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Democratic accountability for outsourced government services
Title
Democratic accountability for outsourced government services.
Creator
Keeler, Rebecca L., College for Design and Social Inquiry, School of Public Administration
Abstract/Description
Public administration scholars have raised serious concerns about loss of democratic accountability when government services are outsourced to private forprofit businesses because of the very different values and missions of the two sectors. Particular concern for democratic accountability arises when administrative discretion is delegated to governments' private sector agents. Furthermore, if contractors may adversely impact individual rights or interests, or may adversely impact vulnerable...
Show morePublic administration scholars have raised serious concerns about loss of democratic accountability when government services are outsourced to private forprofit businesses because of the very different values and missions of the two sectors. Particular concern for democratic accountability arises when administrative discretion is delegated to governments' private sector agents. Furthermore, if contractors may adversely impact individual rights or interests, or may adversely impact vulnerable populations, special democratic responsibilities arise. It is these three features of outsourcing transactions that constitute the elements of the proposed framework used in this research in order to assess need for heightened attention to democratic accountability. Some scholars argue for application of constitutional and administrative law norms to some government contractors., Public service ethics and transparency requirements found in administrative law are heavily value-laden and mission-driven. If applied to certain government contractors, they can help to bridge the sectors' mission and value differences, thus enhancing democratic accountability for the services performed by governments' private sector agents. This research offers an analytical framework for identifying features of outsourcing transactions that call for enhanced democratic accountability measures such as ethics and transparency requirements, and explores the application of ethics and transparency requirements to governments' contractors. Contracts and laws governing three Florida local government service categories were subjected to close systematic textual and legal analysis: residential trash collection, building code inspection, and inmate health care., The analysis revealed circumstances calling for greater attention to democratic accountability in that the selected outsourcing transactions delegated to contractors the authority to exercise police power, make public policy, and commit expenditures of public funds. Contracts and laws haphazardly required contractors to abide by public service ethics and transparency requirements, thus beginning to adapt the mission and value system of their private sector agents to those of government.
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Date Issued
2010
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927311
Subject Headings
Contracting out, Privatization, Public administration, Decision making, Public contracts, Management
Format
Document (PDF)
analysis of accountability in public-private health care programs serving vulnerable populations
Title
An analysis of accountability in public-private health care programs serving vulnerable populations.
Creator
Cleare, Thomas W., School of Public Administration, College for Design and Social Inquiry
Abstract/Description
References to accountability are common throughout public administration literature. However, a clear model to assess accountability in government programs is not fully developed. This research fills this gap and provides policymakers with a tool they can use to assess accountability in both public and contracted programs and enables them to make more informed contracting-out decisions. In addition, the Integrated Accountability Framework introduced in this research will serve as a guideline...
Show moreReferences to accountability are common throughout public administration literature. However, a clear model to assess accountability in government programs is not fully developed. This research fills this gap and provides policymakers with a tool they can use to assess accountability in both public and contracted programs and enables them to make more informed contracting-out decisions. In addition, the Integrated Accountability Framework introduced in this research will serve as a guideline for how public administrators can improve accountability in the programs they administer and oversee. For the public and private health care programs analyzed in this study, the findings indicate that the publicly delivered programs provided more accountability to the vulnerable populations served than the contracted-out health care programs.
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Date Issued
2011
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3169917
Subject Headings
Health services administration, Public administration, Moral and ethical aspects, Municiipal services, Contracting out, Administrative responsibility
Format
Document (PDF)
assessment of the organizational effectiveness of faith-based and secular community development corporations in the provision of economic development and other services
Title
An assessment of the organizational effectiveness of faith-based and secular community development corporations in the provision of economic development and other services.
Creator
Yacinthe, Natacha Jasmine, Florida Atlantic University, Washington, Charles W.
Abstract/Description
This dissertation develops an approach and a model for assessing the effectiveness of faith-based and secular community development corporations (CDCs) in the provision of economic development and other services. This dissertation contends that faith-based and secular CDCs are essentially comparable entities whose characteristics and functions are virtually indistinguishable, thus to speak of organizational effectiveness of CDCs is sufficient to encompass both faith-based and secular CDCs....
Show moreThis dissertation develops an approach and a model for assessing the effectiveness of faith-based and secular community development corporations (CDCs) in the provision of economic development and other services. This dissertation contends that faith-based and secular CDCs are essentially comparable entities whose characteristics and functions are virtually indistinguishable, thus to speak of organizational effectiveness of CDCs is sufficient to encompass both faith-based and secular CDCs. The study uses an empirical approach, directed by the literature, to discover the characteristics and functions of faith-based and secular CDCs, the extent to which they are involved in economic development activities, and to determine the key factors that are presumed to contribute to their effectiveness. A regression model is developed employing variables and data resulting from a survey of CDCs in the South Florida area to predict and explain the variance in the subjective rating of the perception of organizational effectiveness by executive directors and managers of CDCs in the study population. The study tests a number of hypotheses that are designed to explain the influence of certain variables on organizational effectiveness and discovers a number of factors that are statistically significant in influencing perceived effectiveness. It proposes future areas of research that build upon the current research and may lead to even better understanding of the factors influencing organizational effectiveness of CDCs.
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Date Issued
2004
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/12106
Subject Headings
Human Services--Contracting Out--United States, Church Charities--Government Policy--United States, Federal Aid to Human Services--United States, Church and State--United States, Community Development--United States, Economic Development Projects--United States
Format
Document (PDF)