Number of Unfair Procurement Reports and Rewards Reach All-Time High

Last year, the number of reports on unfair procurement practices and the amount of reward payments reached an all-time high.

On the 8th, the Public Procurement Service (PPS) announced that 337 reports were received at the Unfair Procurement Reporting Center last year, and a total of 49.92 million KRW in reward payments were made.

Compared to the previous year, the number of reports increased by 99 cases (238 cases in 2023), and the amount of reward payments increased by 23.34 million KRW (26.58 million KRW in 2023), marking the largest scale ever recorded.

The increase in reports of unfair procurement is attributed to various system improvements made by the PPS last year.

In particular, raising the reward payment limit per report from 10 million KRW to 20 million KRW, and increasing the reward rate on recovered illicit gains from a range of 0.02%?1.0% to 0.2%?2.0%, significantly boosted the reward amounts, which was effective in encouraging more reports.

The PPS also expanded the frequency of reward payments from twice a year (semiannually) to four times a year (quarterly), shortening the reward payment cycle.

This led to an increase in the annual reward payment amounts from 500,000 KRW in 2021, to 12.98 million KRW in 2022, 26.58 million KRW in 2023, and 49.92 million KRW last year.

As of last year, 52 reporters of unfair procurement received rewards ranging from a minimum of 200,000 KRW to a maximum of 4.73 million KRW per person, depending on the number of reports and the severity of the reported content.

After investigating the reported cases, when the reported companies receive disciplinary actions such as restrictions on bidding qualifications, fines, or suspension of transactions, the PPS pays a fixed reward of 500,000 to 1 million KRW plus a reward based on the recovered illicit gains (0.2%?2%) as the total reward.

Anyone can report unfair procurement practices through the PPS website or the “Unfair Procurement Reporting Center” on the Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS).

Lim Gi-geun, Administrator of the PPS, said, “The public’s interest and courageous reporting are the driving forces to eradicate unfair procurement practices,” and added, “The PPS will strive to establish the fundamental foundation of public procurement where fairness and common sense prevail.”

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