NPM's “Ideals” About the Accountability and Control of Outsourced Activities: Tough, But Realizable, Or A Utopian Dream?

Abstract

Based on 25 cases, the accountability and control processes of activities outsourced by municipalities in the Netherlands are analysed. The focus is twofold: on the accountability and control processes between the external party and the municipality, and on the role played by councillors (elected politicians). The research shows that the typical accountability and control relationship in this context is characterised by a low emphasis on outputs. However, detailed financial information and frequent informal contacts between civil servants (on behalf of the Executives) and the external party are very important. Furthermore, the accountability and control relationship with respect to (activities and) outputs seems to be rather loose, also when ‘proper’ output information is available in accounting documents. Finally, trust is crucial in the relationship, a notion which is not advocated by NPM and its underlying principal‐agent theory.

Mecanismos de Controle em Relações de Terceirização de Serviços no Setor Público

“…Uma das técnicas oriundas do setor privado é a terceirização, em que os governos contratam organizações externas para o desenvolvimento de alguns serviços (ter Bogt, 2018). No Brasil, a terceirização de serviços públicos passou a ser utilizada de maneira mais intensa a partir da década de 1990, com a reforma gerencial implementada pelo Estado, em que os governos transferem a prestação de serviços considerados não estratégicos ou exclusivos para a iniciativa privada (Santos, Andrade, & Lima, 2019).…”

“…Pesquisas prévias sugerem que aspectos relacionados aos custos de transação, além de outros fatores relacionais e institucionais, influenciam a escolha pelos mecanismos de controle gerencial implementados (Petersen, Baekkeskov, Potoski, & Brown, 2019;ter Bogt, 2018). Além disso, esses trabalhos têm apontado que mecanismos de controle são usados principalmente de maneira conjunta, e que suas possíveis combinações funcionam como um sistema inter-relacionado (Ditillo, Liguori, Sicilia, & Steccolini, 2015;Johansson et al, 2016).…”

Cross‐Theoretical and Conceptual Advances to Enhance Knowledge in Policy Studies

“…En cambio, el art ıculo siguiente discute c omo el conocimiento se usa en realidad dentro del proceso pol ıtico para influenciar el cambio pol ıtico. Finalmente, dos contribuciones (Apostolopoulos y Liargovas, 2018;ter Bogt, 2018) incluyen una perspectiva trans f ertil, primero, la asignaci on de tareas del estado a terceros como resultado pol ıtico, y segundo, el uso de un esquema innovador para la toma de decisiones, que afecta a su vez la creaci on de pol ıticas y los resultados. La trans fertilizaci on ha resultado como una nueva tendencia para combinar informaci on de diferentes teor ıas (o disciplinas) con el objetivo de mejorar el conocimiento cient ıfico (Bandelow et al, 2017).…”

Effects of Intermunicipal Cooperation

“…Theoretically, municipalities should be able to find the most suitable parties for many of their tasks and negotiate for the desired results. In practice, however, municipalities are often found to hardly monitor the outputs delivered by these contractors (Ter Bogt, 2018). The option is also not available for all government tasks, and the market for many public tasks that could theoretically be contracted out is often not competitive enough, leaving municipalities with little choice and bargaining power.…”