Taught by

An important contemporary administrative issue is the delivery of public goods and services to citizens. This course will review how governments deliver services, primarily focusing on contracting and the resulting delivery networks. As Laurence O’Toole proclaims “Those tasked with public management must often seek to operate on structurally uncertain terrain, firmament that can include ties with patterns of not-for-profits and profit-seeking entities as well as multiple formally governed institutions”. Public sector organizations – at the federal, state, and local levels – form working relationships with communities, other governments, nonprofit, and for-profit firms through contracts. The course will discuss the tools managers need to form, operate, terminate, or transform these contracts. Students will examine contracting environments of their own interests and understand the dynamics, technical, and political aspects of contracting with different types of vendors in public service delivery networks. 

Quarters

Winter Open

Location and Schedule

Campus Location

Olympia

Time Offered

Evening

Advertised Schedule