HR Green ASD for Local Governments Handbook - Executive Summary User Manual

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Privatization

No public funding

or production of

service

Local Government

Core Service Delivery

Funded and provided by internal

unit

of the local government

Public Private

Partnership

(3P)

Shared Risk

Strategic

Service

Consolidation

Combined or Joint

Provision of Service

for two or more local

Contracting/Outsourcing

with private or

nonprofit source

Managed Competition

Contracts with internal

and external competing

units

Interlocal Agreements

Shared service delivery

with other local

governments

Informal and Formal

Arrangements

Figure 1. Blurring the Boundaries of Local Public Service Delivery

Second, four of the ASD methods have overlapping relationships, and the boundary between two

overlapping methods is blurred. For example, one could be talking about an E911 service collaboration as a

service consolidation or an interlocal agreement—or both. One could be discussing contracting for police or
fire services in terms of a managed competition or as an interlocal agreement—or both; for example, the

internal fire unit may be competing against the potential interlocal agreement with a neighboring local

government to provide fire protection. Similarly, managed competition and outsourcing share much in
common (paying another provider to deliver the public service instead of the internal unit), but managed

competition assumes there is competition among providers (even if only 2), while outsourcing often does not

involve competition at all (which raises important questions about its efficacy, as discussed in chapter 2).

The notable exception to the overlapping model is public-private-partnerships (3P). The 3P options are
distinctive ventures that have little in common with the other methods of ASD. While there is normally a

formal agreement between the local government and the private provider, the character of the projects and

the agreements for 3P ventures are quite distinct from the delivery of other public services. As discussed in

chapter 5, these ventures require strategic thinking and action with long-term risk shared by both the local

government and the private sector partner.

So here are our definitions, and the way we distinguish between the topics in this handbook. The reader will

note overlaps throughout the chapters, and we will discuss them more fully in the concluding chapter. The

transition between outsourcing and managed competition is a particularly fluid one, and the Village of
Glenview offers an example of a local government that is evolving from an outsourcing to a managed

competition model in its approach to alternative service delivery.