The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said on the 21st that it has revised seven sets of its internal rules, including the qualification screening standards for goods procurement, to sharply toughen penalty points for unfair practices such as bribery, collusion and the submission of false documents in competitive bidding by defense contractors.
Under the revision, penalty points for bribery rise to between five and 20 points from the previous two to 10 points, while points for unfair subcontracting practices rise to between seven and 10 points from three to five points.
Penalty points for collusion or the submission of false documents were raised to between 10 and 20 points from five to 10 points, and points for losses to state coffers caused by fraud or misconduct were adjusted to between five and 20 points from five to 10 points.
The final deduction in the credibility evaluation category, which is determined by the cumulative penalty points assessed for each type of unfair practice, was also strengthened to between minus 1.0 and minus 3.0 points from the previous minus 0.5 to minus 2.0 points.
A new deduction standard of minus 1.0 to minus 2.0 points was also introduced for brokering and solicitation.
"This revision of the qualification screening standards imposes strict accountability for conduct that undermines fairness, such as bribery and collusion, and will serve as an opportunity to further enhance the fairness and transparency of defense procurement contracts," DAPA Commissioner Lee Yong-chul said.
