The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) said on the 26th that it held the "2025 public procurement promotion conference" at Grand Walkerhill Seoul in Gwangjin District, Seoul.
The public procurement promotion conference, which began in 2001 and marks its 25th edition this year, is an event that awards and encourages outstanding public institutions and their staff, as well as exemplary small and medium-sized businesspeople, who have worked to increase public procurement of small and medium-sized enterprise products.
This year's awards totaled 40 across three institutional sectors, honoring four outstanding public institutions, 28 public institution contributors, and eight exemplary small and medium-sized business owners.
For the presidential citation in the outstanding public institution institutional sector, the Small Enterprise and Market Service was selected, and for the prime minister's citation, Namyangju City Urban Corporation, KMEDI hub, and Seoul Gwanak-gu Facility Management Corporation were each selected.
These four institutions were selected in recognition of their outstanding efforts to invigorate public procurement, including far exceeding the five statutory mandatory purchase ratios for items such as small and medium-sized enterprise products.
In particular, the Small Enterprise and Market Service, which received the presidential citation, greatly surpassed its mandatory purchase target ratio with an 88.7% purchase rate for small and medium-sized enterprise products, while Seoul Gwanak-gu Facility Management Corporation, KMEDI hub, and Namyangju City Urban Corporation, which received the prime minister's citation, posted purchase ratios of 85.4%, 84.3%, and 96.9%, respectively, and were recognized for actively supporting domestic small and medium-sized enterprises' entry into the public procurement market.
In the public procurement contributor institutional sector, Park Jin-hoe, Deputy Minister at the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA), received a presidential citation, and two prime minister's citations and 25 Minister of MSS citations were awarded to other public procurement contributors who actively helped increase purchases of small and medium-sized enterprise products. In addition, in the exemplary small and medium-sized businessperson institutional sector, Minister of MSS citations were awarded to eight small and medium-sized business representatives who supplied excellent products to the public procurement market through technology development and quality control efforts and contributed to job creation.
At the event, in addition to the merit awards ceremony, there was an exhibition of outstanding public procurement products to help small and medium-sized enterprises enter the public procurement market, and side events such as purchasing consultation sessions joined by institutions and corporations were also held.
Park Yong-sun, head of the SME Policy Office at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS), said, "We thank the many public institutions that have dedicated themselves and worked hard to promote public procurement of small and medium-sized enterprise products, and we ask for strong interest and participation from public institutions so this can become a springboard for the growth of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises," adding, "The MSS will also continue to improve and innovate so that the public procurement system can serve as a primer for the innovation and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises."