No Magic Solution: An examination of the arguments in favour of contracting out government services

Authors

  • Joey O'Brien

Keywords:

Contracting, Service Delivery

Abstract

This paper examines the arguments commonly used to support contracting out service delivery to the private sector and attempts to demonstrate that these arguments overestimate the benefits of contracting out.  First, the economic savings attributed to contracting out service delivery are considered and shown to omit important supplementary costs associated with the contracting process. Next empirical evidence is used to test the common argument that private sector service delivery is always superior to that of the public sector. Finally, the assertion that contracting out service delivery will lead to innovative solutions to government’s problems is explored. The paper attempts to demonstrate that internal reforms of government structures should be considered as a strong alternative option to contracting out.   

Author Biography

Joey O'Brien

The author is a first year Masters of Public Administration Student at Dalhousie’s School of Public Administration.  He graduated from the University of Toronto in 2008 with an Honours Bachelors of Arts degree in political science and history. His research interests include how Alternative Service Delivery has been organized within Canada and how new technologies can be used to improve government operations.  This paper was written for a course which examined the design of government structures and was accompanied by an in class presentation.

References

Boston, J. 1994. Purchasing policy advice: the limits to contracting out. Governance 7, 1:1-30.<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.1994.tb00167.x" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.1994.tb00167.x</a><br /> <br /> Boston, J. 2000. Organizing for Service Delivery: Criteria and Opportunities. In G. Guy Peters and Donald J. Savoie (eds.) Governance in the Twenty-first Century: Revitalizing the Public Service (Montreal: McGill-Queen&rsquo;s University Press, 2000), pp. 281-331.<br /> <br /> Brennan, R and Benzie, R. (2004). How costly computer sparked a `nightmare`. The Toronto Star, retrieved from http://webspace.oise.utoronto.ca/~sawchukp/2THEST~1.HTM<br /> <br /> Gurstein, P and Murry, S. 2007. From Public Servants to Corporate Employees: The BC Government`s Alternative Service Delivery Plan in Practice. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, retrieved from http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/BC_Office_Pubs/bc_2007/bc_FromPublicServants.pdf.<br /> <br /> Hodge, G.1998. Contracting public sector services: a meta-analytical perspective of the international evidence. Paper prepared for a conference on `public policy and private management,` the Centre for Public Policy, Melbourne University, February 19-20. Retrieved at http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.library.dal.ca/ehost/search?vid=1&amp;hid=105&amp;sid=ecbc817d-cc14-4852-8c75-6a330f35f803%40sessionmgr111<br /> <br /> Martin, J. 1995. Contracting and accountability. In the state Under Contract, ed. J. Boston. Wellington; Bridget Williams Books.<br /> <br /> Mulgan, R. 1997. Contracting out and accountability. Australian Journal of Public Administration 56, 4:106-116. Retrieved at http://dspace.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/41600/2/Mulgan1DP51_PPP.pdf<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8500.1997.tb02493.x" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8500.1997.tb02493.x</a><br /> <br /> Office of Government Commerce. (2010). Contract Management in Long Term or Complex Projects. Best Practices guidelines, Retrieved at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/Contract_Management_in_Complex_Procurement(1).pdf<br /> <br /> Office of Government Commerce. Contract Management Checklist. Best Practices Guidelines, Retrieved at http://library.concordia.ca/help/howto/apa.php<br /> <br /> Office of Government Commerce. (2004). Capturing Innovation. Best Practices Guidelines, Retrieved at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/capturing_innovation.pdf<br /> <br /> Office of Government Commerce.(2004). Guidance to the risks of over-dependency on a supplier, Best Practices Guidelines, Retrieved at http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documents/Guidance_to_reduce_the_risks_of_over-dependency_on_a_supplier.pdf<br /> <br /> Panet, P and Trebilock, M. (1998) Contracting out social services. Canadian Public Administration, Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 21-50.<br /> <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1998.tb01526.x" target="_blank">http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1998.tb01526.x</a><br /> <br /> The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. (2010). Contracting Out&hellip; the real picture! Communications Magazine, Vol. 36, No. 2, Retrieved at http://www.publicscience.ca/portal/page/portal/website/news/magazine/spring2010/7<br />

Downloads

Published

2011-03-16

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Articles

License

Papers published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management must be the original, unpublished work of the author. Contributors are responsible for obtaining any copyright clearances required in relation to their work.

Authors submitting a paper to the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management automatically agree to grant a limited license to DJIM if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. This license gives permission for DJIM to publish the paper in a given issue and to maintain the work in the electronic journal archive. DJIM also submits issues to institutional repositories and Open Access repositories.

Contributors agree to each reader accessing, downloading, or printing one copy of their article for their own personal use or research. All other copyrights remain with the author, subject to the requirements that any republication of the work be accompanied by an acknowledgement that the work was first published in the Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management and that the DJIM Editorial Chair must be notified of any republication of a work first published in DJIM.

Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management
c/o School of Information Management
Faculty of Management
Dalhousie University
Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building
6100 University Avenue
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3J5
Canada

Email: djim@dal.ca

Authors should recognize that, because of the nature of the Internet, the publisher has no control over unauthorized copying or editing of protected works.