Governing by Contract
Challenges and Opportunities for Public Managers
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Governing by Contract
Challenges and Opportunities for Public Managers
About this book
Is the public getting a good deal when the government contracts out the delivery of goods and services? Phillip Cooper attempts to get at the heart of this question by exploring what happens when public sector organizations—at the federal, state and local levels—form working relationships with other agencies, communities, non-profit organizations and private firms through contracts. Rather than focus on the ongoing debate over privatization, the book emphasizes the tools managers need to form, operate, terminate or transform these contracts amidst a complex web of intergovernmental relations.
Cooper frames the issues of public contract management by showing how managers are caught in between governance by authority and government by contract. By looking at cases ranging from the management of Baltimore schools to the contracting of senior citizen programs in Kansas, he offers practical information to students and practitioners and a theoretical context for their work.
At every turn, the author avoids bogging readers down in technical jargon. Instead the book sheds light on a crucial part of any public manager?s job with lively case material and no-nonsense guidance for making the most of taxpayer dollars.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Getting a Good Deal for the Public: Moving past Advocacy and beyond Bidding
- 2 From Power to Contract: Governance by Agreement versus Policy from Authority
- 3 Integration: Forming the Relationship and Setting the Rules
- 4 Operations: The Management of Contract Relationships
- 5 Separation or Transformation: Ending or Remaking Relationships
- 6 Capacity Building for Contract Management: Developing Hybrid Institutions for a Complex State
- Bibliography
- Opinions Cited
- Index