Contracting Out Government Services

W ith so many tasks to complete and limited resources with which to complete them, the importance of priority setting to mine action cannot be overstated. The author descr ibes how priority setting relates to mine action in Bosnia and Herzegovina and suggests how to go about setting such priorities.

ObjectiveThis paper provides a systematic review of evidence of government purchase of health services from private providers through stand-alone contracting-out (CO) initiatives and CO insurance schemes (CO-I) on health service utilisation in Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) to inform universal health coverage 2030 strategies.DesignSystematic review.Data sourcesElectronic search of published and grey literature on Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, CINHAL, Google Scholar and web, including websites of ministries of health from January 2010 to November 2021.Eligibility criteriaRandomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, time series, before–after and endline with comparison group reporting quantitative utilisation of data across 16 low-income and middle-income states of EMR. Search was limited to publications in English or English translation.Data extraction and synthesisWe planned for meta-analysis, but due to limited data and heterogeneous outco...

Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing have been considered significant in the military due to their spatiality in nature. Recent military developments have seen various military institutions depending on spatial mapping tools, for the purpose of command, control, communication and coordination in military operations. In this study, the qualitativeanalytical method was used to illustrate the applications of GIS in military operations, drawing lessons from land based military developments from selected studies. An online survey was conducted to extract information from a sample of forty (40) students undertaking War Studies at the University of Zimbabwe, who were conveniently selected for the study. In-depth interviews were also done with two (2) military experts from the university. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative interpretation of recent developments in military GIS. The benefits of GIS and machine learning in military operations included access to information; improved data management; information dissemination; improved terrain analysis; object, target or pattern recognition; quick data processing algorithms; autonomous systems; and predictive analysis. The study also notes some challenges associated with GIS and machine learning in military operations include expensive to set up which constituted of respondents; training requirements; cyber-security; software issues; offensive in nature, as well as misinterpretation of situations. The study recommends the need for human-AI collaboration and the development of a regulatory framework at national, regional and international level in ensuring sustainable implementation of GIS technology in military operations.

In diesem Beitrag beschreiben wir »Aktivierung« als staatlich finanzierte Industrie mit einem großen Personalbestand. Wir untersuchen die Beispiele Großbritannien und Deutschland, wo die wichtigsten Akteure die öffentlichen Arbeitsämter sind. Gemeint sind damit insbesondere die Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BA) und das Jobcentre Plus (JCP), welche selber Arbeitsvermittlung betreiben sowie Weiterbildung und Beratung für Erwerbslose an externe Unternehmen auslagern. Als weitere wichtige Akteure sind große Anbieter wie die deutschen Sozialverbände und die nationalen karitativen Verbände Großbritanniens zu nennen, aber auch Konzerne wie A4e, Maximus oder Ingeus. In vielen Ländern expandierte die Aktivierungsindustrie zusammen mit den steigenden finanziellen Mitteln für Aktivierungsprogramme. Auch veränderte sie sich durch die Einführung eines Preiswettbewerbs unter den Anbietern. Wie zahlreiche andere Bereiche der Sozialpolitik hängt »Aktivierung« maßgeblich von den Beschäftigten der unteren Stufen der Bürokratie (»street-level bureaucracy«, Lødemel/Trickey 2000) ab. Wie aber sieht die Entwicklung der Arbeitsbeziehungen in diesem Sektor aus? Disciplines Disciplines Human Resources Management | International and Comparative Labor Relations | International Business Comments Comments

Au cours des années 1990, en Europe on a assisté à la diffusion de types de relations entre l'administration publique et les organisations privées (à but lucratif et non lucratif) dérivées des deux catégories principales que sont le contracting-out et l'accréditation. Ces modèles, liés au processus de développement de nouveaux modes de gouvernance, se concentrent également sur des formes de contrats entre prestataires et usagers de services. Cette configuration contractuelle des systèmes locaux de protection sociale semble encourager la "société civile" et les bénéficiaires à jouer un rôle plus actif dans la conception des interventions et leur mise en pratique. Néanmoins, de nombreuses questions subsistent, notamment sur la position différente adoptée par les bénéficiaires dans le cas d'une intervention visant théoriquement à garantir ou à accroître leur "liberté de choix". La contractualisation n'est probablement pas l'idée principale qui anime les axes de changement des instruments politiques, mais c'est sans aucun doute une notion dont la force d'attraction est considérable. Dans la deuxième section, nous mettrons en évidence comment la polysémie et la pluralité des déclinaisons du terme contractualisation sont étroitement liées aux processus de changement des échelles de référence des politiques sociales. Afin de distinguer les significations assumées par les termes "activation" et "contractualisation", nous tenterons dans la troisième section de relier ces deux concepts à un paramètre d'évaluation, l'agence, et à ses principales déclinaisons. Le choix de ce paramètre est déterminé par le fait que nous souhaitons comprendre si les différentes mesures qui introduisent des contrats dans le but d'activer les allocataires modifient ou non leur position, et si, et comment, elles préfigurent leur capacité d'action. Plus loin, dans le quatrième paragraphe, nous montrerons comment le facteur discriminant des différentes significations des deux termes est le rôle de l'administration publique au niveau local. Afin de clarifier cela au niveau analytique, nous donnerons dans le cinquième paragraphe un exemple basé sur les résultats intermédiaires d'une nouvelle recherche sur la mise en œuvre de deux arrangements contractuels. Il s'agit de mesures destinées aux personnes peu autonomes, basées sur des transferts économiques et visant à la réinsertion sociale et à l'activation des bénéficiaires. Dans le sixième paragraphe, nous tirerons des cas empiriques des variables possibles avec lesquelles observer l'impact des processus de contractualisation et d'activation, en les agrégeant autour de questions sur le "qui", le "où", le "comment" et le "quoi" de ces processus. Dans le dernier paragraphe, nous soulignerons quelques indications sur les conditions institutionnelles auxquelles sont liées les différentes manières de reconnaître et de traiter le statut "actif" des citoyens, ainsi que quelques autres questions de recherche relatives aux processus d'individualisation et de soutien à l'indépendance sociale des bénéficiaires des politiques sociales et de santé.

merci de citer la version originale : Vitale, Tommmaso (2005). Contrattualiz-zazione sociale. La Rivista delle Politiche Sociali, 1/05: 291-323.Au cours des années 1990, nous avons assisté en Europe à la diffusion de types de relations entre l'administration publique et les organisations privées (à but lucratif et non lucratif) dérivées des deux catégories principales que sont la sous-traitance et l'accréditation. Ces modèles, liés au processus de développement de nouveaux modes de gouvernance, se concentrent également sur des formes de contrats entre prestataires et utilisateurs de services. Cette configuration contractuelle des systèmes locaux de protection sociale semble encourager la "société civile" et les bénéficiaires à jouer un rôle plus actif dans la conception des interventions et leur mise en pratique. Néanmoins, de nombreuses questions subsistent, notamment sur la position différente adoptée par les bénéficiaires dans le cas d'une intervention visant théoriquement à garantir ou à accroître leur "liberté de choix". La contractualisation n'est probablement pas l'idée principale qui anime les axes de changement des instruments politiques, mais c'est sans aucun doute une notion dont la force d'attraction est considérable. Dans la deuxième section, nous mettrons en évidence comment la polysémie et la pluralité des déclinaisons du terme contractualisation sont étroitement liées aux processus de changement des échelles de référence des politiques sociales. Afin de distinguer les significations assumées par les termes "activation" et "contractualisation", nous tenterons dans la troisième section de relier ces deux concepts à un paramètre d'évaluation, l'agence, et à ses principales déclinaisons. Le choix de ce paramètre est déterminé par le fait que nous souhaitons comprendre si les différentes mesures qui introduisent des contrats dans le but d'activer les allocataires modifient ou non leur position, et si, et comment, elles préfigurent leur capacité d'action. Plus loin, dans le quatrième paragraphe, nous montrerons comment le facteur discriminant des différentes significations des deux termes est le rôle de l'administration publique au niveau local. Afin de clarifier cela au niveau analytique, nous donnerons dans le cinquième paragraphe un exemple basé sur les résultats intermédiaires d'une nouvelle recherche sur la mise en œuvre de deux arrangements contractuels. Il s'agit de mesures destinées aux personnes peu autonomes, basées sur des transferts économiques et visant à la réinsertion sociale et à l'activation des bénéficiaires. Dans le sixième paragraphe, nous tirerons des cas empiriques des variables possibles avec lesquelles observer l'impact des processus de contractualisation et d'activation, en les agrégeant autour de questions sur le "qui", le "où", le "comment" et le "quoi" de ces processus. Dans le dernier paragraphe, nous soulignerons quelques indications sur les conditions institutionnelles auxquelles sont liées les différentes manières de reconnaître et de traiter le statut "actif" des citoyens, ainsi que quelques autres questions de recherche relatives aux processus d'individualisation et de soutien à l'indépendance sociale des bénéficiaires des politiques sociales et de santé.

This paper examines the reasons why employers used and even increased their use of temporary help agencies during the tight labor markets of the 1990s. Based on case study evidence from the hospital and auto supply industries, we evaluate various hypotheses for this phenomenon. In high-skilled occupations, our results are consistent with the view that employers paid substantially more to agency help to avoid raising wages for their regular workers and to fill vacancies while they recruited workers for permanent positions. In low-skilled occupations, our evidence suggests that temporary help agencies facilitated the use of more "risky" workers by lowering their wages and benefits and the costs associated with turnover. The use of agency temporaries in both high-and low-skilled occupations reduced the pressure on companies to raise wages for existing employees, and thereby may have contributed to the stagnant wage growth and low unemployment observed in the 1990s. Temporary agency employment expanded steadily during the 1990s. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics establishment data, employment in help supply services, which primarily comprises temporary help agencies, increased from 1.2 percent of paid employment in 1990 to 2.6 percent in 2000. The share in temporary agency employment grew throughout this period of strong economic expansion and very low unemployment despite the fact that the majority of temporary agency workers express a desire for regular, permanent jobs (Cohany 1998). The preference for regular employment among most agency temporaries has led many to conclude that the growth of the share in temporary employment in the 1990s was most likely driven by employer demand. In this paper, we provide insights into why employers heavily rely on temporary agency workers in tight labor markets based on evidence from two industries: hospitals and auto supply manufacturers. The fact that the share in temporary agency employment moves procyclically has long been observed. The most common explanation for this pattern is that companies use agency temporaries to handle demand variability and to buffer core workers during downturns (Mangum, Mayall, and Nelson 1985; Abraham 1988; Kandel and Pearson 2001). Because agency temporaries are the first to be laid off in a recession, we would expect the share in temporary employment to rise during expansions and fall during recessions. Nevertheless, it is hard to understand why, in the aggregate, the share in temporary employment would continue to grow strongly after almost a decade of expansion if firms were simply using temporaries to buffer core workers against an anticipated downturn. Indeed, evidence from employer surveys, (Abraham 1988, 1990; Houseman 2001b) suggests the importance of other factors, including difficulty in finding qualified workers on their own and the desire to screen workers for permanent positions. The hypothesis that, in tight labor markets, companies are filling vacancies with temporary

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law as indicated in a notice appearing later in this work. This electronic representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for non-commercial use only. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of our research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please see RAND Permissions.

Cultural policy often implies the transfer of public resources to cultural institutions. In this contribution we focus on the determinants of a government's choice between subsidies to external cultural organisations and in-house cultural production. We argue that , given specific conditions, grants in the cultural field may be seen as a proxy for the value of outsourced services, and we make reference to the empirical literature on the drivers of public services' outsourcing. We consider Italian cities' cultural policies in the1998-2008 period, a time when overall cultural expenditure shrank while cultural transfers increased. Using dynamic panel data analysis and controlling for specific economic, fiscal, and demographic characteristics of each city, we find that outsourcing of cultural services is negatively affected by cultural assets specificity and is more likely to occur in cities subject to fiscal stress. The results also highlight that the timing of elections affects the transfer of public resources to private cultural institutions.

, U.S. Forces-Iraq repositioned U.S. combat brigades from Iraqi cities, villages, and localities in compliance with the Security Agreement, and began transitioning to an advise, train, and assist role. As the mission changed, U.S. forces began their gradual withdrawal. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) initiated this review to determine how CERP is being used in support of this changing mission and to determine if there are lessons learned that can be applied to other environments. What SIGIR Recommends SIGIR recommends that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1) clarify the military's role in civil capacity development efforts where counterinsurgency is not a primary focus, and (2) re-evaluate performance metrics and measures of effectiveness for CERP projects with particular attention on eliminating broad metrics. Matter for Congressional Consideration If Congress intends for DoD to undertake civil capacity-development efforts where counterinsurgency is not a primary focus, it may wish to consider providing clarifying instructions or codifying that mission in U.S. statutes. Management Comments and Audit Response DoD partially concurred with SIGIR's recommendation to clarify the military's role in civil capacity development efforts. DoD also generally concurred with SIGIR's recommendation to re-evaluate their CERP performance metrics.

This exploratory paper specifically examines a case of public-third sector relationships, Montreal's CEMFII, within the most consolidated relation types to highlight what characteristics match with it and what do not match. Research Design & Methods: An extensive review of the literature on the relationship between the State and the third sector was performed in order to develop a model of such relationships and stress their principal characteristics. Findings: It is suggested that the development of a One-Stop-Shop service could remedy some of the difficulties female immigrants face when attempting to develop businesses. The paper also argues that the CEMFII, as a product of the 'State-third sector' interactions, has been risky and complicated. Implications & Recommendations: It might be useful that the third sector organisations acquire a financial autonomy to diminish their dependency on the public funds, which is subject to political leadership changes, and to guarantee the sustainability of the project. Contribution & Value Added:The uniqueness of this work lies in applying general frameworks of 'public-third sector' relations to a specific case within a specific urban socioeconomic context, where the effects of political leadership changes can be clearly viewed. Article type: research paper

There is vast literature on how to implement public policies, with endless case studies emphasising a few key lessons. The drive to contracting in the public sector raises familiar threats to coherent program implementation, and adds those of control and incentives. Contracting fragments program responsibility among multiple contractors, and separates policy agencies from service delivery contractors. It raises questions about political control and accountability, and the prospect of gaps between intention and outcome. This paper ‘rediscovers implementation’ by reviewing the practical difficulties of constructing public‐private relationships which can deliver quality human services. After considering broad arguments about the efficacy of contracting, the paper turns to the provision of human services by examining the contracting out of welfare services and the Job Network. Our argument is modest: that public sector contracting fails if the challenges of implementation are not addres...

Contracting has moved from the margins to the centre of public management. Significant sections of the public workforce, from benefits delivery to corporate services, now find their functions open to tender: Governments prefer to concentrate on policy analysis and development, leaving service delivery to the market, As purchasers rather than providers, governments are redefining the role and scope of the state. But are Australian governments ready for this shift to contracting? Do they possess the f i l l array of control and reporting mechanisms necessary if contracting is to deliver its promised benefits? There are signijicant dificulties finding evidence that answers such questions. Yet on the basis of concerns discussed across Australian jurisdictions, it appears contracting has developed so quickly it outstrips the capacity of government to monitor what is happening, and so learn from mistakes. In time governments will become better at maintaining accountability for contracted functions, because experience reduces the risks of moral hazard.

This article explores issues surrounding the legitimacy of private sector provision in criminal justice. It examines changes in ideas about legitimate coercion which have made private sector involvement possible. It then elaborates two models of the processes whereby private sector entities attempt to obtain and maintain the legitimacy of their activities in the eyes of the public.

The continued financial problems of the public transportation industry have motivated a search for more cost-effective ways of delivering transit services. Service contracting--the contracting of public transit services to private providers-has emerged as one of the most promising alternatives. Existing evidence suggests that service contracting could reduce public agency cost by 10 to 50 percent. If service contracting were implemented throughout the public transit industry, services currently provided by public agencies would be shifted to private provision. However, little is known about how such service shifts would affect transit service costs, and whether significant cost savings would occur. This paper presents an assessment of the cost savings potential of transit agency service contracting. A cost model based on the concept of avoidable cost is used in a series of case studies to generate estimates of potential cost savings resulting from contracting various quantities of t...

The offshoring of high-tech services has greatly increased in recent years, with consequences for firms demand for skilled employment in firms. This paper specifically analyzes the relationship between R&D offshoring and the demand for R&D employment using firm-level data for Spanish manufacturing and services companies during the period 2004-2009. Estimating different specifications with panel data techniques, we find that this association is statistically positive. In particular, for services firms a 1 percentage point increase in R&D offshoring raises the demand for researchers by about 11%. This suggests the existence of complementarity among them as productive inputs.

The federal government's Work Choices legislation has taken over much of the jurisdiction of state governments to regulate labour practices in the conventional manner. There are already indications that the states are considering more creative forms of labour regulation, including 'soft' or 'light touch' regulation, as a response to Work Choices. This article presents findings from a study of light touch labour regulation in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria. The article also makes some preliminary observations on the use of this regulatory technique by the three states, drawing upon a normative model of 'responsive regulation'. This preliminary assessment of light touch labour regulation suggests that there is considerable scope for improvement, as many of the approaches discussed are relatively weak informational strategies. The article identifies a number of possible regulatory improvements.

Most individuals regard full-time, long-term employment as the preferred employment relationship. As such, those in alternative forms of employment may be cast as working in the "shadow" of the mainstream. The term shadow workforce thus refers to individuals engaged in forms of employment that differ from full-time, long-term employment. That is, they are engaged in nonstandard work (Carré and Joshi 2001). The shadow workforce garners public attention in headlines, titles, and statements proclaiming "The End of the Job," The Downsizing

Contracting relationships vary in the extent to which they are complete and involve formal contract specification as well as the extent to which they are based on strong relationships and rely on cooperation and trust. Where a contracting arrangement falls on these two continuums constitutes what this paper refers to as relationship design and is likely to impact contractor performance. We use data from a survey of child-care centers and Head Start agencies in Ohio to examine the association between the design of contracting relationships and contractor performance. Contractor performance is assessed in two ways: an objective measure of violations identified by government inspectors and a perceptual self-rated measure of performance reported by the contracted service providers. Measures of relationship design are constructed using multiple survey items and are included in multivariate regression analyses while controlling for a variety of organizational characteristics. Findings sug...

Conventional wisdom suggests that ambiguous goals result in undesirable consequences for organizations. However, little research examines the connections between ambiguity, public values, and organizational decisions. We explore the connections between goal ambiguity and the application of public values when making organizational decisions by accounting for transformational leadership. We evaluate the mechanisms through which transformational leaders connect goal clarity and public values. Findings suggest individuals who view leaders as highly transformative view clear goals as promoting public values. Alternatively, individuals who view leaders as lacking transformative traits view clear goals as hampering the application of public values to organizational decisions.

When building and construction markets are analysed it is often at the project level, with markets defined by sector or structure type, procurement method or contract, size, complexity or other characteristic. Projects within a defined market are then grouped together to establish its importance, detached housing for example, or high-rise commercial. A distinction can be made, however, between a market made up of similar types of projects and the market for a single project. Such a market is created by a client as they go through the procurement process. This paper introduces the idea that procurement of a project creates a identifiable, though temporary, market for goods and services, and that such a market has distinctive characteristics that make it both interesting, as a source of testable hypotheses and further research, and important in developing our understanding of the industry and its dynamics. The research the paper reports on shows that the idea of project procurement as a mechanism for creating a market can utilise the elements of industry structure and competitive analysis that have traditionally been applied at the firm level. The paper concludes that this allows a new perspective on issues such as collusion, ruinous competition and cost uncertainty associated with the typical single price, sealed bid auction used for procurement in the building and construction industry.

: OMB Circular A-76, which is designed to encourage use of private firms to provide services to the government whenever feasible, has had a major effect on the organization and management of U.S. Air Force vehicle maintenance. Through interviews and examination of administrative data for seven bases, the authors concluded that the limited available evidence suggests that application of A-76 leads to substantial cost savings with no clear effect on quality. Problems in implementing Circular A-76 are also discussed. Keywords: Government Procurement; Air Force Procurement; Cost Effectiveness; Air Force Equipment; Maintenance; Contracts; Military Vehicles.

Governments may exclude vendors from procurement awards for many reasons, including poor performance and corruption. Excluding a vendor, whether from a particular procurement (deciding that the vendor is not qualified for award) or from an entire procurement system (suspending or debarring the vendor), calls for a complex assessment of the performance and reputational risks posed by that vendor, and of the costs of exclusion. As the EU’s Member States shape their exclusion systems consistent with the EU’s procurement directives, the Member States may wish to draw on U.S. strategies for managing risks in contractor qualification: requiring that contractors establish strong internal controls, centralizing the management of vendor exclusions, and using administrative agreements and independent monitors which allow agencies to mitigate risks even as they, and their vendors, avoid the disruption that suspension and debarment may cause. These U.S. strategies align well with the EU procure...

This exploratory paper specifically examines a case of public-third sector relationships, Montreal's CEMFII, within the most consolidated relation types to highlight what characteristics match with it and what do not match. Research Design & Methods: An extensive review of the literature on the relationship between the State and the third sector was performed in order to develop a model of such relationships and stress their principal characteristics. Findings: It is suggested that the development of a One-Stop-Shop service could remedy some of the difficulties female immigrants face when attempting to develop businesses. The paper also argues that the CEMFII, as a product of the 'State-third sector' interactions, has been risky and complicated. Implications & Recommendations: It might be useful that the third sector organisations acquire a financial autonomy to diminish their dependency on the public funds, which is subject to political leadership changes, and to guarantee the sustainability of the project. Contribution & Value Added:The uniqueness of this work lies in applying general frameworks of 'public-third sector' relations to a specific case within a specific urban socioeconomic context, where the effects of political leadership changes can be clearly viewed. Article type: research paper

This thesis investigates the challenges confronting religious organisations contracted to deliver employment services as part of Australia's privatised employment services system. Service privatisation, which commenced in Australia in 1998, was expected to generate value for money, efficiency, and innovation and in turn improve outcomes for the unemployed. What began as a radical experiment has become institutionalised and work practices in employment services agencies are standardised across the range of contracted organisations. Critics argue that service delivery agencies are becoming increasingly homogenised, meaning that distinctive differences between for-profit, not-for-profit and church-related organisations are increasingly difficult to identify. This homogenisation is consistent with the phenomenon of isomorphism resulting from coercive, mimetic and normative influences. These influences have particular consequences for church-related organisations. Neo-secularisation theorists posit that isomorphic pressures have the potential to erode links between church-related organisations and the parent denomination and exacerbate the decline of religious authority, described as internal secularisation (Chaves, 1993a). The study of religious organisations is often seen as peripheral in social science, yet in this thesis I present original findings from a case study comprising four church-related organisations contracted to deliver federally funded employment services. This includes an examination of the extent to which the contracting environment impacts the behaviour, mission and identity of these church-related organisations. Central to this is the way in which the relationship between the purchaser and the contracted organisations has evolved since these services were first privatised. Principal-agent theory provides key insights into the behaviour of the purchaser and the impact that the principal-agent model of contracting has on the behaviour of the key actors. I find that with almost no exceptions, on almost every measure of religiosity, from 'going the extra mile' to the use of religious symbols, church-related welfare organisations are indistinguishable from their secular counterparts. I conclude that this Glossary Centrelink: Australian Government agency responsible for administering the payment of government income support, pensions and benefits.

Studies of bureaucracy have been very concerned about whether the bureaucracy exploits its informational advantage vis‐à‐vis politicians to influence policy decisions. Yet, little theorizing has been undertaken about how such influence takes place. We identify and test three mechanisms that must be at work in order for policy information to function as a vehicle for political influence of bureaucrats. Using data from politicians and bureaucrats in five different political systems and survey experimental methods to deal with endogeneity and social desirability bias, we find evidence supporting all three mechanisms: bureaucrats are generally willing to use policy information to influence political decisions, politicians rely on policy information from bureaucrats when making such decisions, and the way policy information is presented matters for the policy preferences of politicians. We discuss the implications of the results and factors that are important for the mechanisms to apply.

The study examines military manpower procurement for Peacetime'. It considers the broad'alternative_systems of conscription and"voluntarism and develops models.of demand and supplY for militarylabor to show how these are affected fxy the choice of proburement system. Empirical.-applications are made using vidence from _ Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the-United:States.,Evaluation of the aiterhative systeMs in the peacetime context is made in terms of allocative'effici4ncy, distributional, effects, adjustment flexibility, and issues of social Control. Although the budget cost of a volunteer forde IS usually greater than that of a drafted-one, it was found that'a peacetime draft of a professional.standing military would impose real. economic costs .not present in the volunteer system. The volUnteer force-would better serve the distributionalscriterion of equity and could be supplemented by a draft for reserves, possibly lottery, and a tand-by draft for major exp4nsion. In general, finding's favored'an all-volunteer recrdifient for active duty in peacetime. AppendiXes tabulate and identify data.

is an MS student in R&D management at AFIT. Upon completing his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh, he served as a program manager in the GPS OCX program, a $1 billion software-centric ground control system. He then held a staff job for the GPS Director, leading contractor performance assessment processes and various staff duties. His research interests include defense acquisition reform and program management oversight.

ObjectiveThis paper provides a systematic review of evidence of government purchase of health services from private providers through stand-alone contracting-out (CO) initiatives and CO insurance schemes (CO-I) on health service utilisation in Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) to inform universal health coverage 2030 strategies.DesignSystematic review.Data sourcesElectronic search of published and grey literature on Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, CINHAL, Google Scholar and web, including websites of ministries of health from January 2010 to November 2021.Eligibility criteriaRandomised controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, time series, before–after and endline with comparison group reporting quantitative utilisation of data across 16 low-income and middle-income states of EMR. Search was limited to publications in English or English translation.Data extraction and synthesisWe planned for meta-analysis, but due to limited data and heterogeneous outco...

Executive Officer, Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace. Sentencing Act 1991, section 7. There are a range of sentencing options available to the magistracy and judiciary under the act. However, it is explicit that imprisonment be a sanction only of last resort. This arrangement is made possible under section 120 of the Australian Constitution. Despite much discussion in the early 1990s of the possibility of implied rights in the Constitution, this was largely put to rest in the case of Kruger when Dawson and McHugh JJ forming part of the majority found that the Constitution contained no guarantee to individuals of the due process of Jaw. They noted that whilst there were provisions in the Constitution affording protection against government action that disregarded individual rights, this did not constitute a guarantee that there was a notion of equality before the law merely that the Jaw should apply equally to all persons (Curran 1998a). 8 In the Monthly Justice Statistics Summary Report for March 1998 from the Criminal Justice Statitics & Research Unit of the Department of Justice it is stated that, 'The extent to which persons dealt with by the justice system re-offend is a partial measure of the success of the system in improving public safety by reducing the incidence of crime. Victoria's recidivism rate increased slightly from 33.3% to 35% in 1996-1997. While Western Australia had the highest with a rate of 50.8% In the Monthly Justice Statistics Summary Report, September, Victoria had the lowest average daily prisoner population rate per 100,000 Adult population, June Quarter 1998 with 78.6 with the Northern Territory being the highest with 451.6. This report also notes one of the highest quarterly figures for the presence of fine defaulters in the prison population. In the Monthly Justice Statistics for July 1998 it is noted that although Victoria experienced an increase of 1.4% in its crime rate in 1997, compared to 1996, its crime rate was 19.8% below the national average.

This paper plans to explore the issue of how conference project managers and other leaders working in government contractor positions can best approach the issue of rapid growth and hiring individuals for event and conference planning roles. In order to more thoroughly explore this problem, this paper will employ several strategies.

Politics can be viewed as the search for consensus on underlying values to foster a sense of community. This search challenges contemporary political and administrative leadership because the policy process increasingly involves interactions among amorphous and unstable issue-oriented coalitions rather than a smaller number of actors with more stable and predictable roles. This article discusses politics, administration, and markets as separate ways of thinking—as decision-making perspectives—that produce a variety of expectations of accountability, often at odds. It presents a case study involving the contracting out of foster care services in Kansas to illustrate these competing perspectives and examines how market-based challenges to traditional political and administrative perspectives complicate expectations of accountability. The result is a situation in which the challenge of accommodating three crosscutting expectations of accountability (derived from the three competing per...

IntroductionNon-communicable diseases (NCDs) and their effects are rising quickly. NCDs such as cardiovascular illnesses, diabetes, cancer, and chronic lung diseases cause 60% of global deaths; of which, 80% occur in developing countries. In established health systems, primary healthcare handles most of the NCD care.MethodologyThis is a mixed-method study conducted to analyze the health service availability and readiness toward NCDs using the SARA tool. It included 25 basic health units (BHUs) of Punjab, which were selected through random sampling. Quantitative data were collected using the SARA tools, while qualitative data were collected through in-depth interviews with healthcare providers working at the BHUs.ResultsThere was a problem of load shedding of both electricity and water in 52% of the BHUs, which leads to the poor availability of healthcare services. Only eight (32%) out of 25 BHUs provide the diagnosis or management of NCDs. The service availability was the highest fo...

Limited Print and Electronic Distribution Rights This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions. The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.

Central to the study of ‘armed forces and society’, whether the approach be that of sociology, political science or legal doctrine, is the question of how unique the military really is—and ought to be. Over the last four decades or so, a number of authors have evinced keen interest in, and written more or less extensively on such matters as the objective, normative and subjective dimensions of military life, functional, structural and cultural features of military organization, civil-military relations, and the patterns of long-term change affecting them.

Under Australia's federal system subnational governments fund the delivery of a wide range of public services. In particular, state and territory governments have increasingly looked to the non-profit sector to deliver human services under contract. Over time, the contracting regimes employed by public sector commissioners have taken on more ‘relational’ characteristics, accompanied by a gradual softening of public sector resistance to non-profit sector input into policy development. Nevertheless, the Australian non-profit sector is fragmented and, although policy capacity within the sector has undoubtedly matured, it is also unevenly distributed. Almost two decades of contracting has left its mark on organisational culture. There are fears within the non-profit sector that it is organisations with the largest ‘market share’ that gain a seat at the policy table.

Theories of blame suggest that contracting out public service delivery reduces citizens' blame of politicians for service failure. We use an online experiment with 1,000 citizen participants to estimate the effects of information cues summarizing service delivery arrangements on citizens' blame of English local government politicians for poor street maintenance. Participants were randomized to one of four cues: no information about service delivery arrangements, politicians' involvement in managing delivery, delegation to a unit inside government managing delivery, and delegation through a contract with a private firm managing delivery. The politicians' managing delivery cue raises blame compared to citizens having no information. However, the contract with a private firm cue doesn't reduce blame compared to either no information or the politicians' managing delivery cue. Instead, the delegation to a unit inside government cue reduces blame compared to politicians managing delivery, suggesting delegation to public managers not contracting reduces blame in this context.

Background: The case of contracting out government health services to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been weak for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services, with documented gains being mainly in curative services. We present an in-depth assessment of the comparative advantages of contracting out on MNCH access, quality, and equity, using a case study from Pakistan. Methods: An end-line, cross-sectional assessment was conducted of government facilities contracted out to a large national NGO and government-managed centres serving as controls, in two remote rural districts of Pakistan. Contracting out was specific for augmenting MNCH services but without contractual performance incentives. A household survey, a health facility survey, and focus group discussions with client and spouses were used for assessment. Results: Contracted out facilities had a significantly higher utilization as compared to control facilities for antenatal care, delivery, postnatal care, emergency obstetric care, and neonatal illness. Contracted facilities had comparatively better quality of MNCH services but not in all aspects. Better household practices were also seen in the district where contracting involved administrative control over outreach programs. Contracting was also faced with certain drawbacks. Facility utilization was inequitably higher amongst more educated and affluent clients. Contracted out catchments had higher out-of-pocket expenses on MNCH services, driven by steeper transport costs and user charges for additional diagnostics. Contracting out did not influence higher MNCH service coverage rates across the catchment. Physical distances, inadequate transport, and low demand for facility-based care in non-emergency settings were key client-reported barriers. Conclusion: Contracting out MNCH services at government health facilities can improve facility utilization and bring some improvement in quality of services. However, contracting out of health facilities is insufficient to increase service access across the catchment in remote rural contexts and requires accompanying measures for demand enhancement, transportation access, and targeting of the more disadvantaged clientele.