How Competitive Is “Competitive” Procurement in the Social Services?

Lamothe, Scott

doi:10.1177/0275074013520563

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

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“…Finally, a growing literature on markets for public services concludes that they are weak and lacking competition (Van Slyke ; Girth et al ; Hefetz and Warner ; Johnston and Girth ; Lamothe ). Considering that a key assumption underlying the concept of a properly functioning market is a requirement for many buyers and sellers, ‘thin’ markets with few vendors are unlikely to produce a level of competition that fosters quality improvement and cost reduction (Johnston and Girth ).…”

Section: Theoretical Argument: Outsourcing Bureaucratic Personnel Qumentioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services

Dahlström

Nistotskaya

Tyrberg

2018

Public Administration

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This article investigates the relationships between outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality (BPQ) and citizen satisfaction with public services. Our baseline expectation is of a negative association between outsourcing and service quality; however, we argue that this tendency can be counteracted when the government buyer has a more competent and motivated personnel, not only in managerial positions, but across the board. Better‐educated and paid public employees are likely to have an important moderating effect on service quality through their input into quality specifications, their ability to recognize the provider's consummate or perfunctory behaviour, and their willingness to act on the observed performance. Using data from a cross‐section of Sweden's municipalities, our analysis reveals a robust association between higher levels of outsourcing and lower levels of citizen satisfaction, but the data do not provide unambiguous support for the hypothesis that the strength of this association diminishes when BPQ is higher.

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Section: Theoretical Argument: Outsourcing Bureaucratic Personnel Qumentioning

confidence: 99%

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services

Dahlström

Nistotskaya

Tyrberg

2018

Public Administration

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“…Prior studies have explored the various skills, resources and competences of policy capacity, including the following: (i) organisational capacity to encourage potential social service providers to compete for government contracts; (ii) managerial capacity to evaluate proposals and select vendors, and to negotiate, monitor and enforce contracts; and (iii) political capacity to maintain strongly accountable partnerships with social service providers (Brown and Potoski, ; Brown et al, ; Cooper, ; Jing and Savas, ; Kettl, ; Lamothe and Lamothe, ; Lamothe, ; Sclar, ).…”

Section: Theorising Policy Design and Capacity For Contracting Outmentioning

confidence: 99%

Government Purchase of Services in China: Similar Intentions, Different Policy Designs

Wen¹

2017

Public Admin & Development

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China has adopted purchase of services to facilitate the development of the societal sector, including social organisations, the social work profession and social services. Project-based and post-based purchases are two typical policy designs. Why do the local states develop two different designs to serve similar intentions? The answers to this question contribute to the broader discussion of policymaking and social development in China. Using the intention-capacity analytic framework, this study systemically compares Guangzhou's project-based model and Shenzhen's post-based model by drawing upon an extensive review of policy and archive documents, key informant interviews and field observations. The comparative study suggests that a pro-market ideology and incomplete analytical capacity in policy learning directed the design thinking towards market mechanism and purchase of services. Without the organisational conditions of social organisation and social work in Guangzhou, rapid growth in the social work workforce became the top priority in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, the trustworthiness of newly developing social organisations is another concern. All of these concerns underpinned the post-based design. Both models, with substantial fiscal support, succeed in expanding the societal sectors. But the mix of market and hierarchy tools, for the post-based model in particular, is an obstacle in further enabling social organisation and the social work profession.

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“…For example, Steuerle et al (2017) estimated that the U.S. nonprofit sector received approximately US$497 billion from the federal government in fiscal year (FY) 2015 for service delivery, which was 187% higher than in FY 1980. This close funding relationship has attracted significant attention from public and nonprofit management scholars (e.g., Amirkhanyan & Lambright, 2017; Brown et al, 2018; Lamothe, 2015; Salamon & Toepler, 2015; Suárez & Esparza, 2017). In this body of government–nonprofit relations literature, a growing number of studies explore what factors affect government’s source selection or, framed differently, what type of nonprofits are more preferred by funding agencies (e.g., Garrow, 2010; Lu, 2015; Marwell & Gullickson, 2013; Stone et al, 2001; Suárez, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Government Punish Nonprofits for High Administrative Costs in Contracting Decisions?

Zhao

2019

The American Review of Public Administration

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As government financing of nonprofit organizations to deliver services and implement policies has become a common practice in the public administration landscape, the question of what factors affect government’s source selection has emerged as a significant one. Within this strand of research, how nonprofits’ administrative costs affect their receipt of government contracts is still not fully understood. This article explores that relationship using a large panel data set of U.S.-based international development nonprofits from 1967 to 2014. Different model specifications consistently demonstrate an inverted U-shaped relationship between a nonprofit’s level of administrative costs and its amount of government contracts. In particular, as a nonprofit’s level of administrative costs increases, its amount of government contracts will initially increase, but after its level of administrative costs reaches approximately 16% to 18% of total expenses, further increases in the nonprofit’s level of administrative costs will reduce its amount of government contracts. These findings have implications for both public and nonprofit management.

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How Competitive Is “Competitive” Procurement in the Social Services?

Cited by 22 publications

References 50 publications

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services

Outsourcing, bureaucratic personnel quality and citizen satisfaction with public services

Government Purchase of Services in China: Similar Intentions, Different Policy Designs

Does Government Punish Nonprofits for High Administrative Costs in Contracting Decisions?

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