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Serco Institute
Resource Centre

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Contracting

Here you will find a general range of documents that consider a range of issues relating to procurement/competitive tendering.

(Please note: links on this page will open the page in a new browser window)

Procurement Capability Review Programme - Tranche One Web Portal (Web Page)
Office of Government Commerce (OGC), 2007

Procurement Capability Reviews were announced for all Government departments in January 2007 in line with HM Treasury's 'Transforming Government Procurement' report. A PCR aims to provide an independent, strategic view of the overall procurement capability of a department and its wider network of agencies, identifying exemplars as well as areas for improvement. This first overview examined the following three subjects: Department for Education and Skills, Department for Communities and Local Government, and Department for Work and Pensions. Tranche Two of PCRs is due in December 2008. This links is to a web page providing access to the overview report as well as each department-specific report.

UK


Collaborate and Innovate a New World of Sourcing (PDF)
Ticoll, David and Scott, Robert, 2006
PricewaterhouseCoopers
This document is written in support of collaborative outsourcing.  It asserts that collaboration is more likely to lead to better results and allow for an open business model, where companies are able to form relationships with each other.  The document also suggests changes that may be expected in outsourcing such as an increasing pressure for collaboration. 

UK


UK Public Sector Outsourcing - The Big Picture
Kable Research, 2004



UK


Tendering for Government Contracts A Guide for Small Businesses (PDF)
Office of Government Commerce (OGC), 2004

A guide designed to help small businesses in Engalnd explore business possibilities within the public sector and how to bid for contracts in such areas. 

UK


Outsourcing in Government: Pathways to Value (PDF)
Healy, Tom J. and Linder, Jane C. , 2003
Accenture
This report looks at the current global state of outsourcing.  It identifies the countries that are outsourcing jobs the most, as well as the sector in which outsourcing in government is most dominant. The report provides the reasons for which countries are choosing to outsource. The authors' conclude that whilst outsourcing in the public sector is particularly challenging, some governments around the world have had some successful results with it.

UK


Designing a Performance-Based Competitive Sourcing Process for the Federal Government (PDF)
DeMaio, Carl D.; Moore, Adrian and Badolato, Vincent, 2002
Reason Public Policy Institute and The Performance Institute
A report by independent think tanks RPPI and the Performance Institute on the US federal government competitive sourcing process. It presents a series of recommendations about how the competitions might be improved.

USA


Competitive Procurement
Audit Commission, 2002


ISBN 1 86240 350 3
UK


Contracting Out and the Two-Tier Workforce (Web Page)
UNISON Local Government , 2000
Best Value Intelligence Unit
This report sets out the preliminary findings of a UNISON project into the impact of contracting-out in the NHS and local government.  The main concern of the report is the perceived two-tier workforce which creates an unequal playing field between the private and public sector.  The article concludes that contracting out is forcing down pay and conditions.

UK


Competitive Tendering and Contracting in the New South Wales Public Sector
NSW Public Bodies Review Committee and the Standing Committee on Public Works, 1998
Joint Inquiry, Parliament of New South Wales, Sydney


Australia


Contracting Out Government Services: Best Practice Guidelines and Case Studies
Organisation for Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD), 1997

Public Management Occasional Paper No. 20

UK


Contracting Out by the Public Sector: Theory, Evidence, Prospects
Domberger, Simon and Jensen, Paul, 1997
Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Vol. 13, No.4
Review of the theory of contracting out public serivces and the literature on empirical evidence of cost savings.  It also looks at the broader effects on employment and accountability.

Australia


The Outsourcing Manual
White, Robert & James, Barry , 1996
Aldershot: Gower Publishing


UK


Competitive Tendering and Contracting by Public Sector Agencies
Industry Commission, 1996
Report No.48, 24 January 1996, Melbourne: Australian Government Publishing Service
Report on CTC by an independent governmental commission in Australia

Australia


The Contracting Casebook: Competitive Tendering in Action
Domberger, Simon & Hall, Christine (eds), 1995
Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service
Australian case studies

Australia


Competitive Tendering and Contracting in the Public Sector: A Survey
Domberger, S. and Rimmer, S., 1994
International Journal of the Economics of Business, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 439-453
An international survey of theory, literature and practice on CTC and evidence on cost and quality.  It identified a lack of generally accepted measures of quality under CCT contracting.

USA


National Procurement Development Program
Industry Commission, 1992

Report No. 20 by the Industry Commission (Now the Productivity Commission)

Australia


Counter speculation, Auctions, and Competitive Sealed Tenders
Vickery, William , 1961
Journal of Finance, 16(1), pp.8-37
Looks at the efficiency implications of different competitive arrangements

USA


Last Updated: 18 March 2010