Many local executives including the President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla, Executive President of ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad)Eduardo Doryan Garrón, Kwon Taemyon, the Ambassor of Korea in Costa Rica, and Alfred S. Koh, Senior Vice President of Samsung SDS made presentations at the opening ceremony which was held at the Crowne Plaza Corobici Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica.
Costa Rica's e-procurement system was launched in July of 2009. This past March, three systems including portal, user management and catalog were opened first. Recently, they opened a total of 9 systems including the electronic bidding, security/authentication, electronic contracts, electronic payments, electronic documents, document distribution and others. Samsung will support the operation until December, and then will transfer the controls over to ICE.
Since it is the first time in the world that someone built a whole module of a procurement system overseas, the building of the e-government system in Costa Rica proves the superiority of the e-government system of Korea.
It can be said that this international case is the successful private-government cooperation that included Samsung SDS, the Office of Supply, the Costa Rica embassy, and the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA).
The e-procurement system of Costa Rica is based on the KONEPS and has been developed for bidding, contracts, orders and payment functions reflecting Costa Rica's actions and deals. With the introduction of the system, the Costa Rica government will be able to operate efficiently through integration, standardization of procurements.
In addition, it is expected to contribute to the transparency of the procurement and the efficiency of the bidding companies due to the systemization for bidding on the government procurement items.
Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica said, "I am very pleased because the e-procurement system improves the efficiency of public institutions and provide high quality services of government agencies; it provides equal benefits to all the citizens." She also thanked South Korea's embassies, Samsung SDS and the Office of Supply for their efforts in creating this successful opening.
Alfred S. Koh, Senior Vice President of Samsung SDS stated that, "The e-procurement system will enhance the quality of the procurement administration services in Costa Rica and facilitate the development of e-commerce between the private sector and public institutions." He also added, "The e-procurement system will open a new age for the computerization of public administration in Costa Rica."
Meanwhile, Samsung SDS is expected to expand exports to Indonesia, Mongolia and Uzbekistan through the experience in Costa Rica.
