The government will buy more artificial intelligence (AI) products and services going forward. AI products and services will receive preferences in bidding and evaluations during public procurement.
On the 4th, a meeting of economy-related ministers chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Koo Yun-cheol of the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced a plan titled "Leading measures to boost the AI industry through public procurement."
Last year, through Nara Marketplace, the portal that handles bidding, contracts, and purchases for public institutions, the government made public purchases of AI-related goods and services totaling 409.3 billion won. That is up 65% over the past three years. Examples include AI elder care robots, AI-based recycling separation and discharge, and AI medical imaging reading diagnostic support software.
A government official said, "There is a need to use the public purchasing power that accounts for 9% (225 trillion won annually) of Korea's gross domestic product (GDP) to help the AI industry grow," and noted, "We aim to integrate AI into procurement operations to offer AI corporations opportunities in public projects."
To that end, promising AI products and services will first be actively identified. The Public Procurement Service plans to expand the share of AI products designated as innovative products from 18% last year to 25% by 2027. The innovative product designation system means the public sector, as the first buyer, pilots and preferentially purchases new technologies and products developed by the private sector. New AI service offerings with public demand—such as AI-based patrol, security, and wearable rental services—will also continue to be identified.
The registration process on Nara Marketplace for AI products will also be streamlined. In the procurement item list system, a new AI-related item name category will be created to shorten the administrative processing time for registering AI products from the current 8 days to 5 days. Currently, registration on Nara Marketplace is allowed only when there are delivery records of at least 30 million won and at least three companies meet that requirement; for AI-applied products, delivery record requirements will be waived and the number of companies will be relaxed to one or two. For such AI-applied products, document submission will be simplified to shorten the contract conclusion period from two months to within one month.
AI technology will also be integrated into the public procurement field itself. For procurement corporations, the entire procurement process—bidding, contracting, and registration—will be consulted using AI, and for demand-side agencies, AI will support proposal drafting and evaluation as well as contract management.