According to data submitted by the Public Procurement Service, one in three innovative products purchased with government funds did not have post-use reports submitted on time. Instances of missing reports have raised concerns about the inadequate management of products acquired with taxpayer money.
On October 18, data from Kim Sang-hoon, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, revealed that the submission rate for completion reports on innovative product pilot uses was only 68.1% last year. This marks a decline from 100% in both 2021 and 2022, dropping to 97.6% in 2023 and 79.1% in 2024, before falling to 68.1% last year. As of August this year, the submission rate was slightly better at 68.3%.
The pilot purchase of innovative products involves the Public Procurement Service acquiring these products and providing them to demand agencies, which then verify their performance and quality in the field. Agencies are required to submit completion reports within one month after the pilot use ends. The Public Procurement Service evaluates the products based on these reports.
There has also been a significant increase in late submissions. The number of delayed reports rose from 11 in 2023 to 148 last year, an increase of approximately 13.5 times. Meanwhile, the number of reports required for submission remained relatively stable, with 466 in 2023, 464 in 2024, and 473 in 2025.
Instances of missing reports began to emerge last year, and as of the end of August this year, a total of 22 reports had not been submitted. The contract amounts for these products totaled approximately 3.4 billion won.
Notably, there were nine cases of missing reports with contract amounts exceeding 100 million won, totaling around 2.7 billion won, which accounts for 81.5% of the total missing report amounts. Major public institutions and national agencies, including the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and the National Cancer Center, were among those with missing reports.
Concerns have also been raised regarding the Public Procurement Service's evaluation results, which appear overly positive. In annual evaluations of pilot projects, the success rate has consistently exceeded 90% since reaching 100% in 2021. However, the rate of 'insufficient' evaluations dropped sharply to 9.3% in 2023 and fell to 1.5% in both 2024 and 2025, with only 0.5% as of August this year.
Despite these issues, the budget for purchasing innovative products has been increasing. This year's budget is set at 83.9 billion won, approximately 1.6 times higher than last year's 52.9 billion won. The proposed budget for next year's government innovative product pilot purchases is 113 billion won.
It remains unclear what actual penalties have been imposed on demand agencies that submitted reports late or failed to submit them altogether, raising questions about the management of report submissions.
Lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon stated, "While the budget for innovative product pilot purchases has increased by 1.6 times in a year, the fact that agencies that used 3.4 billion won worth of products failed to submit 22 completion reports by the end of August is a serious management failure. Increasing the budget without verifying results is neglect rather than support."
Kim added, "The Public Procurement Service must establish effective penalty measures for agencies that violate reporting obligations."
On October 18, data from Kim Sang-hoon, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, revealed that the submission rate for completion reports on innovative product pilot uses was only 68.1% last year. This marks a decline from 100% in both 2021 and 2022, dropping to 97.6% in 2023 and 79.1% in 2024, before falling to 68.1% last year. As of August this year, the submission rate was slightly better at 68.3%.
The pilot purchase of innovative products involves the Public Procurement Service acquiring these products and providing them to demand agencies, which then verify their performance and quality in the field. Agencies are required to submit completion reports within one month after the pilot use ends. The Public Procurement Service evaluates the products based on these reports.
There has also been a significant increase in late submissions. The number of delayed reports rose from 11 in 2023 to 148 last year, an increase of approximately 13.5 times. Meanwhile, the number of reports required for submission remained relatively stable, with 466 in 2023, 464 in 2024, and 473 in 2025.
Instances of missing reports began to emerge last year, and as of the end of August this year, a total of 22 reports had not been submitted. The contract amounts for these products totaled approximately 3.4 billion won.
Notably, there were nine cases of missing reports with contract amounts exceeding 100 million won, totaling around 2.7 billion won, which accounts for 81.5% of the total missing report amounts. Major public institutions and national agencies, including the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), and the National Cancer Center, were among those with missing reports.
Concerns have also been raised regarding the Public Procurement Service's evaluation results, which appear overly positive. In annual evaluations of pilot projects, the success rate has consistently exceeded 90% since reaching 100% in 2021. However, the rate of 'insufficient' evaluations dropped sharply to 9.3% in 2023 and fell to 1.5% in both 2024 and 2025, with only 0.5% as of August this year.
Despite these issues, the budget for purchasing innovative products has been increasing. This year's budget is set at 83.9 billion won, approximately 1.6 times higher than last year's 52.9 billion won. The proposed budget for next year's government innovative product pilot purchases is 113 billion won.
It remains unclear what actual penalties have been imposed on demand agencies that submitted reports late or failed to submit them altogether, raising questions about the management of report submissions.
Lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon stated, "While the budget for innovative product pilot purchases has increased by 1.6 times in a year, the fact that agencies that used 3.4 billion won worth of products failed to submit 22 completion reports by the end of August is a serious management failure. Increasing the budget without verifying results is neglect rather than support."
Kim added, "The Public Procurement Service must establish effective penalty measures for agencies that violate reporting obligations."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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