Contracting for Public Value

Abstract Public-private partnerships (PPPs) play a central role in the delivery of public services worldwide, promoting long-term institutional cooperation through multisector partnerships. If well-structured and managed, PPPs offer the opportunity to expand public service capacities, as well as the reach, efficiency, and effectiveness of services delivery. Yet many PPPs experience conflict and fall short in serving the public interest. This book undertakes an extensive analysis of contractual arrangements and relationships that serve as the scaffolding for PPPs, and how they can be designed, developed, and managed to promote more effective, accountable, and sustainable partnerships for public services delivery. The book centers two in-depth case studies of complex, multiactor PPPs, one in the United States and one in the United Kingdom, that employed outcomes-based contracts for service provision to vulnerable populations. The book presents theory-informed, comparative analyses using rich case study data to illuminate how formal and relational contract features structured the collaborations and either supported or impeded the PPPs’ success. Practitioners will derive specific, original guidance and examples from this book on how to champion public value in designing and executing a PPP contract and sustain long-term, public-private collaboration.