Summary:

Are contracting reforms simply another management fad, with all the attendant rhetoric, or part of a more fundamental change delivering real results? This article concludes that contracting is an important reform with some critical benefits. As with any reform, however, we should recognzie that as well as real potential financial gains, such reforms are also accompanied by other impacts and may be introduced as part of an ideology. This article established an evaluation framework to assist with the assessmeht of contracting experience, and a meta-analysis of empirical results is added to current knowledge of contracting. It is noted that with much of the knowledge on contracting effectiveness coming from assessments of garbage collection, maintenance and cleaning services, direct translation of these notions to other service areas requirs caution. Irrespective of any financial arguments though, contracting will continue to provide governments with a powerful lever to rescope public service.