Contracting for Services in State and Local Government Agencies

Contracting for Services in State and Local Government Agencies

Author: William Sims Curry

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-28

Total Pages: 495

ISBN-13: 1317221028

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This second edition of Contracting for Services in State and Local Government Agencies provides state-of-the-art tools for best practice in the procurement of services at state and local levels, from initial stages through to completion. Including lively case studies and research conducted with state and local agencies across the United States, this book provides management advice and tips on compliance to reduce costs, select the best-qualified contractors, manage contractors’ performance, and prevent corruption and waste. Utilizing the results of new research in all fifty states, author William Sims Curry offers updated best-practice documents, methodologies, and templates including: a Request for Proposal (RFP), a scorecard for proposals to select the best-qualified contractor, a toolkit for meeting socioeconomic contracting goals without compromising price, quality, or on-time delivery, and a Model Services Contract (MSC). Special consideration is given to obtaining services and products in states of emergency. Several additional resources for practitioners are available online, including sample contracts and a straightforward, inexpensive tool for tracking contractors’ progress and cost management. The roadmap and templates contained in this book and available online to readers will prove essential to state and local government agency contracting professionals and other officials and employees called upon to participate in the drafting of solicitations, writing sole source justifications, writing scopes of work, serving on advance contract planning and source selection teams, recommending award of contracts, or assisting in the management of those contracts.


Government Contracting

Government Contracting

Author: William Sims Curry

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-08-05

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1315536439

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The second edition of Government Contracting: Promises and Perils picks up where the first edition’s mission left off: exposing fraud, incompetence, waste, and abuse (FIWA) and analyzing corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude that defile government contracting. The first edition thoroughly outlined procurement throughout the contracting cycle including initial planning, contractor selection, contract administration, contract closeout, and auditing. This significantly revised new edition provides additional much-needed guidance on contracting documents, management tools, and processes for addressing negative influences on government contracting, including an improved approach to evaluating proposals. Specific guidance for avoiding FIWA is provided for government officials and employees, government agencies, and government contractors, and practical solutions to problems faced by individuals and organizations involved in government contracting are intended for both practitioner and pedagogical applications. The "Government Procurement Corruption Wall of Shame" that was introduced in the first edition to illustrate contracting perils such as conflicts of interest, duplicity, favoritism, incompetence, kickbacks, and protests is continued in the second edition, and cases illustrating the existence of FIWA in government contracting have been thoroughly updated. Contracting documents and contract management tools are provided on a website designed to accompany the book. Written at the graduate level and specifically intended for state, local, federal, and international government procurement activities, this textbook is required reading for public procurement, contract management, business, and public administrations courses.


Human Services Contracting

Human Services Contracting

Author: Robert A. Shick

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-10

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1351017217

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In the last 35 years, governments around the globe have increasingly contracted with nonprofit and for-profit entities designed to provide a portion of the public sector’s portfolio of goods and services. This trend can be traced to a variety of factors, including perceived or actual economic efficiencies in outsourcing goods and services, values concerning the role and size of government in society, and the financial and organizational constraints of many government entities. In the United States, child welfare services adopted a pro-contracting approach early, and a variety of other human services have followed suit, including mental health care, job training, homeless services and others. Although there is strong evidence to suggest that human service contracting is growing over time, scholarship continues to lag on topics related to human service contract management, policy implementation and innovation, performance-based contracting and evaluation. This new volume in the Public Solutions Handbook series is the first volume-length treatment of human services contracting issues, integrating both policy and practice, and exploring a broad range of issues that includes the fields of history, growth, innovations, results and outcomes, best practices and the future of government human service contracting. Chapters in this book examine specific human service contracts, both in the U.S. and abroad, geared to practitioners in the public sector—from local government service contractors to municipal employees—as well as MPA students and those enrolled in courses on intergovernmental relations and nonprofit management.


Government Contracting

Government Contracting

Author: Robert A Shick

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-12-07

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1317414942

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Government contracting is one of the most important issues facing federal, state, and local governments. As governments contend with lower tax revenues and a growing belief that smaller government is better government, contracting has become a fundamental means of providing goods and services to citizens. This volume, which is geared toward practitioners as well as students, addresses the broad range of issues that comprise government contracting – from the political, economic philosophy, and value of contracting – to the future of government contracting. Throughout the volume academic theory provides a foundation to address practical subjects, including the contract process, monitoring and evaluating contracts, ethics, and both federal and state local government contracting. Contributors to this volume are both academicians and practitioners, who together offer their scholarly expertise and practical experience, encouraging readers to ask the very question "What is the role of government in American society?" Through this approach, students will acquire the knowledge needed to understand the various aspects of government contracting, and practitioners will enhance their public procurement skills. Government Contracting is ideally suited to MPA students, practitioners in the public sector, and elected officials looking to enhance their understanding of privatization and contracting in order to provide public services more effectively.


National Audit Office (NAO): Government Contracting: The Role of Major Contractors in the Delivery of Public Services - HC 810

National Audit Office (NAO): Government Contracting: The Role of Major Contractors in the Delivery of Public Services - HC 810

Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2013-11-12

Total Pages: 70

ISBN-13: 9780102987027

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In the memorandum 'The role of major contractors in the delivery of public services' the NAO sets out some of the benefits that can be achieved through contracting but highlights three issues that deserve greater public scrutiny. First, it raises questions about the way public service markets operate. This includes the need for scrutiny over whether public service contracts are sufficiently competitive and whether the rise of a few major contractors is in the public interest. Secondly, it highlights the issue of whether contractors' profits reflect a fair return. Understanding contractors' profits is important to ensure that their interests are aligned properly with that of the taxpayer. But transparency over rewards that contractors make is at present limited. Thirdly, the report asks how we know that contractors are delivering services to the high standards expected. In particular, government needs to ensure that large companies with sprawling structures are not paying 'lip-service' to control and that they have the right culture and control environment across their group. This requires transparency over contractors' performance and the use of contractual entitlement to information, audit and inspection. This should be backed up by the threat of financial penalties and being barred from future competitions if things are found to be wrong. A related report 'Managing government suppliers' (HC 811, session 2013-14, ISBN 9780102987034) examines the way the Cabinet Office is working to improve government's management of strategic suppliers.


Smart Contracting for Local Government Services

Smart Contracting for Local Government Services

Author: Kevin Lavery

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1999-03-30

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0313028451

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Privatization of local government is making headlines throughout the world. Scottsdale, Arizona, contracts for fire protection; Baltimore, to run nine city schools; and Chicago and Philadelphia for a range of services from janitors to recreational facilities. The United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia have arguably gone further than the United States. But much of the debate on contracting has been high on politics, philosophy, and emotion with little attention to practical issues of how to do contracting well. The book shifts the debate away from the politics and rhetoric to the practicalities and realities of contracting. The book is concerned with four issues—the role of contracting in government, the appropriateness of different contracting strategies, the process of contracting, and who does the contracting. Drawing on examples in the United States and the United Kingdom, the author considers the historical and cultural context of contracting, where contracting works and where it doesn't, the features of smart contracting, and the conditions that are conducive to smart contracting. The book provides an invaluable guide to those concerned with the practicalities of contracting.


Contracting for Design and Construction Services in the Public Sector

Contracting for Design and Construction Services in the Public Sector

Author: John O. Adler

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1000902501

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What makes the procurement of design and construction services different from the procurement of goods and services? Construction projects tend to be bigger, more expensive, more complex, and often more challenging than other procurements. In this timely new book, author John Adler outlines the design and construction procurement process step by step. He captures the procurement approaches for design and construction that have dominated the industry during the past two decades, including Design-Build, Construction Manager/General Contractor, and Public-Private Partnerships. John explores these and other approaches from practical and public procurement best practice perspectives, examining the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each approach and capturing recommended policies and procedures. Topics covered include: • The most common project risks and how responsibility for those risks is allocated through design and construction contracts • Steps in the project planning process, including capital planning, project management, budgeting processes, and financing tools for construction projects • Construction project delivery methods, including the traditional Design-Bid-Build, Design-Build, Construction Manager at Risk, Job Order Contracting, and Public-Private Partnerships • Qualifications-based selection for design and architectural services and the administration of design contracts • How to select a construction contractor • Contract administration for construction projects • An overview of social, environmental, and economic issues in design and construction Contracting for Design and Construction Services in the Public Sector is an easy and entertaining read for public procurement practitioners, ranging from entry-level practitioners to seasoned professionals and managers. It’s an important book for public sector project management, construction, and design professionals, as well as businesses wishing to market construction and design services to state and local governments. The text may also serve as a supplemental resource for undergraduate public procurement and supply chain students.


Contracting in the Public Sector

Contracting in the Public Sector

Author: Ismael Carbajal Perez

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13:

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Throughout the last few decades, the application of contracting has never been more integral to service in the public sector than now. There is a considerable amount of research that highlights contracting as a cost-effective management tool for public managers to employ. However, despite the wide use of contracting for public service delivery, the emphasis of most research focuses on comparing the cost of service delivery between the public and private sectors. There is limited research that examines the role of contract management in the public sector. Furthermore, the available research concentrates on how public managers can determine whether conditions are appropriate for the use of contracting and not the interaction of public employees with contracting. The research also identifies the role that procurement plays in a successful acquisition of a contract but does not address the technical requirements necessary to implement and monitor a contract and service delivery. This research will seek to address the gap between how public employees affect contracting and how it translates to the overall implementation of a contract.