Monitoring and oversight
Sixth, the importance of monitoring and oversight cannot be overstated. Although the government's role in direct service delivery may be reduced by competitive sourcing, the responsibility to provide the service is not eliminated. The government is responsible through the contractual arrangement with the service provider, which may be a private firm or a not-for-profit organization.
Government agencies must provide the training new (or retained) quality assurance personnel need to monitor the more sophisticated and complex activities performed by contractors who use best business practices. Also there may be personnel shortages due to past government reductions in force. These reductions can have a negative impact on the quality assurance program. Adequate training will help, but alternatives such as hiring additional quality assurance personnel may be required. The following questions will help in establishing an effective quality assurance program.
- Can the government maintain necessary control and accountability for activities that have been contracted out? That is:
- Does the government have, and will it maintain the capacity in expertise, staff and funding to provide suitable oversight of private sector performance?
- If not, can the agency recruit, attract, train and retain employees with the necessary knowledge and skills?
- Does the government retain the legal authority to provide effective oversight?
- If the activity has been divested, does the government retain regulatory responsibilities after the divestiture?
- Have the criteria been defined that will be used to evaluate the privatized activity in terms of cost, quality, customer service, timeliness, and similar factors?
- What incentives and penalties will included in the contract to ensure the required performance?
- Are performance and cost requirements specified, and measurement systems in place?
- Does the government agency have an effective quality assurance system in place, sufficient to gauge whether the contract is being performed?
- If not, can one be developed?
- Do potential contractors have a good record for effective performance and quality control in prior projects?
- Will there be sufficient funding to pay for government oversight and quality assurance?
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