Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Integration of Excellent and Innovative Products from the Private Sector into the Military Intensifies

- The First Half of 2023's Pilot Good Merchandise Briefing takes place

The Defense Ministry will hold the Pilot Good Merchandise Briefing for the first half of 2023 in the second exhibition hall of the Daejeon Convention Center on July 11 and 12.

As part of the munitions commercialization policy, the Pilot Good Merchandise initiative has been promoted since 2015 to improve the quality of munitions, soldier satisfaction, and combat readiness. With a view to quickly introducing excellent civilian products to the military, the program purchases and utilizes merchandise such as materials and equipment in small quantities. Then, it selects and procures civilian products with outstanding technology and quality as munitions.

The briefing is an event that allows the military to experience the excellent innovative technologies and products from the private sector before deciding on the need for piloting. At this briefing, 104 items that have passed an evaluation by civil and military experts will be displayed, and each military customer will view the products and review the items that need to be piloted.

Additionally, one-on-one procurement meetings between the military and businesses will be held, allowing the military to meet with companies of interest and receive details on their products. This will provide the companies with an opportunity to promote their products to the military and understand what the military is looking for.

This program will award an "Eligibility Confirmation for Pilot Good Merchandise" under the name of the Defense Minister to the items (or companies) that were confirmed to be suitable for military use during the military operational suitability assessment conducted by June of this year. This is aimed at supporting the expansion of the market for companies participating in the pilot program.

In addition, a policy development seminar to solidify the pilot program for good merchandise will take place. In this seminar, the Defense Ministry, military branches, and the Korea Institute of Procurement - an institution specializing in the field of public procurement - will discuss the 'preparation of development plans for evaluating military operational suitability.' They will also establish systematic pilot evaluation criteria to enhance the reliability of the evaluation.

Moreover, the Defense Ministry will continue to strengthen the connection between innovative procurement and munition commercialization policies by closely cooperating with the Public Procurement Service to discover demands that can solve problems in the defense sector with innovative products.

Director of the Office of Military Force and Resources Management, Sung Il, stated, "I hope this briefing session will contribute to revitalizing the introduction of excellent civilian products to the military, increase soldier satisfaction with improved military products, and ultimately lay the foundation for technological innovation and market expansion of companies."