Public Procurement Service Issues Administrative Notice on Revised Special Terms for Commercial Software MAS

2026.10.15. The Fair Economy — The Public Procurement Service has pre-announced a revision to the special conditions that clarifies the requirements for extending the contract period under the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) for commercial software, while strengthening unit price cuts, transaction suspensions, and recovery measures for violations of the obligation to maintain preferential pricing.

The Public Procurement Service said on the 14th that it had pre-announced a revision to the 'Special Conditions for Commercial Software MAS' containing these provisions.

The core of the revision is to refine the overall contract standards, including contract period extension, contract amendments, transaction suspension, and recoupment.

Under the revision, a contract period extension may be requested within the closing date of the purchase bid announcement if the conclusion of the next contract is delayed, or if there has been no sanction as an unfair business operator, transaction suspension, delivery delay, or non-conforming specifications, and the company meets eligibility requirements with no change in price. In cases where a minor cause disrupts a demand agency's project, an extension may be granted following deliberation by a review committee.

Contract amendments that reduce the contract amount are restricted to cases where the amended contract amount is at least the cumulative delivery request amount of the original contract. When increasing the maximum delivery request amount per occasion, an additional contract performance bond must be deposited.

For products subject to competition among small and medium-sized enterprises, the cap preventing a reduction of more than 10% from the initial contract unit price is maintained, but an exception has been established allowing an excess reduction when price competition is difficult. Once a unit price has been reduced, no further adjustment may be requested within three days of the date the amended contract is concluded.

In the event of a violation of the obligation to maintain preferential pricing, the contract unit price may be reduced to below the market transaction price, and transaction suspension and recovery of unjust profits may be imposed. If a company fails to comply with a recovery request, the contract may be terminated, the company may be restricted from participating in bids as an unfair business operator, and the contract performance bond may be forfeited to the state treasury.

Recovered amounts are calculated based on 25% of the completed goods payment when false documents are submitted, 20% of the goods payment for the violating quantity in cases of direct production standard violations, and 20% of the relevant goods payment in cases of false country-of-origin labeling. A 20% reduction is granted if paid voluntarily within the payment deadline.

The Public Procurement Service plans to finalize the revised special conditions after collecting opinions on this administrative notice. The effective date of the revised special conditions will be determined later according to the supplementary provisions.

The Public Procurement Service has continuously pursued improvements to the MAS system. In January of this year, it revised the regulations and special conditions for goods MAS to strengthen price management standards and enhance corporate autonomy. In June, it eased entry requirements for AI products to strengthen public procurement competitiveness. This revision of the special conditions for commercial software is interpreted as an effort to overhaul the contract system in the commercial software sector within this series of institutional improvements.