[2020 National Audit] "Daeo-yeon Cost Estimation Service, Audit Office Retired Officials' Firms Practically Monopoly"

Total of 35 Direct Contracts for Consignment Service Projects Ordered in the Last 6 Years
Yoo Dong-su "Repeated Direct Contracts May Raise Suspicions of Collusion"

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (left) is seen performing a puzzle-matching activity with Kim Heung-jong, President of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), at the KIEP 30th Anniversary Seminar held on the 5th at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been pointed out that a specific company is virtually monopolizing the cost survey service contracts managed by the government-funded research institute, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).

According to data submitted by the Economic and Social Research Council to Yoo Dong-su, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, KIEP has signed all cost survey outsourcing contracts (a total of 35 projects, 25 contracts by number) over the past six years exclusively with a company established by retired officials from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

The company in question is the Management Accounting Research Institute affiliated with the Gamwoohoe (an association of retired Board of Audit and Inspection officials) and its successor, the Economic Policy Research Institute, both founded by retired officials from the Board of Audit and Inspection.

KIEP and the Management Accounting Research Institute first signed a cost survey service contract in 2015, with KIEP stating that the Management Accounting Research Institute was selected because its estimated costs were lower compared to competing companies.

However, since the three contracts made in 2015, there have been no estimates submitted by other companies for cost survey services conducted from 2016 to the present.

Since cost survey services are not projects that only the Management Accounting Research Institute or the Economic Policy Research Institute can perform, price and research plan comparisons with other companies are necessary, but this appears to have been neglected.

According to Representative Yoo, all 35 research proposals submitted by the Management Accounting Research Institute and the Economic Policy Research Institute were merely modified by changing the research director, event name, and amount.

In the case of the "2016 International Event Feasibility Study Cost Survey," which bundled eight cost survey projects including the African Development Bank Annual Meeting, Wando International Seaweed Expo, and Geumsan World Ginseng Expo, a direct contract was signed with the Management Accounting Research Institute.

Although these eight events differ in event type, timing, and location, the Management Accounting Research Institute won all eight cost survey projects with a single research plan that only changed the participating researchers' names for each project.

Representative Yoo said, "While the cost survey services ordered by KIEP are indeed projects eligible for direct contracts under the National Contract Act, the repeated direct contracts with a specific company that have been pointed out multiple times by the National Assembly inevitably raise suspicions of collusion."

He added, "As the saying 'coincidence does not imply causation' goes, projects of government-funded research institutes funded by taxpayers' money must be conducted transparently without any doubt."

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