SMEs Demand "Procurement Policy Centered on Appropriate Pricing" at Meeting with Public Procurement Service Chief

The scene of the 'Meeting with the Small and Medium Business Community' hosted by the Small and Medium Business Administration on the 22nd, with Kim Jung-woo, Administrator of the Public Procurement Service, as the guest.
[Photo by Junggi Junganghoe]

[Asia Economy Reporter Junhyung Lee] "Activate the cooperative-recommended negotiated contract system and shift procurement policies to focus on appropriate pricing."

This was the demand poured out by small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) representatives at the 'Meeting with the SME Sector' hosted by the Korea Federation of SMEs on the 22nd, inviting Procurement Service Commissioner Kim Jung-woo.

This meeting, held to overcome the crisis faced by SMEs due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), was the second meeting with the SME sector since Commissioner Kim's inauguration last November.

On this day, the SME sector proposed 24 improvement measures related to procurement contracts and Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts, including ▲activation of the "cooperative-recommended negotiated contract" system ▲shift to procurement policies centered on appropriate pricing ▲temporary relaxation of credit rating evaluations during qualification assessments ▲easing penalty standards for unfair practices.

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, said, "Although there are still differences in the appropriate pricing for public procurement across industries, the theme of today's meeting is 'Warm Procurement,'" and requested, "We hope that the warmth of public procurement will spread widely by greatly accommodating the difficulties faced by SMEs."

In response, Commissioner Kim said, "We are paying attention to the crisis of SMEs and small business owners," and added, "We will frequently communicate with the SME sector and explore various support measures for SMEs until we overcome COVID-19."

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