Invited Commentary on Brown, Potoski, and Van Slyke, “Managing Public Service Contracts: Aligning Values, Institutions, and Markets

Since contracting for public services has become a primary tool in the toolkit of elected and administrative officials over the last two decades, it is heartening to see the growth of interest and research on the subject. The Brown, Potoski, and Van Slyke article rightly directs our attention to the key issues and research on contracting that go well beyond the political debates and the guides for practice that were the usual fare in the discussions in the 1980s. The authors make good use of the rich research, some of which is their own, on contracting for services, particularly at the local levels