« Spanish Contractors Make a Global Imprint / Toll roads and operating experience fuel expansion | Main | Libraries could reopen by November / Budget committee approves proposal that halves cost, cuts operating hours »

Tips to Successfully Contract Out for New Services

Source: International City/County Management Association

Contracting for a new service is seldom trouble free. The problems that arise in planning and implementing a contract for a new service stem primarily from three sources: contractors’ inexperience, internal opposition from managers and middle managers in the department that would provide the service if it were delivered in house, and inexperience on the part of local government staff. Here are guidelines from Service Contracting: A Local Government Guide, Second Edition, to help local governments deal with these problems.