Title: Comparative study of South Korea's and the USA's exclusion mechanisms

Authors: Jungmin Lee

Addresses: American University, Washington DC, USA; Public Procurement Service, Daejeon, South Korea

Abstract: Exclusions are important tools that government agencies possess to ensure that they only work with 'responsible' contractors. While the USA's and South Korea's exclusion systems are sharing the same basic function which is to exclude non-responsible contractors from competing in public procurement markets, they have subtle but significant differences in the purposes, official's discretion, scope, and effects and so on. Excluding contractors from competing for US federal procurement contracts is traditionally viewed as a business decision, so the US system is flexible, and its officials have a lot of discretion to determine whether to exclude the misconduct. On the other hand, the purpose of the South Korean system seems to be 'punishment', and the agencies have little discretion to determine whether to sanction or not. As South Korea's society has advanced enough, it is worth trying to change to a flexible and efficient exclusive system.

Keywords: debarment; suspension; exclusion; government contract; procurement; South Korea; USA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2025.145094

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2025 Vol.22 No.4, pp.541 - 565

Received: 08 Jan 2024
Accepted: 25 Jan 2024
Published online: 19 Mar 2025 *

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