Developing prototype indicators of value and costs added through public involvement programs

Abstract

As more managers realize that public input in public sector decision making is a given in the current political and social climate, many are turning to public involvement (PI) as a way to manage the input so that it is beneficial to their decisions and projects. Public involvement is starting to become a familiar way of doing business for the Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors. DOE and contractors are still unclear about the value and costs that PI can provide to their projects. Proponents claim that PI increases the acceptability of project goals by increasing stakeholders knowledge about and involvement in decisions of importance to them. In spite of these assertions avowing the benefits of PI, proponents have not generated methods that demonstrate or provide evidence of the value added through incorporating PI into projects. As DOE and contract managers are increasingly directed to incorporate public input in their project planning and decision making, questions are beginning to surface about the value and costs of PI as a way to manage that input. There is a pressing need to document the value and costs of PI for the participants in these processes--the stakeholders--and to present this information to decision makers in a way that helps them assess the value and costs of managing public input through a PI program. This research project focuses on developing a series of indicators to assess the value and costs of using public involvement programs to manage public input in decision making processes. The dimensions of public involvement that participants perceive as adding value or costs to projects; and developing ways to measure those dimensions through social indicators and metrics of behavior are outlined.