HR Green ASD for Local Governments Handbook - Executive Summary - Manual (Page 4)

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Outsourcing-Contracting Out (Chapter 2: Alicia Schatteman)
Outsourcing is the concept of taking internal organizational functions and paying an outside firm to handle them.
Outsourcing is done to save money, improve quality, obtain specialized services and expertise, or free
organizational resources for other activities. Outsourcing was first done in the data-processing industry and has
spread to nearly all areas of the service, manufacturing and public sectors.
Managed Competition (Chapter 3: Kimberly Nelson)
Under managed competition, a public-sector agency competes with private-sector firms to provide public-sector
functions or services under a controlled or managed process. This process clearly defines the steps to be taken by
government employees in preparing their own approach to performing an activity. The agency's proposal for
providing the service, which includes a bid proposal for cost-estimation purposes, is useful in competing directly with
private-sector bids.
Interlocal Agreements (Chapter 4: Heidi Koenig)
An interlocal agreement (ILA) is a contract between governmental entities that enables them to work with each
other in the interest of cooperatively sharing resources for their mutual benefit. An ILA can take many forms,
ranging from an informal handshake agreement to elaborate contracts structured according to statutory
requirements and filed with a state agency and local county or city recorder. ILAs exist between cities, counties, a
city and a county, between cities and school districts, between school districts and in many other combinations.
ILAs often increase the effectiveness and efficiency of providing local government services.
Service Consolidation (Chapter 5: Katherine Piker and Craig Maher)
Service consolidation focuses on agreements between governments to merge existing departments into one unit which
is overseen by representatives from both governments. That definition excludes arrangements in which one
government contracts with another in order to receive a specific service (e.g., regional dispatch). Under service
consolidation, there is one department administrator who oversees the department and answers to both communities
equally. Typically an oversight board comprised of representatives from both governments is established to oversee
the consolidated department.
Public-Private Partnerships (Chapter 5: Gerald Gabris)
A 3P venture is a long-term, strategic contractual agreement between a local government and a private sector
entity, where the skills and assets of each sector are shared in delivering a service or facility for the use of the general
public, and where each party shares in the risks and rewards in the delivery of the service and/or facility.
Methodology
Our goal from the outset has been to study alternative service delivery methods from both a theory and
practice perspective. The analysis of each type of ASD includes a review of extant research findings, and
analysis of the decisions made by local government officials who have implemented (or are currently
implementing) an ASD option.
Literature Review
Each author gathered literature on extant academic studies. These included theoretical papers and descriptive
studies from non-academic sources such as ICMA, GFOA, and various think tanks. The literature reviews in
each chapter summarize what is known about an ASD to date; the review provides systematic data about
what works under what types of conditions. The review also informed the data collection questions for the
focus groups of local government officials.
Focus Groups
We convened focus groups of local government officials using each ASD option on two different occasions.
Participants were invited to the first session in November 2012 based on their experience of implementing a