1. Reform and Public Administration
The machinery of government
Reforming public administration
Privatization and contracting out

2. The machinery of government
All the structural arrangements adopted by national, state, or local governments to deliver their legally mandated programs and services
The machinery is created to deliver services, so the quality of the machinery is judged by the quality of public administration

3. Because
Public administration is responsible for implementing programs and deliver services to eligible citizens

4. This machine is
Complex; because there are different levels, types, and branches of government with a diversity of agencies and programs in place
Is big; because governmental entities, once established, tend to last a long time and do not change easily. They develop constituencies that support their cause. They also take new causes that enhance their support even more.

5. The Administrative Architecture of the U.S. Government
The U.S. has a federal system of government
There are three branches that balance and check on each other
Checks and balances was the first reinvention of government (too much suspicion of big government)
The purpose is to protect liberties

6. The Legislative Branch
Congress
Senate and House of Representatives
535 people responsible for lawmaking

7. The Executive Branch
Executive office agencies (top presidential staff agencies to provide advise to the president)
Executive departments (15 departments constitute president’s cabinet)
Independent public bodies (regulatory commissions)

8. State and Local Government Machinery
The Tenth Amendment says, “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people”
There are over 80,000 governments in the United States.

9. Include: State governments County governments Municipal governments
Special districts
School districts

10. Council-Manager Form of Government
An elected council responsible for policy formulation
A manager is appointed by the council to carry out policy implementation
The manager works at the pleasure of the council
That is the structural equivalent of the politics-administration dichotomy

11. Reforming the national machinery of government
Government needs reform, when people feel that it fails to meet the rising expectations of citizens

12. At the federal level, presidents established commissions to produce lengthy proposals to reform the government

13. Cont’d The Brownlow Commission First Hoover Commission
Second Hoover Commission
Grace Commission
Ash Council
National Performance Review

14. National Performance Review – Gore Report
A six-month study aimed at making the federal government more efficient (1993)
NPR made 258 agency-specific recommendations, including the abandonment of obsolete programs, elimination of unproductive subsidies, redesign of failed programs
Implementation of NPR resulted in savings of $ 137 billion and reduction of 351,000 positions in government

15. Cont’d
When Republicans got into power, the reinventing government movement lost its appeal and was replaced with a push for more devolution and privatization

16. Privatization
The process of returning to the private sector property or function previously owned or performed by government
Rests on the assumption that private sector works better than the public sector

17. Public sector is blamed for its inefficiency

18. Privatization is presented as a cure to ill-government

19. Cont’d Firefighters watch home burn

20. Contracting out (a.k.a., outsourcing)
Being used to separate the production of public sector goods and services from their provision
Government keeps providing a particular service, but its production is done by a private agency (e.g., sanitation services are produced by a private company)

21. Privatization
may not necessarily increase the performance of service delivery
public accountability is weak, private contractors might be difficult to monitor and control
might lead to corruption and poor performance