Assignment Instructions XXXXXXXXXXInstructions:Using the information in this week’s required readings, compose an abstract which summarizes your topic problem, highlights key research sources, and...

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Assignment Instructions


Instructions:Using the information in this week’s required readings, compose an abstract which summarizes your topic problem, highlights key research sources, and offers a solution. The abstract should be one page in length. Note: The student sample is formatted according to APA requirements and includes key words. If you are using APA format, you will need to include key words as well.

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Topic: Government Contracting












CBryan_AbstractAPA1 Student Name COLL300 April 22, 2013 Abstract APA—Disaster Recovery and Public Education Abstract Two major catastrophic events have forced a nationwide reaction and prompted reevaluations of disaster planning, response and recovery: Hurricane Hugo in 1986, and the Gulf hurricane season of 2005. These catastrophes revealed major discrepancies in the recovery process as well as public education. Given the increase in public awareness of natural disasters, education becomes more crucial along with the need for local governments to become more proactive in preparation for and self-sufficiency throughout the duration of a disaster. This paper will provide examples of shortcomings in public education regarding disasters and offer suggestions for correcting this problem. It will also provide an overview of some long term recovery glitches and examples of methods that have proven successful in other areas. The suggestions and solutions are being taken from sources such as the Journal of Homeland Security and the United States Government Accountability Office. Other sources that have been consulted were produced by specialists being consulted by the emergency and disaster management leaders. Long term recovery and public education go hand in hand. When the members of a community know what situations they could be facing in a disaster, they will be better equipped to face, survive, and recover more effectively than those of the same community who have not been given crucial information. Long term recovery regarding members of a community who understand the importance of their role as citizens is much more effective than that of a helpless community who has not been given the proper tools. Keywords: disaster recovery and public education, Hurricane Hugo recovery, FEMA M. Ernita Joaquín San Francisco State University Thomas J. Greifens Central Michigan University Contract Management Capacity Breakdown? An Analysis of U.S. Local Governments Research indicates that successful government contract- ing depends on sufficient internal management capacity. Numerous studies have examined the decision to contract out and its pitfalls, but few have tracked government contract management capacity. This study explores whether a change is observable in the capacity of U.S. local governments to engage in effiective contracting from 1997 to 2007. The authors discuss whether this change represents a decline or degradation, and in which form and type of government it occurred. Using data from 537 local government units, the analysis reveals that some aspects of capacity have declined as local governments continue to contract out for highly complex services. The authors speculate on the reasons behind theflndings and suggest capacity enhancement strategies. Privatization or contracting' has been transform-ing American government since the 1970s.New Public Management and the "reinventing government" movement have vigorously promoted alternative forms of service delivery, particularly con- tracting out to businesses and nonprofits (Auger 1999; Osborne and Caebler 1992; Savas 1987). Many consider contracting a legitimate tool of governance, with potential fiscal benefits as public rev- enues dwindle (Donahue 1991 ; Greene 2002; Osborne and Gaebler 1992; Salamon 2002). Contracting did produce savings for early adopters, especially in sanitation and mainte- nance (Ahlbrandt 1973; Savas and Benson 1976), but it may have already been pushed beyond its pragmatic limits (Miller 1997). As a result, a "shadow" govern- ment of contractors has ballooned (Light 2003), corresponding to a "decline of the public sector by design," possibly including a reduction in government contract management capacity (Farazmand 2009, 1009; Waxman 2008). The concerns with overcontracting abound. For exam- ple, contracting has sometimes become a function of politics rather than a tool for administrative efficiency (Boyne 1998; Joaquin 2009; O'Toole and Meier 2004). Contracting in some agencies seemed to project an image of better performance (Creitens and Joaquin 2010; Terman and Yang 2010). But with limited markets for some services, contracting has inadvertently increased the risk of program failure (Brown and Potoski 2003a; Cooper 2003; Hefetz and Warner 2004; Milward and Provan 2000; Romzek and Johnston 2002). Recent trends of bringing services back or "reverse privatization" indicate a lack of savings and quality of contracted services. In metro- politan areas with heterogeneous environments, such reversals have been found to be more likely (Warner and Hefetz 2010). It appears that contracting actually pushes up rather than diminishes the demand for in-house competencies to avoid disastrous outcomes (Goodsell 2007; Rainey 2003). And while numerous studies have focused on the decision to contract out and the pitfalls of contracting, few have tracked the level of government contract management capacity over time. This article examines whether U.S. local governments have maintained contract manage- ment capacity as the scope of contracting has increased. This article examines whether U.S. local governments have maintained contract manage- ment capacity as the scope of contracting has increased. Contract management may be defined as "all activities performed by the govern- ment ... that are relevant to contracts with private or nonprofit organizations ... such as writing or creat- ing the Invitation to Bid or Request for Proposal, devising a rating system for bid responses, rating the bid responses, awarding the contract, additional negotiations leading to a signed contract, and contract administration" (Lawther 2002, 9). Management can be moderately difficult (Hefetz and Warner 2012) or quite complicated, as contract- ing straddles vertical and horizontal authorities and is often undertaken for new services (Cooper 2003; M. Ernita Joaquin is assistant professor of public administration and policy at San Francisco State University. She earned her doctorate In political science from Northern Illinois University. Her research has appeared in journals such as American Review of Pubiic Administration, Administration & Society. Pubiic Performance and Management Review, and Pubiic Integrity. She studies bureaucratic adaptation and learning and the issues of performance, capacity, and accountability in multiseaor governance. E-mail: [email protected] Thomas J. Greitens is assistant professor of public administration at Central Michigan University. His research focuses on the challenges of implementing public management ideals in government, from performance-driven metrics to privatization mandates to e-government transformations. His vtiork has appeared in Administration S Society Pubiic Performance and Management Review, and several books on e-government and citizen participation. E-mail: [email protected] Pubiic Administration Review, Vol. 72, Iss. 6, pp. 807-816. © 2012 by The American Society for Public Administration. DOI: 10.111/j.1540-6210.2012.02587.)(. Contract Management Capacity Breakdown? An Analysis of U.S. Local Governments 807 ZuUo 2009). Much of the difficult)' stems from the shift over the years from procurement of goods to services (GAO 2007a; Shick atid Weikart 2009). Contract managers are suddenly expected to be boundary spanners who understand the public and business arenas and must resolve some of the contradictions in contracting (Goldsmith and Eggers 2004; Joaquín 2008). According to Brown, Potoski, and Van Slyke (2006), these managers typically operate within weak organizational arrangements and contentious political environments, and yet they are expected to understand the legal requirements and transaction costs obtaining under different market conditions. Our study looks at local contracting efforts between 1997 and 2007 and operationalizes key concepts from major studies on contract management. Gould contract management capacity be lost from too much contracting? Did contracting efforts increase during that decade, and were more complex services contracted out? And if an increase actually occurred, is degradation in contract management capacity simultaneously observable? Could Capacity Be Lost in Contracting? "Effective contract management" is defined by Brown and Potoski as "mitigating specific problems that can plague the contract proc- ess" (2003a, 153). The literature is replete with studies showcasing ineffective contract management. More than a decade ago, Miranda and Andersen (1994) found that more than half of the cities that they surveyed did not evaluate contract service delivery at all. Years after, weaknesses in monitoring and the overwhelming "absence of formal contract management" remained (Lavery 1999, 71, 73). Auger's study of state contracting found that "respondents ... admit that the performance standards being used in their contracting proc- esses are often poorly developed, weak, or ill-conceived. Agency sys- tems for appraising the work of contracting often focus on measures that justify the work process rather than attempts to gauge service outcomes" (1999, 449). Capacity problems can be traced to the hollowing out of agen- cies with limited staff and organizational memory (Milward and Provan 2000; Rubin 2003; Waxman 2008). Over the last 15 years, and especially since 2001, the dollar amount and complexity of procurements have continued to rise, while the size of the federal acquisition workforce has declined (Professional Services Gouncil 2008, 4). For example, the Department of Energy spent 94 percent of its budget on acquisitions, yet its contracting workforce consisted of only 464 employees in 2001 (GAO 2002). In 2009, its ratio of government-to-contract employees was 1:6 (GAO 2009). State and local governments saw a similar decline in capacity (Brown and Brudney 1998; Halachmi and Hölzer 1993; Wisniewski 1992), yet contracting persisted (Van Slyke 2003). In information tech- nology, for example, higher levels of contracting were found to have reduced local government internal management capacity (Brown and Brudney 1998). The way to capacity loss is suggested by another government report, which indicated that "even when original justifications for contract- ing, such as immediate need, had changed ... (agencies) continued to use contractors without reassessing who ... should perform a given function" (GAO 2007a, 3-4, 14-15). Thus, the absence of continuing assessment of need for alternative service delivery—a 808 Public Administration Review • November| December 2012 refiection of poor contract management capacity—increases dependence on contracting, which, in turn, can reduce organiza- tional know-how further. This, to us, signifies a downward spiral. Contract Management: Macro and Micro Views We may divide studies on effective contracting between those with a macro view of the external factors surrounding contracting success, including management capacity, and those that tease out in more detail contract management capacity itself To the first category belong studies showing that positive impacts are exerted by healthy competition, adequacy of resources, performance measurement, planning, intensive training for state contract management staff, evaluation of contractor staff and financial management capacity, and a sound rationale for contracting (Johnston, Romzek, and Wood 2004; Romzek and Johnston 2002). These authors found that contract management was the weak link in the process, with oversight nearly nonexistent in the cases they examined at various government levels. Others looked at contract managers' decision-making capacity and the influence of special interests over contracting decisions (Kelleher and Yackee 2008; Widco 2011). Witco's (2011) longitudinal analysis of government awards showed that political contributions signifi- cantly correlated with receipt of federal contracts. Among states, Kelleher and Yackee (2008) saw that as contracting increased, organ- ized interests increased their interaction with government managers. In New York Gity's experience, Shick and Weikart (2009) demon- strated that leadership and political control of the contract manage- ment process gready influenced the success of contracting programs. The other strand of the literature that distills more closely the con- tract management components includes several studies that focused on the feasibility stage and the
Answered Same DayJan 16, 2021

Answer To: Assignment Instructions XXXXXXXXXXInstructions:Using the information in this week’s required...

Dilpreet answered on Jan 17 2021
133 Votes
Running Head: Abstract-Government Contracting    1
Abstract-Government Contracting         
ABSTARCT: GOVER
NMENT CONTRACTING
Abstract
Government contracting and the various aspects and perspectives associated with it have been a major topic of discussion. Some of the researchers are of the view that success of government contracts depends extensively on internal management capacity. It is important for the government to focus on capacity enhancement strategies. Contracting of government goods and services has been a major reason of concern. The outcomes of various researches have indicated that government contracting has come out with efficient outcomes such as...
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