The Public Procurement Service (PPS) announced Monday that it will implement an organizational restructuring effective January 1, 2026, to support the growth of innovative companies through public procurement and strengthen digital-based procurement administration including artificial intelligence.
The restructuring focuses on three key areas: enhancing innovation procurement to support technology-leading companies in AI and convergence products; accelerating digital transformation through AI adoption in public procurement; and strengthening investigations into unfair procurement practices.
The agency will rename its New Growth Procurement Planning Division to the "Innovation Procurement Planning Division." The change aims to clarify the function of "innovation procurement," which strategically utilizes the government's substantial purchasing power as a policy tool to support innovative companies' growth. Subordinate departments will also be renamed to more intuitively reflect their responsibilities.
A new "Innovation Procurement Operations Division" will be established under the Innovation Procurement Planning Division, expanding the innovation procurement structure from two to three departments. The new division will be responsible for discovering innovative products through "scouts" including private sector experts and research institutions, as well as overseas demonstration projects to help innovative products enter export markets.
The Fair Procurement Bureau will be reorganized as the "Digital Fair Procurement Bureau." The bureau's lead department will change from the Fair Procurement Coordination Division to the "Digital Procurement Coordination Division," accelerating AI transformation by introducing AI Agents that apply AI technology to complex procurement procedures to build a digital-based procurement administration system.
Six additional personnel dedicated to supervising and investigating unfair procurement practices and improper conduct by demand agencies will also be deployed to ensure a fair procurement market.
"Through this restructuring, we expect public procurement to establish itself as a core policy tool that goes beyond simple purchasing functions to support innovative companies' growth and lead digital transformation including AI," PPS Administrator Baek Seung-bo said. "We will ensure public procurement supports technology leadership, balanced growth, and fair growth to successfully carry out national agenda tasks and public procurement reform."
