Bidders arriving from other markets usually assume the lowest compliant price wins. In a large share of Korean public tenders that is not how it works, and the difference is not a detail — it changes how you should price a bid entirely.
The target price is often not fixed in advance
Many Korean tenders use a mechanism called 복수예가 (bokssu yega), literally "multiple preliminary prices." Rather than setting a single target price before bidding, the contracting body prepares a pool of candidate prices — typically fifteen — clustered around its internal estimate.
At opening, a small number of those candidates are drawn, commonly four. Their average becomes the 예정가격, the target price against which bids are judged. Until that draw happens, nobody — including the contracting officer — knows what the target will be.
You can see this on the announcement itself. Where a notice lists a preliminary price method of 복수예가 along with a total candidate count and a drawn count, that is the system in operation.
| Korean | Romanised | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 예정가격 | yejeong gagyeok | Target price. Derived at opening from the drawn candidates, not published beforehand. |
| 복수예가 | bokssu yega | Multiple preliminary prices — the pool-and-draw method described above. |
| 낙찰하한율 | nakchal hahan-yul | Minimum award ratio. A floor, expressed as a percentage of the target price, below which a bid is rejected as too low. |
| 낙찰방법 | nakchal bangbeop | Award method. States precisely how the winner is chosen — lowest price within limits, or a combined technical and price score. |
Why bidding low can lose
Most price-based Korean tenders apply a minimum award ratio. A bid below that percentage of the target price is disqualified rather than preferred, on the reasoning that an unrealistically low price signals the work cannot be delivered properly.
Combine that with a target price that is unknown at bidding time and the strategic picture inverts. You are not trying to be cheapest. You are trying to land just above an invisible floor, derived from a number that will be drawn after you have already committed. Bid too low and you are excluded outright; bid too high and someone lands closer.
This is why Korean bidding is sometimes described as having a lottery element. That characterisation is a little unfair — the pool is centred on a real estimate, so a well-researched bid is still better positioned than a guess — but the residual randomness is genuine and is designed in.
When price is not the only factor
Not every tender is decided on price. Two common alternatives:
- Two-stage bidding — technical specification and price are submitted and assessed separately. Bidders failing the technical stage never have their price considered. Titles often contain 규격·가격 or 2단계.
- Negotiated contract (협상에의한계약) — a written proposal is scored on technical merit alongside price, with the weighting stated in the tender documents. Common for software, research, and consultancy work, and the route where a genuinely strong technical offer can beat a cheaper competitor.
For specialist suppliers, these are the more promising categories. Where a technical evaluation ratio and a price evaluation ratio are both published on the notice, you can see directly how much room technical quality has to move the outcome.
Re-bidding and failed tenders
Tenders often fail to produce a valid winner — no compliant bids, too few bidders, or everyone falling outside the acceptable band. The notice states whether re-bidding is permitted, which allows a further round without a fresh announcement. Failing that, the tender is re-announced as 재공고.
Re-announcements are worth watching. A tender appearing for the second or third time signals weak competition, and the field on the next round is often thinner.
The practical takeaway
Before pricing any Korean public bid, find the award method and the minimum award ratio in the tender documents. Those two fields determine whether you are competing on price, on technical merit, or on positioning against a number that does not exist yet. Guessing wrong about which game you are playing is the most expensive mistake available here.
For the surrounding terminology, see how to read a Korean tender notice.