PPS and over 40 Asia-Pacific Countries Discuss the Future of 'AI-Powered Intelligent Procurement'

The Public Procurement Service (PPS, Administrator Baek Seung-bo) announced that it participated in the 11th Conference of the Asia Pacific Public Electronic Procurement Network (APPeN)* held in Thimphu, Bhutan on October 5, sharing Korea's e-procurement innovation experience and its direction for developing AI- and data-powered intelligent procurement.

The Conference, co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Kingdom of Bhutan, takes place over two days, from October 5 to 6, with procurement officials from more than 40 countries across Asia and the Pacific and international organization representatives in attendance.

The Conference focuses on three key agendas: measures to make e-procurement systems more intelligent using AI and data; sustainable procurement that takes environmental and social values into account; and measures to strengthen the expertise of e-procurement officials.

On the first day, participants shared each country's digital transformation policies and cases of AI- and data-based procurement. On the second day, they discussed challenges encountered in building procurement systems and experiences in fostering procurement professionals.

PPS introduced the case of establishing its Next-Generation KONEPS, which applies AI, big data and cloud technology. In particular, PPS shared the process and experience of integrating procurement systems and data—previously scattered across multiple institutions—into a single platform, and presented lessons learned and challenges overcome throughout the process of building and upgrading its systems since the early days of introducing e-procurement.

Through this, PPS offered practical insights that member countries currently building or upgrading e-procurement systems can apply to their own policy development and system implementation.

PPS has supported the expansion of e-procurement among member countries in cooperation with the ADB since the launch of APPeN. When APPeN was established, only about 10 countries had adopted e-procurement. Today, most member countries have adopted such systems, reflecting the rapid digital transformation of procurement across the Asia-Pacific region.

In his keynote speech, Vice Administrator of PPS, Kang Sung-min, said, "E-procurement must now move toward intelligent procurement that forecasts demand and detects anomalies at an early stage, using data and AI." He added, "The more technology advances, the more important it becomes for procurement officials to have the expertise to make final decisions based on the principles of fairness and transparency."

He went on to say, "PPS will continue to work in close cooperation with the ADB and member countries in three directions—intelligent e-procurement, sustainable procurement, and strengthening expertise—to contribute to the development of public procurement across the Asia-Pacific region."

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