Strategic Public Management

CHAPTER 15 ________________________________Contracting for Services in State and Local Government

Robert Shick

In only eight years (fiscal years 2000 to 2008), federal government spending on contracts has grown 152.7 percent, from $208.3 billion to $526.5 billion. While comparable data are not available for the 89,527 state and local governments in the United States, almost all aspects of state and local government, from waste management to correctional facilities, are touched in some way by contracting. The consistent argument for contracting out work is that doing business in the competitive marketplace reduces costs and improves quality.

Concurrently, the body of academic literature on contracting has grown. Such authors as Steven Cohen ...