[Audit Spotlight] "A Power Strip for KRW 190,000?" Lee Junseok Uses AI to Plug Tax Leaks

Criticizes overpriced deliveries on KONEPS
Excellent Product designations and component management also under scrutiny
Public Procurement Service chief: "Strengthening AI price management"
Asks Rep. Lee Junseok's office to share its analysis

Rep. Lee Junseok of the Reform Party used AI-based data analysis in his questions during a parliamentary audit to expose loopholes in KONEPS's price management. Citing specific cases, from purchases of goods priced several times higher than market rates to gaps in the Excellent Product designation system, he pressed the Public Procurement Service to improve its policies.

At the Public Procurement Service's parliamentary audit by the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee on October 15, Lee pointed to a case in which an "AI power strip" listed on KONEPS was supplied for 198,000 won, about five times the market price. He also noted that the Yeosu Office of Education in South Jeolla Province and some schools had purchased the product in large quantities. "It would take 67 years to recoup the cost through standby power savings alone," Lee said, citing specific figures.

Lee Junseok, a Reform Party lawmaker, asks questions during a parliamentary audit. Provided by Yonhap News.

He also cited the case of a corded telephone released in 2004 that was listed at 182,000 won. The allegation was that prices had been inflated in the process of adding components such as telephones and network equipment as optional items to contracts for Excellent Products, such as integrated wiring panels. Baek Seung-bo, head of the Public Procurement Service, also acknowledged, "Because we focused on the main products, there were aspects of the components that we did not examine closely enough."

Lee also raised concerns about companies nearing the end of their Excellent Product designation transferring patents to newly established corporations in the same building, which then obtain new Excellent Product designations for similar products. The system for Excellent Procurement Products (Excellent Products), which supports public-sector sales channels for technology products from small and venture businesses and allows private contracts, could be exploited through gaps in oversight and regulations, he said. "This could effectively be viewed as the inheritance of business rights through public procurement," Lee said.

To improve a system in which more than 1 million items are effectively managed by just three dedicated staff members, Lee proposed building an AI-based "procurement ontology system (an AI framework for analyzing data relationships)." His office also held a public contest with the Reform Party, using AI and publicly available KONEPS data to identify and report suspected irregularities in contracts.

Baek said, "Please share the analysis and implementation examples from your office," adding, "We will use them to develop an AI price management system."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.