MOU with Public Procurement Service creates fast track for local innovators — from discovery to innovative product designation
Daejeon city and the Public Procurement Service signed an MOU Thursday to introduce a "regional scouter" system aimed at helping local innovative companies break into the public procurement market.
Daejeon Mayor Heo Tae-jeong and Public Procurement Service Commissioner Baek Seung-bo attended the signing ceremony, pledging closer cooperation to help promising local firms win designation as innovative product suppliers.
The agreement was designed to give technically capable local companies a concrete path into the public procurement market — one that many have struggled to enter despite strong technology credentials.
Since the two institutions first signed an MOU in 2021, the number of Daejeon companies designated as innovative product suppliers has grown sixfold, while purchases through the Venture Nara procurement platform have quadrupled. The new regional scouter system is intended to build on those gains.
Under the system, company support specialists recommended by Daejeon city will identify promising products from local firms on the ground. The Public Procurement Service will then designate qualifying products as innovative and connect them to pilot purchase programs, creating a field-driven procurement support pipeline.
Products recommended through the scouter program will receive preferential evaluation and streamlined procedures during the Public Procurement Service's innovative product designation review. The city expects the system to give local startups with strong technology but no prior government delivery record a faster route into the public market.
"Through this agreement, Daejeon city and the Public Procurement Service have strengthened the cooperative foundation to support the growth of local companies together," Mayor Heo said. "We will focus our administrative resources on ensuring that Daejeon companies with innovative ideas can fully demonstrate their capabilities on the big stage of the public procurement market."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
