PICKO is a public organization, established in April 1999 under the PPI Act. It is located within KRIHS, one of the most prestigious government research institutes, which plays a key role in territorial planning. The establishment of PICKO was designed to meet the need of both the Government and investors concerning PPI services. PICKO's efforts are directed at creating synergies between concerned government agencies and potential investors through the facilitation of PPI projects and by providing technical expertise to both the public and private sectors. Previously, government agencies suffered owing to lack of expertise and absence of standards to apply in the evaluation and negotiation of PPI projects. These deficiencies in public sector capacity caused confusion for investors, particularly foreign ones.
The main role of PICKO is to promote private investment in the Republic of Korea's infrastructure projects, evaluate the feasibility of these projects and provide training and expert services to the government agencies and the private sector. In the case of unsolicited projects, it is the obligation of PICKO to review the initial proposal at the request of the concerned authority. This is required in order to maintain consistency in project promotion, as unsolicited projects often have a tendency to be implemented without proper study and review of their economic feasibility and desirability. Review of bidding documents, evaluation of proposals and negotiation of concession agreements are also PICKO responsibilities. Table 5 summarizes the nature of the services PICKO has provided and the number of times it has provided them.