Skip to main content

Outsourcing Public Services

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance
  • 192 Accesses

Synonyms

Commissioning; Contracting out; Externalization; Procurement

Definition

Outsourcing means that an organization interrupts the internal production of goods or services and starts procurement from outside providers.

Introduction

Outsourcing occurs when an organization decides to interrupt the internal production of goods or services and delegates that task to an outside provider. Consequently, outsourcing implies a separation between a purchaser and a provider, i.e., the purchaser-provider split. In general, organizations that outsource activities aim to achieve higher profitability by using fewer in-house resources (Barthelemy and Quelin 2006).

Applying this definition to the public sector, outsourcing means that the government which outsources the delivery of public services becomes the purchaser, while the external organization supplying the public service is the provider. Inspired by the principles of New Public Management, over the last 30 years, many governments in various...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Argento D, Peda P (2015) Interactions fostering trust and contract combinations in local public services provision. Int J Public Sect Manag 28(4/5):335–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barthelemy J, Quelin BV (2006) Complexity of outsourcing contracts and ex post transaction costs: an empirical investigation. J Manag Stud 43(8):1775–1797

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bovaird T (2016) The ins and outs of outsourcing and insourcing: what have we learnt from the past 30 years? Public Money Manag 36(1):67–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown TL, Potoski M (2004) Managing the public service market. Public Adm Rev 64(6):656–668

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erridge A, Greve C (2016) Contracting for public services. In: Bovaird T, Loeffler E (eds) Public management and governance, 3rd edn. Routledge, London, pp 90–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Girth AM, Hefetz A, Johnston JM, Warner ME (2012) Outsourcing public service delivery: management responses in noncompetitive markets. Public Adm Rev 72(6):887–900

    Google Scholar 

  • Greve C (2008) Contracting for public services. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Joha A, Janssen M (2010) Public-private partnerships, outsourcing or shared service centres? Motives and intents for selecting sourcing configurations. Transform Gov People Process Policy 4(3):232–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muench M (2011) Outsourcing of public services – forms and limitations. Creat Knowl Soc 1(2):83–95

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2011) Government Outsourcing. In: Government at a Glance 2011. OECD Publishing, Paris, pp 168–169

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2015) Production Costs and Outsourcing of General Government. In: Government at a Glance 2015. OECD Publishing, Paris, pp 80–81

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniela Argento .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this entry

Cite this entry

Argento, D. (2016). Outsourcing Public Services. In: Farazmand, A. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2312-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_2312-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics