Is the public getting a good deal when the government contracts out the delivery of goods and services? Phillip Cooper attempts to get at the heart of this question by exploring what happens when public sector organizations—at the federal, state and local levels—form working relationships with other agencies, communities, non-profit organizations and private firms through contracts. Rather than focus on the ongoing debate over privatization, the book emphasizes the tools managers need to form, operate, terminate or transform these contracts amidst a complex web of intergovernmental relations. Cooper frames the issues of public contract management by showing how managers are caught in between governance by authority and government by contract. By looking at cases ranging from the management of Baltimore schools to the contracting of senior citizen programs in Kansas, he offers practical information to students and practitioners and a theoretical context for their work. At every turn, the author avoids bogging readers down in technical jargon. Instead the book sheds light on a crucial part of any public manager′s job with lively case material and no-nonsense guidance for making the most of taxpayer dollars.

The dramatic growth of government over the course of the twentieth century since the New Deal prompts concern among libertarians and conservatives and also among those who worry about government’s costs, efficiency, and quality of service. These concerns, combined with rising confidence in private markets, motivate the widespread shift of federal and state government work to private organizations. This shift typically alters only who performs the work, not who pays or is ultimately responsible for it. “Government by contract” now includes military intelligence, environmental monitoring, prison management, and interrogation of terrorism suspects. Outsourcing government work raises questions of accountability. What role should costs, quality, and democratic oversight play in contracting out government work? What tools do citizens and consumers need to evaluate the effectiveness of government contracts? How can the work be structured for optimal performance as well as compliance with public values? Government by Contract explains the phenomenon and scope of government outsourcing and sets an agenda for future research attentive to workforce capacities as well as legal, economic, and political concerns.

The rapid developments in government contract law of the late 1990s and early 2000s have necessitated a new edition of this casebook, which offers the first contemporary one-volume casebook for a Government Contracts course. All chapters have been updated with new cases and notes, and two entirely new chapters have been added to ensure that the book's coverage is complete. The casebook makes government contract law accessible to readers of all backgrounds, from second-year law students who have taken only basic contract law, to commercial lawyers and non-lawyer government contract professionals seeking a broad, legally-focused introduction to the field. While all the traditional areas of interest receive coverage, the book emphasizes cases from increasingly important areas such as high technology, health care, commercial products, and state needs. Tiefer and Shook bring academic and practitioner experience and expertise to their treatment of government contract law. A teacher's manual is available.