The Responsible Contract Manager: Protecting the Public Interest in an Outsourced World

3. What Is Network Management?

40 Chapter 3 What Is Network Management? PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS are no longer limited to a series of individual contracts or informal interactions between government and a single private organization. Rather, what is evolving is a complex set of episodic and ongoing relationships among an array of public, private, and nonprofit organizations, each playing a specialized but interlocking role in implementing public policy. Some of these relationships are formal and contractual and some are not. Government is moving away from the hierarchical model that predominated during the twentieth century toward a more fluid continuum of organizations collaborating to meet the needs of the public. The relationships between government, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector are not just defined by contracts and privatization, but also by these two sectors playing a larger role in providing services that were previously in the domain of government. While our focus is on contractual public, private, and nonprofit relationships, we acknowledge the importance of the numerous informal contacts and standard procedures that allow multiple entities in the network to serve the public and provide important services. Globalization and advances in communication, transportation, and technology have created problems and demands that are larger than generally experienced only a few decades ago. Goldsmith and Eggers (2004) use the example of homeland security to illustrate that dealing with terrorism requires both a global scope and cooperation and a simultaneously customized, local response capacity. This new network management “bears less resemblance to a traditional organization chart than it does to a more dynamic web of computer networks that can organize or reorganize, expand or contract, depending on the problem at hand” (Goldsmith and Eggers 2004, 8). The relationships between the various government and private organizations in efforts dealing with terrorism are not always defined What Is Network Management? 41 entirely by contracts, but some tasks are in the interest of the private sector to perform. For example, a private firm’s security force and its practices are a clear part of the network of organizations delivering homeland security services, even though they may have no contractual relationship with government. Information exchange between security forces can be critical, but it is not provided in exchange for fees in a formal relationship. It is provided in exchange for goodwill that might later result in reciprocity. While reliance on networks is increasing, important questions regarding the proper use of this tool must still be answered. Crucial questions regarding network management concern funding, operations, and results (Kamensky, Burlin, and Abramson 2004, 7). How are networks funded— who raises the money and how is it divided? What is the chain of command , and how does it function during both routine and crisis situations? When outcomes are positive, who gets the credit? And when things go wrong, who is responsible for making things right (see the response to Hurricane Katrina, for example)? It is most important in a representative democracy that appointed public managers and their private partners manage in a way that serves the policies and directions established by our elected leaders. Networks do not and should not attempt to govern (Cohen 2006, 233). On matters of justice , security, public health and welfare, and life and death, the reliability, due process, and accountability of government hierarchies may well be preferable to the speed, efficiency, flexibility, and creativity of networks. The United States military action in Iraq in the early years of the twentyfirst century has demonstrated the advantages and dangers of relying on private networks to carry out public purposes. To improve speed, control costs, and minimize the number of troops (particularly part-time National Guard members), the Defense Department has relied more on private contractors than at any time in our history. Contractors have taken over the majority of support functions previously performed by uniformed troops and have even become involved in intelligence, politics, public information , propaganda, and police functions to the extent that “the line between military personnel and contractors during the war has become blurred” (Goldsmith and Eggers 2004, 13). As we noted previously in our chapter on the ethics of contracting, effective network managers must negotiate agreements with private partners 42 Chapter 3 that follow the public sector’s standards of ethical behavior as well as allow for proper oversight and communication between partners in the network. In most circumstances, it may be sufficient to enforce these standards through performance measures connected to financial incentives and penalties...