Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Designates Competitive Products Among SMEs for 2025-2027

A Total of 610 Competing Product Items Designated

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced on the 27th that it has established the "Designation Details of Competitive Products Among Small Business Operators and Direct Purchase Items for Construction Materials for 2025-2027," covering a total of 610 items of competitive products among small business operators to be applied over three years from 2025 to 2027, which will be enforced starting January 1, 2025.

The competitive system among small business operators is a system where only small businesses can participate in bidding for products designated every three years by the Minister of SMEs and Startups.

This designation of competitive products began with explanatory sessions on how to apply for competitive products targeting small businesses, cooperatives, and venture business associations. The Korea Federation of SMEs accepted applications for items requiring competitive product designation from early March to the end of April, receiving a total of 639 items on April 30.

The Federation reviewed the effects of designating competitive products, the status of related companies, public procurement amounts, and whether the items met the recommendation criteria for competitive products over three months for the 639 items. Additionally, after collecting opinions related to the designation of competitive products from related cooperatives, associations, and stakeholders, it recommended a total of 619 items to the Ministry of SMEs and Startups on July 31.

The Ministry divided the recommended 619 items into five subcommittees to review the appropriateness of designation and formed expert committees for each subcommittee consisting of experts by item and field.

The expert committees conducted in-depth reviews over three months on all items through public hearings and coordination of opinions from stakeholders (public institutions, large and medium-sized enterprises, etc.), examining the appropriateness of designation and the scope of designation (including special matters), and submitted the review proposals to the Small Business Competitive System Operation Committee.

Based on the review proposals examined by the expert committees and the opinions of the committee members, the Operation Committee resolved to designate a final total of 610 items as competitive products and received and reviewed opinions from related ministries and stakeholders through administrative notice.

The main points of this competitive product designation are as follows.

First, the newly designated competitive products for 2025-2027 include 14 items such as remote terminal devices (limited to disaster prevention facilities ordered independently), electric vehicle charging devices (limited to 50 kW or less), and commercial electric ranges.

Among the 619 items recommended by the Federation, 9 items were decided to be excluded from designation. The reasons included deficiencies in recommendation or designation requirements, lack of practical benefits from designation, and detection of collusion among a significant number of companies.

Choi Won-young, Director of Global Growth Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, stated, “The competitive market among small businesses guarantees a minimum business area in the public sector where only small businesses can participate,” adding, “As of last year, it accounted for 28 trillion won, representing 22% of the total public procurement amount of small business products, playing an important role in opening sales channels for small businesses.”

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