Research Catalog

Title

Sharing power : public governance and private markets / Donald F. Kettl.

Author

Kettl, Donald F.

Publication

Washington, D.C. : The Brookings Institution, 1993.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 219 pages; 24 cm

Summary

• In the flush of enthusiasm to make govemment work better, reformers from both left and right have urged government to turn as many functions as possible over to the private sector and to allow market competition to instill efficiency and choice. In fact, government has been doing just this for years: every major policy initiative launched since World War II has been managed by public-private partnerships. Yet such privatization has not solved government's problems. While there have been some positive results, there has been far less success than advocates of market competition have promised.
• In a searching examination of why the "competition prescription" has not worked well, Donald F. Kettl finds that government has largely been a poor judge of private markets. Because government rarely operates in truly competitive markets, contracting out has not so much solved the problems of inefficiency as aggravated them. Government has often not proved to be an intelligent consumer of the goods and services it has purchased. Kettl provides specific recommendations as to how government can become a "smart buyer," knowing what it wants and judging better what it has bought.
• Through detailed case studies, Kettl shows that as market imperfections increase, so do problems in governance and management. He examines the A-76 program for buying goods and services, the FTS-2000 telecommunications system, the Superfund program, the Department of Energy's production of nuclear weapons, and contracting out by state and local governments. He argues that government must be more aggressive in managing contracts if it is to build successful partnerships with outside contractors. Kettl maintains that the answer is not more government, but a smarter one, which requires strong political leadership to refocus the bureaucracy's mission and to change the bureaucratic culture.

Subjects

• Contracting out > United States
• Government contractors > United States
• Public contracts > United States
• Privatization > United States

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

• Ch. 1. The Competition Prescription. The Hidden Growth of Public-Private Partnerships. Private Markets. Public Interests. The Myth of the Self-Governing Market -- Ch. 2. Government and Markets. The Contracting Relationship. Different Markets, Different Problems. Sharing Power -- Ch. 3. The A-76 Program: Logistics and Libraries. Devising a Competitive Process. The Fruits of Competition. Contracting Out and Government Employees. The Government as Buyer -- Ch. 4. The FTS-2000 System: Federal Telecommunications. The Problem of Competition. Competition in Contracting. Administering the Contract. Managing Market Competition -- Ch. 5. Superfund: Red Ice and Purple Dogs. Negotiating Market Behavior. Controlling the Market. Program Oversight. Agency Cultures. An Imperfect Marketplace -- Ch. 6. Nuclear Weapons Production: Bombs and Bomb Makers. Trouble at Rocky Flats. Changing the Bureaucratic Culture. The Intelligence of Government -- Ch. 7. Contracting Out in State and Local Governments.
• The Evidence on State and Local Contracting. Contracting Out for Social Services. Accountability in Service Networks -- Ch. 8. The Smart-Buyer Problem. The Government as Smart Buyer. Mutual Dependence. Management Issues for Contracting -- Ch. 9. Managing Versus Governing. Coping with Uncertainty. Governing through Leadership.

ISBN

0815749066 (alk. paper)

LCCN

92041705

OCLC

• 27070553
• ocm27070553
• SCSB-3041457

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries