South Korea bars Cheongsu IPS from public tenders for three months

South Korea’s Public Procurement Service has barred Cheongsu IPS from bidding for public contracts for three months after the supplier refused, without justifiable grounds, to fill delivery orders for corrosion-inhibitor equipment placed under government multiple-supplier contracts. The suspension runs from 17 November 2026 to 16 February 2027 and was announced by the Administrator of the Public Procurement Service in Public Procurement Service Notice No. 2026-536 (조달청공고 제2026-536호), published in the Official Gazette (관보) No. 21352 of 2 November 2026.

The notice is issued under the Act on Contracts to Which the State is a Party and its Enforcement Decree, and the preamble also invokes the Act on Contracts to Which Local Governments are Parties and its Enforcement Decree, so the measure reaches both national and local government purchasing. The specific ground cited in the disposition is Article 76(2)2(a) of the Enforcement Decree of the state contracts act, the provision on a contractor’s failure to perform its obligations.

Three delivery orders declined

The stated reason for the sanction is that Cheongsu IPS “did not perform the contract without justifiable grounds” on three delivery requests issued under multiple-supplier contracts for ‘부식억제장비’ — corrosion-inhibitor equipment — including orders placed by the Chungcheongnam-do Office of Education and other buyers. The notice summarises the case as follows:

• Party sanctioned: Cheongsu IPS, business registration number 137-15-25914; the name Lee Sang-min appears alongside the entry, and no corporate registration number is recorded.
• Equipment at issue: corrosion-inhibitor equipment supplied through multiple-supplier contracts, the standing framework arrangements used for repeat government purchases.
• Orders not honoured: three delivery orders, including those from the Chungcheongnam-do Office of Education.
• Measure: restriction of qualification to participate in bidding, the standard administrative sanction for defaulting suppliers.
• Period: three months, from 17 November 2026 to 16 February 2027.

Served by publication after mail failed

The Public Procurement Service said it had sent the disposition notice by post, but that delivery proved impossible because the premises were closed and the addressee could not be reached. It therefore published the decision under Article 14(4) of the Administrative Procedure Act, which allows service by public notice when ordinary service fails; the publication in the gazette is what makes the sanction legally effective for the party.

• Issuing authority: the Administrator of the Public Procurement Service.
• Handling office: Regulatory Reform and Legal Affairs Office, Public Procurement Service, Daejeon Government Complex Building 3, 189 Cheongsa-ro, Seo-gu, Daejeon; telephone 042-724-7527, fax 0505-480-1574.

Deadlines for challenging the decision

The notice sets out the routes of redress open to the company, which must act within the following windows:

• Administrative appeal: within 90 days of learning of the disposition, and in any case within 180 days of the date it was made, under Article 27(1) and (3) of the Administrative Appeals Act.
• Administrative litigation: within 90 days of learning of the disposition, and in any case within one year of the date it was made, under Article 20(1) and (2) of the Administrative Litigation Act.

The case adds to a steady run of defaulting-supplier notices the Public Procurement Service has published in the gazette through the autumn, several of them concerning pre-notices and service by publication for companies that could not be reached at their registered addresses.

For suppliers and contracting authorities, the sanction removes Cheongsu IPS from bidding for three months spanning the year-end and new-year procurement cycle, when schools and local offices typically place maintenance and equipment orders. It also signals that delivery obligations under multiple-supplier contracts are enforced even when the buyer is a regional education office rather than a central ministry.

Source: 관보 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21352, 2 November 2026, Section I, p. 261 (official reference: 조달청공고 제2026-536호).