Privatization, Contracting, and the States: Lessons from State Government Experience

Funding Relations between Nonprofits and Government: A Positive Example

“…Human services contracting is attractive to governments who perceive it as a means to harness competitive market forces to improve efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery (Auger, 1999;Blasi, 2002;Van Slyke, 2002).…”

“…The design of the contractual process at the program level is a critical determinant of the degree to which contracting's theorized benefits are achievable by allowing both government and organizations to minimize the transaction costs associated with the management of contracts and the delivery of contracted human services (Auger, 1999;DeHoog, 1996;Gronbjerg, 1993;Saidel, 1991). "The conditions and rules of the interaction between the two sides and the stakes, incentives, and penalties are critical to an analysis of what each side does and how each reacts to the other" (DeHoog, 1990, p. 325).…”

Private Prisons in Public Discourse: Measuring Moral Legitimacy

“…Governments at all levels increasingly sought opportunities for contracting with the private sector to provide goods and services (Chi and Jasper 1998;Fixler, Poole, and Scarlett 1989;President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control 1983). At this time, contracting was typically limited to services that were not deemed to be core functions of government, including custodial service, garbage disposal, facility maintenance, and information technology (Auger 1999;Camp and Camp 1984). Incarceration rates were also beginning to rise in the 1980s, starting a trend that would continue for nearly 30 years (Blumstein and Beck 1999;Bureau of Justice Statistics 2011).…”

Performance, Accountability, and the Debate over Rules

“…Contract monitoring is a key means of obtaining information about the agent's conformance with the contract, particularly in the aftermath of the increasing privatization of government functions since the 1980s ( Auger 1999;Avery 2000;Rehfuss 1989 ). Johnston and Romzek point out the diffi culties government faces in monitoring compliance with contracts because "government is necessarily at the mercy of the contractor to provide information on its compliance with terms of the contract" (1999,389).…”