Government Purchase Research Articles

Government Purchase of Services in China: Similar Intentions, Different Policy Designs

SummaryChina has adopted purchase of services to facilitate the development of the societal sector, including social organisations, the social work profession and social services. Project‐based and post‐based purchases are two typical policy designs. Why do the local states develop two different designs to serve similar intentions? The answers to this question contribute to the broader discussion of policymaking and social development in China. Using the intention‐capacity analytic framework, this study systemically compares Guangzhou's project‐based model and Shenzhen's post‐based model by drawing upon an extensive review of policy and archive documents, key informant interviews and field observations. The comparative study suggests that a pro‐market ideology and incomplete analytical capacity in policy learning directed the design thinking towards market mechanism and purchase of services. Without the organisational conditions of social organisation and social work in Guangzhou, rapid growth in the social work workforce became the top priority in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, the trustworthiness of newly developing social organisations is another concern. All of these concerns underpinned the post‐based design. Both models, with substantial fiscal support, succeed in expanding the societal sectors. But the mix of market and hierarchy tools, for the post‐based model in particular, is an obstacle in further enabling social organisation and the social work profession. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

政府购买服务浅析—以青岛李沧区政府购买社会组织服务为例

随着新公共管理运动和治理理论在我国社会治理领域日渐发展，政府采购社会组织服务成为政府降低社会公共事务运行成本、提高服务效率的重要举措之一。我国政府与也与非政府组织(NGO，也称社会组织)之间建立了协同互助关系并取得了显著发展进步，但政府在向社会组织开放资源，监督评估等方面仍很薄弱。本文以青岛市李沧区政府购买社区服务建设的探索实践为例，阐述政府购买服务的理论逻辑、可行性，和现有模式，分析我国政府购买社会服务的现状、困境及问题，结合国内外政府购买公共服务经验提出我国政府完善及完整购买服务体系的迈进方向与建议。 With the increasing development of the new management and governance theory in the field of China’s social governance, government procurement of service from social organizations has be-come one of the most important measure of service efficiency which could reduce operating costs and improve the social public affairs. Our government has also established mutual cooperative relationship between non-governmental organizations (NGO, also known as social organization) and made significant progress. But the aspect of open resources government provides to social organizations, supervision and evaluation of social organizations is still very weak. This essay quotes exploration and practice of Licang District in Qingdao government purchasing community service construction as an example, explains the theoretical logic, the feasibility and the existing model of purchase of services and analyzes the current situation and problems of China government purchase of social services. At the end of this essay, some suggestions are offered and demonstrate the directions of the Chinese government purchase of services combined with the domestic and foreign experiences of purchasing public services.

Glass walls and glass ceilings: the case of public procurement

While there has been some progress at the federal level in terms of addressing gender pay inequalities and promotional opportunities for women, it is not fully clear whether this trend is replicated at the state and local levels. Examining the sub-national level of government, this research attempts to determine if women are being paid less than men, and even in those occupations considered 'pink collar' (nursing, teaching, etc.) are women still segregated in lower level positions? To this end, this research examines pay differentials and positional demographics within state and local government purchasing. The main contribution that this research makes is located in the fact that a gender pay gap (glass ceiling) across positions and gender positional segregation within traditional 'pink collar' jobs are still serious concerns at the state and local level of government in the USA.

Putting Government Spending Shocks under the Microscope: Standard Vector Autoregression versus the Narrative Approach

Standard vector autoregression and the narrative approach yield contrasting responses of consumption and real wages to a government spending shock. A key difference in the approaches is the composition of identified shocks. Standard VAR features a large increase in government purchase of intermediate goods and services and investment, but a small response of government employment compensation. By contrast, the narrative approach identifies a smaller increase in intermediate goods and services purchase but a large increase in employment compensation. Furthermore, empirical evidence indicates impacts of fiscal stimulus vary considerably for different types of spending from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Glass walls and glass ceilings: the case of public procurement

While there has been some progress at the federal level in terms of addressing gender pay inequalities and promotional opportunities for women, it is not fully clear whether this trend is replicated at the state and local levels. Examining the sub-national level of government, this research attempts to determine if women are being paid less than men, and even in those occupations considered 'pink collar' (nursing, teaching, etc.) are women still segregated in lower level positions? To this end, this research examines pay differentials and positional demographics within state and local government purchasing. The main contribution that this research makes is located in the fact that a gender pay gap (glass ceiling) across positions and gender positional segregation within traditional 'pink collar' jobs are still serious concerns at the state and local level of government in the USA.

Analysis of the Average Abatement Cost of Forest Carbon Offset Projects for the Government Purchase of Forest Carbon Credits

This study was intended to analyze the average abatement cost (AAC) of forest carbon offset projects to suggest a basic credit price for government purchase of forest carbon credits. For this purpose, an a/reforestation project and a forest management project were designed with 30 years of project period. It is assumed to plant pine trees (Pinus densiflora) for the a/reforestation project, while it is assumed to replace rigida pine trees(Pinus rigida) with oak trees (Quercus acutissima) for the forest management project. For each project, the forest carbon stock was calculated and the revenue and the cost were analyzed with standardized management activities. Korea Forest Service has supported private forest owners the cost of management activities and the consulting fee for designing carbon offset project. Therefore, the AAC were analyzed for two cases : the one with subsidy for consulting fee (case 1) and the other with subsidy for both consulting fee and management costs (case 2). In addition, the sensitiveness of AAC was analyzed according to the 4 credit prices : ￦5,000, ￦10,000, ￦15,000 and ￦20,000. The result showed that the AAC analyzed for the case 1 was so high that net revenue would not be expected from all project types with any credit price. However the AAC analyzed for the case 2 was relatively lower than the AAC of case 1. Net revenue was expected from a/reforestation project with credit price over ￦10,000, while from forest management project with credit price over ￦15,000. Based on the AAC analyzed in this study, ￦15,000 was suggested as the basic price for government purchase of forest carbon credit.

Some unpleasant properties of loglinearized solutions when the nominal rate is zero

Does fiscal policy have large and qualitatively different effects on the economy when the nominal interest rate is zero? An emerging consensus in the New Keynesian (NK) literature is that the answer to this question is yes. Evidence presented here suggests that the NK model׳s implications for fiscal policy at the zero bound may not be all that different from its implications for policy away from it. For a range of empirically relevant parameterizations, employment increases when the labor tax rate is cut and the government purchase multiplier is less than 1.05.

Does the WTO government procurement agreement influence steel imports?

Purpose Government procurement policies containing domestic content requirements have faced increasing attention, as more traditional forms of trade discrimination have declined in recent decades. The most important effort to reduce discriminatory government procurement policies is the plurilateral Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), in which a subset of WTO countries has agreed to provide increased access to imports from fellow signatory countries. This paper focuses on the Buy American policy, which mandates domestic content for all US Federal government purchase above the micro-purchase level. The author tests whether steel imports from GPA and US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) partners, both of which receive preferential access to US federal procurements, increase as the value of federal construction contracts rise. Design/methodology/approach The author tracks federal construction contracts and seeks to determine whether there is a link between these contracts and construction grade steel imports from GPA and US FTA members. The author uses two-stage least squares to regress the import quantity of steel from GPA and US FTA countries on the value of US federal construction contracts. Imported and domestic steel prices as well as macroeconomic variables such as industrial production and non-residential construction are controlled for. A panel data set is used that includes three different construction-grade steel products and covers years 2004-2013. Findings The results indicate that increased federal construction contracts increase imports of construction-grade steel from GPA and FTA partners. This effect is relatively small, however, which may be due to the fact that federal construction is a small share of overall US construction. In general, the results suggest that the primary determinant of US import sourcing behavior is the business cycle as well as the price of steel. Nevertheless, the findings indicate that the preferences provided by the GPA and FTAs do have some impact on where US construction firms source their steel. Originality/value Previous research has studied the effect of the WTO’s GPA on foreign access to federal construction and other service contracts. This is the first study, however, to investigate whether these contracts impact the import sourcing behavior of the steel that is used in construction. Furthermore, while previous research measures the impact of GPA membership on the overall trade of goods and services, this paper is the first to link a particular industry with the inputs that are restricted by local content requirements such as the Buy American policy but freed up under the GPA. In general, previous research on the GPA has tried to capture the broad effect of GPA membership on trade, while this study focuses on the relationship between the GPA, federal procurement in a particular industry (construction) and import behavior of a key input, construction grade steel.

A conceptual schema for government purchasing arrangements for Australian alcohol and other drug treatment

AimThe aim of this study was to establish a conceptual schema for government purchasing of alcohol and other drug treatment in Australia which could encompass the diversity and variety in purchasing arrangements, and facilitate better decision-maker by purchasers. There is a limited evidence base on purchasing arrangements in alcohol and drug treatment despite the clear impact of purchasing arrangements on both treatment processes and treatment outcomes. MethodsThe relevant health and social welfare literature on purchasing arrangements was reviewed; data were collected from Australian purchasers and providers of treatment giving detailed descriptions of the array of purchasing arrangements. Combined analysis of the literature and the Australian purchasing data resulted in a draft schema which was then reviewed by an expert committee and subsequently finalised. ResultsThe conceptual schema presented here was purpose-built for alcohol and other drug treatment, with its overlap between health and social welfare services. It has three dimensions: 1. The ways in which providers are chosen; 2. The ways in which services are paid for; and 3. How price is managed. Distinguishing between the methods for choosing providers (such as competitive or individually negotiated processes) from the way in which organisations are paid for their provision of treatment (such as via a block grant or payment for activity) provides conceptual clarity and enables closer analysis of each mechanism. ConclusionsGovernments can improve health and wellbeing by making informed decisions about the way they purchase and fund alcohol and other drug treatment. Research comparing different purchasing arrangements can provide a vital evidence-base to inform funders; however a first step is to accurately and consistently categorise current approaches against a typology or conceptual schema.

The rise of China and Japan’s balancing strategy: critical junctures and policy shifts in the 2010s

ABSTRACTThis article argues that as opposed to the conventional wisdom of Japan’s hedging policy, Japan has been constantly taking balancing behavior vis-à-vis China since the end of the Cold War; however, the incremental shift to explicit balancing began after the 2010 Senkaku Boat Collision Incident. The shift was accelerated by the 2012 Japanese Government Purchase of the Senkaku Islands. Since then, Japan has attempted to engage in both internal and external balancing by taking more security burden-sharing with the United States through the relaxation of Japan’s constitutional and political constraints on its military capabilities and the enhancement of security linkages with other regional states, such as Australia and India.

Research on Mode Selection of Government Purchase Public Service Based on Contract Theory

As an important initiative of comprehensively deepening reform in China, how to promote government purchase public service actively and steadily is the common focus of academic and practical departments. Two typical modes of government purchase public service which are purchase service from producer and purchase service from integrator are analyzed. According to the contract theory, the two optimal models are set up through adding heterogeneity of public service variables to the classical incentive model. The rent of the two modes paid by government is compared and analyzed. The conclusion indicates that the heterogeneity of public service can influence mode selection of government purchase public service. It should choose multi-agent when the heterogeneity of public service is low; otherwise, it should select service integrator to undertake public service.

Some Unpleasant Properties of Loglinearized Solutions When the Nominal Rate is Zero

Does fiscal policy have large and qualitatively different effects on the economy when the nominal interest rate is zero? An emerging consensus in the New Keynesian (NK) literature is that the answer to this question is yes. Evidence presented here suggests that the NK model’s implications for fiscal policy at the zero bound may not be all that different from its implications for policy away from it. For a range of empirically relevant parameterizations, employment increases when the labour tax rate is cut and the government purchase multiplier is less than 1.05.

Transforming Central Bank Liabilities into Government Debt: The Case of China

AbstractWhere policy has substantially increased central bank assets, the corresponding liabilities present an opportunity to increase the breadth, depth and liquidity of the government bond market. In China's case, transformed illiquid central bank liabilities could double or triple the stock of government bonds. Central bank liabilities can be transformed into government bonds either through the government's purchase of foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank or by the government overfunding its borrowing requirement and depositing the proceeds in the central bank. The overfunding approach is preferred if, for financial stability reasons, it is judged prudent to leave the central bank with sufficient resources to serve itself as lender of last resort in foreign currency to the banking system. In the case of China, public debt consolidation could also contribute to further liberalizing the Chinese banking system, wider international use of the renminbi and more balanced holdings of key currency government bonds.

Contradictions Encountered in Running Large Chinese Sports Venues and Contradiction Management

By means of questionnaires, expert interviews, and field investigations, this essay analyzes the contradictions encountered in running large Chinese sports venues and proposes systematic management of contradictions. It concludes that a range of contradictions are caused between social and economic benefits, administrative and management rights, sports and non-sports services, and stability maintenance for safeguarding security and sports products, because owners and operators have different goals for running sports venues. The essay then proposes systematic management for resolving operational contradictions, which includes internal microscopic and external macroscopic management. Lastly, it indicates that large sports venues should be operated by integrating internal with external management by adopting appropriate strategies, such as clarifying the objectives of running large sports venues, establishing a coordinated and innovative management system, enhancing policy support and a market-oriented operation to reduce the costs for operating a venue, constructing a subsidy mechanism for government's purchase of public services, and establishing a mechanism for developing talents for running these venues, so as to improve their specialized management.

Small and Orthodox Fiscal Multipliers at the Zero Lower Bound

Does fiscal policy have large and qualitatively different effects on the economy when the nominal interest rate is zero? An emerging consensus in the New Keynesian literature is that the answer is yes. New evidence provided here suggests that the answer is often no. For a broad range of empirically relevant parameterizations of the Rotemberg model of costly price adjustment, the government purchase multiplier is about one or less, and the response of hours to a tax cut is either negative or close to zero.

Research on the Chinese Government Purchase of Public Services: Operation Mode, Restraining Factors and Improving Measures

In order to promote the administrative reform, the China new State Council makes a major deployment on the further transformation of government functions and improves the public services. It clearly required the local government should introduce more social forces in the field of public services and increase the efforts of the government purchases of public service. Based on expounding the related concepts and modes of the government purchases of public services, this paper summarized the practice project of the Chinese local government purchases of public services t in recent years, and analyzed the main factors restricting the Chinese government purchases of public services. In the end, it puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions to improve the government purchases of public services, including perfecting the system construction of the government’s purchases of services, strengthening the construction of the platform, regulating the procedures and processes, establishing the supervision and evaluation mechanism of the government’s purchases of services and so on.

Sustainability Study of Government Procurement of Public Services in Guangzhou—A Perspective Based on the Resources Dependence of Social Work

The recently prevalent government procurement of public services in China boasts a new form of government’s provision of public service through the purchasing of social work from social organizations, a new measure of the transformation in governmental functions as well as an unprecedented opportunity for the development of social organizations. For the past few years, the phenomenon of a surge in the number of social work organizations and social work staff emerged right with the initiatives of energetically carrying out the purchase of public services by the government. Such efforts have presented the strong determination of the Chinese government in building a small government by streamlining administration and delegating part of the governmental power to social organizations. This paper was based on the 2012-2014 performance appraisal project of the Guangzhou municipal government’s purchasing of public services and the project was carried out in the summer of 2015. During the process of the appraisal, several general problems hindering the sustainable development of government purchasing of public service have been observed. As Guangzhou is among the rank of pioneer cities in the conduct of the reform, it is representative and imperative to study the sustainability of government purchasing of public service. In 2012, Guangzhou local government started contracting out public service to the community social organizations to provide general family services and special services to community residents, since when integrated family service centers and special service centers were established as platforms to provide public social service in a city-wide range. Consequently, taking an example of the current rapid development of government purchase of the integrated family services and special services in Guangzhou, this paper puts up several proposals for the sustainable development of Guangzhou municipal government’s procurement of public services on the perspective of social work’s resource dependence.

Ed GerrishComplex Contracting: Government Purchasing in the Wake of the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater Program, by Trevor Brown, Matthew Potoski, and David Van Slyke, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 268 pp., $60.

<b>Ed Gerrish</b>Complex Contracting: Government Purchasing in the Wake of the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater Program, by Trevor Brown, Matthew Potoski, and David Van Slyke, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013, 268 pp., $60.

Examination of the Effects of Personal and Purchasing Unit Characteristics on Types of Problems Experienced and Types of Contracts That Are Problematic

This paper provides a contribution to the knowledge of contract administration by examining the role of personal and organization characteristics in project success. The research described in this paper examines the effects that personal and organizational characteristics of procurement professionals have on project success, specifically on the frequency and severity of problems experienced for different types of contracts. The analysis is based on the data collected from a survey of National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) members, conducted by Davison and Sebastian in 2011. The survey included questions on the frequency and severity of contract problems over a variety of contracts and questions related to the characteristics of the respondents and their organization. A set of personal and organizational characteristics (ex. organization type, current position, the length of service in procurement, the length of service in current position, highest level of education, certificates that respondent possesses, the approximate annual volume of purchases made by the respondent and his/her entire agency etc.) were analyzed with contingency tables methodology to examine any relationship to the frequency and severity of contract problems over a variety of contract types.

Participation in government nutrition assistance programs and purchase of sugar‐sweetened beverages of low‐income mothers of preschool children (806.8)

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of purchasing sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSB) with low‐income mothers of preschool children participating in government assistance programs such as Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Participants (n=110) provided demographics, purchase frequency of SSB’s for themselves and family members, and responded to a short home beverage inventory. In adjusted models, a logistic regression analysis showed the odds for purchasing SSB increased when one adult lived in the home compared to three or more adults (aOR 11.64, 95%CI 1.012‐133.88), among mothers not participating in WIC (aOR 10.55, 95%CI 1.83‐60.90), and decreased among mothers not participating in SNAP (aOR 0.11, 95%CI 0.02‐0.75) (p&lt;.05). Additionally, chi‐square analyses found there were significant differences in spouse/partner purchases of sports drinks, “big shop” after receiving SNAP benefits, WIC participation, and spouse/partner and children influence on maternal purchase of beverages between SNAP and non‐SNAP participants (p&lt;.05). Participation in SNAP, but not in WIC, was associated with higher likelihood of purchasing SSB, suggesting the need for policies and educational messaging that may help improve dietary quality of low‐income families participating in SNAP.