New book on Contracting for Public Services

by Carsten Greve

09/14/2007

Contracts and contractual relationships have become the predominant mode of organization for public service delivery in recent years, and the successful management of contracts has become a core task for public service managers. In the wake of New Public Management reforms, and as public-private partnerships have proliferated, it has become more important than ever before public service managers to understand the contracting process and its institutional context. This insightful and comprehensive text offers a thorough introduction to the key phases of the contracting process and the skills required by managers in its implementation, including:

  • Policy for contracting

  • Strategic purchasing

  • Understanding markets

  • Communicating the contracting decision

  • Designing and drafting the contract

  • The role of he consumer

  • The regulation of service provision

Illustrated throughout with practioner case studies from a range of OECD countries, the book presents an important new theoretical “contract management model” and a “mature contract management model”, and explores the mechanisms, formal rules and informal norms that influence the way governments contract for public services. This book is essential reading for all students of public management and all public service managers.

The book is published by Routledge in the series Routledge Masters in Public Management.

Further information

Carsten Greve is professor of public management and public-private cooperation at the International Center for Business and Politics, Copenhagen Business School.

The page was last edited by: Communications // 09/14/2007