"Daejeon City's Veterinary Contract 'Concentration Phenomenon'... Excessive and Opaque Cases Must Be Disclosed"

There are concerns that the concentration of direct contracts in Daejeon City is intensifying. While direct contracts serve the positive function of minimizing citizen inconvenience in administrative processes, their unique characteristic of selecting companies without a bidding process can potentially lead to suspicions of favoritism and preferential treatment. For the same reason, there are calls for Daejeon City to provide an explanation regarding the recently excessive proportion of direct contracts.

According to the analysis data of the ‘Daejeon City Contract Information Disclosure System’ released on the 25th by the Daejeon Participatory Autonomy Citizens' Coalition (hereinafter referred to as the Citizens' Coalition), direct contracts in Daejeon City (under the 8th elected administration) have increased across all areas of construction, goods, and services over the past year. Among these, the proportion of direct contracts in the service contract sector was confirmed to be as high as 90% of all contracts.

The total amount contracted during the first year of the 8th elected administration also increased compared to the 7th administration. The total contract amount for the first year of the 8th administration was 501.5 billion KRW, which is 39% higher than the 359 billion KRW contracted during the first year after the launch of the 7th administration.

In particular, the total amount of direct contracts under the 8th administration was 74.4 billion KRW, accounting for 14.8% of the total contract amount (359 billion KRW).

The proportion of direct contracts in the service sector is even higher. The scale of direct contracts in this sector during the first year of the 8th administration was 29.9 billion KRW, representing 33.5% of all service contracts.

Regarding this, the Citizens' Coalition argues, “Although most direct contracts are small amounts under 20 million KRW, the total amount is substantial, so fair execution of direct contracts and transparent disclosure of information must be ensured.”

The Citizens' Coalition’s argument is further supported by the peculiarity of companies targeted for direct contracts in the first year of the mayor’s term. This is because companies that had no contracts during the entire term of the previous mayor notably signed multiple contracts around the time the new mayor began their term.

For example, among the companies that signed contracts during the first year of the 8th administration, a total of 618 companies had never contracted with Daejeon City during the previous mayor’s term. These companies signed 932 contracts in total. By contract type, 89 companies signed 108 construction contracts, 263 companies signed 468 service contracts, and 266 companies signed 360 goods contracts.

Among these companies, 26 companies were confirmed to have signed four or more direct contracts (a total of 201 contracts) over the past year.

Notably, 17 of these 26 companies focused on service contracts, with these companies signing 154 contracts. However, the Citizens' Coalition estimates that service contracts related to disaster prevention technical guidance, influenced by amendments to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the Industrial Safety and Health Act, may have affected this.

The Citizens' Coalition stated, “The contract amounts per mayoral term have been rapidly increasing,” adding, “Among these, the increase in direct contracts was significant not only in the 8th administration but also in the 7th administration.”

At the same time, they emphasized, “However, for whatever reason, direct contracts cannot be free from criticism such as favoritism. Not only should the contract process be conducted carefully, but Daejeon City must actively disclose information regarding cases where direct contracts were conducted excessively or opaquely.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Lee Jang-woo of Daejeon City pointed out the excessive direct contracts made by certain companies during the previous mayor’s term (7th administration) at a weekly work meeting held the day before.

At the meeting, Mayor Lee said, “During the 7th administration, certain companies and their affiliated companies monopolized over 700 direct contracts, with contract amounts exceeding 2 billion KRW. To ensure that direct contracts provide opportunities to many local companies, please conduct thorough verification related to contracts.”

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