲ notification of deliberation results (within 14 days after the request, ordering agency → contractor) ▲ preparation and management of task content change management records (ordering agency) ▲ contract amount adjustment (ordering agency).

A reporting center will also be operated where unfair task changes occurring in the field can be reported. Currently, the Korea Software Industry Association (KOSA), which handles complaints about unfair acts in software projects, operates a public-private joint software monitoring team that directly manages the center. Reports can be submitted both offline and online through the association’s website (www.sw.or.kr).

Song Kyung-hee, Software Policy Officer at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “Through the development of this ‘Task Change Guide’ and the operation of the reporting center, we expect to help improve the culture of ordering and contracting in public software projects and the working environment of developers by ensuring fair and reasonable task changes.” He added, “We will continue to actively strive to create a better working environment for software contractors and developers in the future.”

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