Gyeonggi Province to Eliminate Unfair Practices in Selection of Culling and Burial Site Treatment Companies

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province has launched efforts to eliminate unfair practices in the selection of culling and burial site restoration companies in response to outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) and avian influenza (AI).

To this end, the province is recommending to each city and county to prioritize the selection of small and medium-sized enterprises within the province, providing standard cost benchmarks for each project to cities and counties, and mandatorily deploying livestock quarantine officers during culling to strengthen management and supervision of culling procedures.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 17th that it has prepared an "Improvement Plan for Livestock Culling and Burial Site Elimination Services," the first of its kind in the nation, and will implement it starting this month.

This measure aims to address the phenomenon where companies from other regions secure numerous contracts for emergency culling and burial site restoration work in Gyeonggi Province, and was established to ensure fair company selection and strengthen animal protection.

According to a Gyeonggi Province survey, for AI culling conducted at a total of 165 farms in the province in 2020 and 2021, 7 Gyeonggi-based companies handled 73 sites, 7 Chungcheong-based companies handled 84 sites, and 1 Gangwon-based company handled 8 sites. For burial site restoration, among 44 cases processed in 2020, 31 cases were contracted to companies based in Chungcheong Province.

Accordingly, the improvement plan will be pursued in two ways: securing fairness in the selection of emergency culling and burial site restoration treatment companies, and strengthening animal protection during culling.

First, regarding the selection of culling companies, even in single-quote competitive negotiated contracts, for general services with an estimated price of less than 500 million won, the province will recommend that cities and counties preferentially contract with small and medium-sized enterprises within the province by applying the "Enforcement Decree of the Local Contract Act," which allows regional restricted bidding.

Additionally, each city and county will organize a "Culling Service Company Selection Committee" with the participation of producer organizations and other entities to pre-select multiple companies with excellent capabilities, and will implement a plan to utilize them in case of emergency situations.

In response to the criticism that the lack of standardized costs makes it possible to favor specific companies, the province plans to establish "standard cost benchmarks" by livestock type and treatment method through academic research and provide them for use by cities and counties.

When selecting burial site restoration (elimination) treatment companies, to ensure fairness, the province will utilize the "Procurement Service Two-Stage Contract" system, which requires competition among 3 or more companies, and will ensure that 1 of the 3 companies is a Gyeonggi Province-based company.

To accomplish this, the province will specify this provision in the implementation guidelines for burial site restoration projects and subsidy grant conditions issued to cities and counties.

Regarding criticism that livestock were culled while still alive, the province will mandate the placement of 2 or more provincial livestock quarantine officers and city/county supervisors per culling farm to strengthen management and supervision of whether euthanasia principles are observed during culling, and will recommend that "honorary animal protection monitors" may be present if necessary.

Additionally, the province plans to propose to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs the establishment of relevant regulations such as notification of "(tentative name) Livestock Quarantine Treatment Business" to eliminate illegal culling practices, and will promote the mandatory institutionalization of livestock quarantine and animal protection education.

The province plans to coordinate with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs so that this improvement plan can become a national standard model. In addition, the province is conducting audits on some cities and counties suspected of favoring specific companies in company selection and non-compliance with animal protection.

Kim Sung-sik, head of the Livestock and Forestry Division, said, "This measure is part of realizing 'fairness,' a core value of the 7th popular election Gyeonggi Provincial Government," and added, "We will strengthen provincial-level supervision to ensure that cities and counties actively implement the improvement plan prepared this time."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province culled 320,668 livestock due to the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in 2019, resulting in 221.7 billion won in damages, and culled 14.724 million birds due to avian influenza from 2020 to 2021, resulting in damages of 141.5 billion won (provisional).

In particular, avian influenza occurs almost every year, and from 2003 to this year, 42.953 million birds have been culled, resulting in damages of 350.6 billion won.