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Too Dependent On Contractors? Minimum Standards For Responsible Governance, Steven L. Schooner, Daniel S. Greenspahn
Too Dependent On Contractors? Minimum Standards For Responsible Governance, Steven L. Schooner, Daniel S. Greenspahn
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
While acknowledging that there are many benefits, challenges, and risks involved in outsourcing, this article asserts that failed implementation, rather than outsourcing policy, explains the government's current (mis)management of its contractors. This article explores the minimum standards for responsible governance following more than 15 years of ill-conceived and inadequate investment in the federal government's acquisition workforce, followed by a governmentwide failure to respond to a dramatic increase in procurement activity. These trends have led to a buying and contract management regime animated by triage, with insufficient resources available for contract administration, management, and oversight. The old adage "an ounce of …
Book Review: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization Threatens Democracy, Richard J. Pierce Jr
Book Review: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization Threatens Democracy, Richard J. Pierce Jr
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
This is a review of Paul Verkuil's new book: Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization Threatens Democracy and What we Can Do About It. The book consists of a wide-ranging and well-documented critique of what Verkuil views as excessive reliance on private contractors to perform a variety of inherently governmental tasks, with particular emphasis on military and other national security functions. Verkuil discusses in detail numerous ways in which the U.S. might reduce the scope and severity of the severe problems that excessive reliance on poorly-supervised contractors is now having.
Pierce praises Verkuil's description and documentation of the problem he addresses in …