Definition
Contract outsourcing is the private sector involvement (PSI) in the delivery of public services. Contracting out is a contractual arrangement between the government and the private sector for the delivery of services.
Introduction
Outsourcing has become popular in the public sector because of the perception that governments are intrinsically inefficient (Huque 2005) and that the private sector is more economic, efficient, and effective than the public sector (Amagoh 2009). Government institutions have resorted to outsourcing primarily as an efficiency measure. Where government is inadequate in terms of expertise, personnel, and time spread across overlapping issues, the private sector can muster the necessary resources to achieve desired results. Outsourcing enables bureaucrats to implement plans without unnecessary strain on government...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Amagoh F (2009) Information asymmetry and the contracting out process. Public Sect Innov J 14(2):1–14. Article 3
Brown T, Potoski M (2003) Contract-management capacity in municipal and county governments. Public Adm Rev 63(2):153–164
Efficiency Unit (2013) 2012 survey on government outsourcing. Retrieved from http://www.eu.gov.hk/en/our-work/management-consultancy/doc/survey2012.pdf
Huque AS (2005) Contracting out and trust in the public sector: cases of management from Hong Kong. Public Organ Rev 5(1):69–84
Legislative Council Panel on Public Service (2011). Use of outsourcing in the delivery of government services. February 21, Retrieved from http://www.csb.gov.hk/english/info/files/panel_outsourcing_20110215_e.pdf
Madu C, Kuei CH (2012) Handbook of sustainability management. World Scientific, Singapore
Schick R (2011) “Government Contracting: From the Perspectives of Management, Ethics, and Governance”. Public Administration Review 71(4): 665–667
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Vyas, L. (2017). Gaps and Transparency Challenges in Contract Outsourcing. 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_3118-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_3118-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31816-5
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