Thursday, March 17, 2005

Contestability is the key to high performance government

Competition for better services -what a novel idea.
AIMS : AIMS Library: AIMS Library

Municipalities provide a range of expensive services often without knowing whether they are receiving full, efficient value for the public money they spend. Yet, at a time when municipal governments are struggling to make ends meet and to provide acceptable levels of services, the status quo in services provision is no longer an option. Municipal governments need to ascertain whether the cost of a service is justified, and then seek to provide that service at the most efficient price.

One way of providing services more efficiently and at lower cost would be to make them "contestable" - that is, to open up the bidding on services contracts to all interested providers, whether public, private, or a combination of the two.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cities can provide efficient services. Their workers can compete with even non-union contractors. The key is benchmarking. Studies done by R. J. Patrick P. Eng. Management Consulting have shown this clearly . Municipal workers beat the competition by 15 to 80% in selected activities. on an apples to apples comparison basis. The key is good management, high morale and training.