South Korea will sharply expand support for domestic procurement firms seeking to break into overseas public procurement markets next year, as the government looks to help small and innovative companies find new growth engines beyond a saturated home market, the head of the Public Procurement Service said.
“Our procurement companies must not remain confined to the domestic market,” Public Procurement Service Administrator Baek Seung-bo said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. “We will continue to provide comprehensive support so they can find opportunities and deliver tangible results in new overseas markets.”
Baek said support for overseas procurement market entry in 2026 will more than double compared to last year, with a particular focus on export-ready small and innovative firms.
He pointed out that the global public procurement market — estimated at around 2,700 trillion won ($1.9 trillion), roughly 13 times the size of Korea’s domestic market — offers a critical alternative growth channel as competition intensifies at home.
“As more Korean SMEs and innovative firms challenge overseas procurement markets each year, we will actively support them in diversifying sales channels and strengthening export competitiveness,” he said.
A central pillar of the strategy is intensified support for G-Pass firms — companies certified as promising exporters in overseas procurement markets.
Baek said the agency plans to launch a new program, tentatively named the “G-Pass Intensive Support Initiative,” aimed at helping around 200 newly designated firms establish an early export footing.
Under the scheme, companies will receive tailored support packages covering capacity-building, marketing, and dedicated export companion partners, he said.
At the same time, the G-Pass designation and management system will be redesigned to place greater emphasis on export performance and effort.
“We will overhaul the system to reflect companies’ export capabilities, efforts and outcomes more comprehensively,” Baek said, adding that incentive structures will also be revised to reward concrete export results rather than mere designation status.
Support for procurement-specialized export vouchers will also be significantly expanded.
According to Baek, the budget for the customized overseas procurement support voucher program will more than double to 18 billion won this year from 8.8 billion won last year.
“The vouchers will be deployed earlier in the year, and recruitment rounds will be increased to twice annually so we can respond more proactively to corporate demand and provide stable year-round support,” he said.
Funding for overseas pilot projects involving innovative products will also be raised sharply. The budget will increase by 60 billion won from last year to reach 200 billion won, aimed at helping firms secure initial overseas performance records.
“We will also carefully review and support costs incurred in resolving bottlenecks that arise during pilot testing and follow-up export stages,” Baek added.
The procurement agency also plans to strengthen cooperation with international organizations to improve the effectiveness of support for overseas expansion.
Baek said Korea will focus on helping companies enter procurement markets run by the United Nations and multilateral development banks, leveraging existing international networks and cross-ministry coordination.
Baek emphasized that the government’s goal is to help innovative and technology-driven procurement firms grow into global players.
“We will continue to provide structured and sustained support so that Korea’s small but competitive procurement companies can take a meaningful leap onto the global stage,” he said.
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
