5.9B Won Gas Mask Contract Questioned

It was reported that S. Corporation, whose supply of K-1 gas masks to the Ministry of National Defense was recently stopped as it was ruled as disqualified, made a contract with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) for 5.9 billion won of gas mask components right before the ruling was made.

According to a military source on June 6, S. Corporation made a contract with the DAPA for 5.9 billion won of K-1 gas mask components, including air purifying filters, on May 29. On June 1, two days later, a ruling was made to disqualify S. Corporation and thus keep it from participating in any bidding for supplying the body and components of gas mask for 1 year and 8 months.

S. Corporation had supplied 30,000 of K-1 gas masks for the Ministry of National Defense every year from the early 1980s until last year. Sanctions were imposed when it was revealed that S. Corporation supplied 134,000 “bad gas masks for the people” to 25 districts of Seoul in 2004. In early May this year, the National Emergency Management Agency reported that 413,000 of purifiers made by S. Corporation before September of 2002 turned out to be bad products.

The representative of S. Corporation was once punished for bribing an officer to be selected as the manufacturer of gas masks for the people.

It is suspected that a special favor was given to S. Corporation since the 5.9 billion won contract with the DAPA was made when the court’s ruling was being expected after a series of misconducts and bad products were revealed.

The DAPA explained, “We made a contract legally as we were concerned about the expected setback in the delivery of K-1 gas masks when S. Corporation is ruled as disqualified since there is no substitute deliverer. It was not a special favor.”

According to the Enforcement Ordinance Article 76 of State Contracts Law regarding restrictions on a disqualified manufacturer’s participation in the bidding, a national institution is allowed to make a free contract with a disqualified enterprise in case it is inevitable.

However, a military source said, “It takes days to make a free contract with a disqualified enterprise according to the complicated procedure. So, it is very questionable that the big contract was made hurriedly right before the ruling was made.”

Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com