A citizens' group, the 'Citizens' Meeting for a Society without Discrimination', has reported that Gwangju school uniform suppliers have likely engaged in collusion again, with evidence stemming from data on the 2026 school year uniform bids. According to their analysis, 12 schools showed bidding rates above 90%, predominantly among private institutions, which suggests suspiciously high uniformity in pricing despite a competitive bidding process. Notably, two companies have alternated winning bids at very similar prices over the past five years, raising further suspicion regarding the integrity of the bidding process.

The report highlighted that one school, referred to as 'A Middle School', had a bidding rate of 98.4% this year, with only a 2000 won difference between the bids from the two companies involved. Last year, the bidding rate was similarly close at 98.2%. This pattern is mirrored in other schools, such as 'N Girls' High School', where the bidding rate was 98.2% with the top two bids again only differing by 2000 won. Similar patterns across multiple institutions invite further investigation into whether these firms have altered their names or addresses to circumvent scrutiny after a prior collusion case.

In a previous incident, 31 operators from 45 local school uniform companies were prosecuted in April 2023 for orchestrated collusion that inflated average school uniform prices significantly, with penalties imposed on 29 of them. The new claims of collusion arise despite recent governmental scrutiny led by President Lee Jae-myung, further underlining the challenges in regulating and assuring fair practices within the educational supply sector.