This paper discusses ideas for improving the composability of future models and simulations developed or used by the U.S. Department of Defense. It is largely based on a much longer report requested by the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DMSO) as independent advice in developing a program to pursue composability issues. This paper presents many suggestions on both policies and investments that would enhance prospects for composability. 1

Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) involvement in the marketplace for public sector contracts has been the subject of scholarly interest for some time. Studies undertaken to date have largely concentrated on SME resource disadvantage relative to large firms in competing for and winning public sector contracts. Much less attention has been paid to disadvantage within the SME population and how factors such as size, sector and owner characteristics affect SME tendering. In response, this paper examines the relationship between size and SME public sector tendering. Findings show that size as measured by number of employees significantly influences SMEs' tendering resources, behaviour, and success; micro-enterprises, in particular, are found to be resource disadvantaged, tender less often, and have lower success rates compared to small and medium-sized enterprises. These findings support the case for recognising SMEs as heterogeneous tenderers and point to the need for more focused research on how SME characteristics influence ability and willingness to tender. Questions are also raised over the efficacy of current 'one-size-fits-all' policy for facilitating SME access to public procurement.

This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory in public procurement. With the field starting to mature, addressing this issue is timely. From conducting a systematic literature review we find that 29 percent of articles are theoretically grounded, with the incidence of theory having increased in recent years. Economic, sociological, psychological, and management theories are all in evidence, but micro-economic theories predominate. Our findings also show that survey reporting and case studies account for almost half of all studies; procurement research is focused on organizational-level aspects more than regulatory-policy issues or public buyers; and studies to date have largely emanated from the North American and European regions. The contribution of this paper lies in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of public procurement. Out of this we highlight the need for greater theoretical rigour, point to the under-use and even absence of theories that could have high validity and utility, and suggest a narrowing of research foci.

As we increase our reliance on mediated communication, it is important to be aware the media's influence on group processes and outcomes. A review of 40+ years of research shows that all media-videoconference, audioconference, and computer-mediated communication--change the context of the communication to some extent, reducing cues used to regulate and understand conversation, indicate participants' power and status, and move the group towards agreement. Text-based computer-mediated communication, the "leanest" medum, reduces status effects, domination, and consensus. This has been shown useful in broadening the range of inputs and ideas. However, it has also been shown to increase polarization, deindividuation, and disinhibition, and the time to reach a conclusion. For decision-making tasks, computer-mediated communication can increase choice shift and the likelihood of more risky or extreme decisions. In both videoconference and audioconference, participants cooperate less with linked collaborators, and shift their opinions toward extreme options, compared with face-to-face collaboration. In videoconference and audioconference, local coalitions can form where participants tend to agree more with those in the same room than those on the other end of the line. There is also a tendency in audioconference to disagree with those on the other end of the phone. This paper is a summary of a much more extensive forthcoming report; it reviews the research literature and proposes strategies to leverage the benefits of mediated communication while mitigating its adverse effects.

There has been a resurgence of interest in values in recent public administration research, based on two distinct arguments. For different reasons, neither approach is likely to secure a robust normative basis for public endeavours. These reasons are assessed, using an alternative body of theory rooted in contemporary social theory that we term, 'new pragmatism'. New pragmatic ideas are deployed to critique the divorce of values from facts; the abstraction of values from concrete situations; the anthropocentric foundation to social choice; the poorly developed understanding of the process of governance, with its inherent pluralism; and the seeming reluctance to articulate principles of political discourse.This article provides a multi-faceted critique of current thinking on the value of public actions and the desired attributes of public servants. It uses the insights of a body of social theory inspired by Science and Technology Studies to launch this critique. One body of theory is therefore used in a constructive criticism of the propositions of another. The object of the critique is a rapidly growing but internally complex body of research into public values and their mode of production. The argument begins with a brief résumé of the recent turn to values in public administration research and the many reasons for that. Two distinct strands in thinking on public values and their production are then briefly described. The argument proceeds to question the universal qualities of public values as proposed by leading theorists in this field and explores the continuing instabilities posed to values by facts. It is contended that this basic instability is only poorly addressed by multiplying the numbers of these public values to ensure that diverse situations are addressed. The value constellations that result from this are then beset by internal contradiction. The conception of those public situations is itself incomplete, since it excludes non-human entities like machines or information systems. These problems are most evident when values are mobilized to understand public decision systems, as Moore's (1995Moore's ( , 2000 influential Strategic Triangle seeks to do. Three significant problems with this Strategic Triangle are discussed and a conceptual alternative is outlined, which emphasizes the organizing centrality of evaluative principles in social debates about the work of governments. The discussion opens with an assessment of the extent of a purported turn to values in public administration thinking. THE TURN TO VALUESPublic administration research appears to be witnessing a 'turn to values'. There are two distinct strands to this turn, however, which are more than semantic: work on public values (in the plural);