Strengthening Contract Management Capacity to Ensure Accountability

Abstract

In The Responsible Contract Manager: Protecting the Public Interest in an Outsourced World, Steven Cohen and William Eimicke excelled at a difficult task; through careful analysis and insights, they crafted a book relevant for both public management scholars and practitioners alike. The authors unpack the important work of contract managers, seeking to improve decision making throughout the contracting lifecycle while at the same time protecting public interest and maintaining accountability.The text provides a balanced discussion of the pros and cons of public sector contracting, focusing on contracting as a tool, not approaching it from an entrenched ideological position. In fact, the book is remarkably devoid of ideological and normative wrangling that often polarizes audiences on the topic of government contracting. Cohen and Eimicke fairly assert that while ideology can lead to poor contracting decisions, it can also be a stumbling block to furthering the relevant and timely advancement of contract management work and research. They argue that, in order for contracting to be successful—beyond just meeting efficiency goals—the tool must also “…be understood and adapted to conform to the requirements of representative democracy” (20). The perils of organizational inattention to contract management are profoundly consequential—poor management leads to corruption, programmatic failure, and compromised institutions.