Valuing Bureaucracy
The Case for Professional Government

In this book, Verkuil uses his inside perspective on government to examine the increasing impact of private contractors on governance.

Paul R. Verkuil (Author)

9781316629666, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 May 2017

180 pages, 12 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.1 cm, 0.28 kg

'Government is under siege - at the federal, state and local levels. Valuing Bureaucracy brings an invaluable and comprehensible perspective on how to restructure and defend the public sector. Drawing on current events, academic research and his own recent experience as Chairman of the Administrative Conference of the United States, Paul R. Verkuil convincingly evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of government agencies and private alternatives, and offers cogent reforms. No side escapes scrutiny. In his search for more 'A players' In the federal government, Verkuil takes on the veterans' preference and rigidity in the Office of Personnel Management. In his pursuit of better supervision of the private sector, he shows what went wrong with government contractors in Flint, Michigan, among other regions. This book should be required reading for scholars of public administration and administrative law, and interesting to citizens who crave more effective government.' Anne Joseph O'Connell, George Johnson Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley

To be effective, government must be run by professional managers. When decisions that should be taken by government officials are delegated to private contractors without adequate oversight, the public interest is jeopardized. Verkuil uses his inside perspectives on government performance and accountability to examine the tendencies at both the federal and state levels to 'deprofessionalize' government. Viewing the turn to contractors and private sector solutions in ideological and functional terms, he acknowledges that the problem cannot be solved without meaningful civil service reforms that make it easier to hire, incent and, where necessary, fire career employees and officials. The indispensable goal is to revitalize bureaucracy so it can continue to competently deliver essential services. By highlighting the leadership that already exists in the career ranks, Verkuil senses a willingness, or even eagerness, to make government, like America, great again.

1. Introduction and overview
2. The new learning on outsourcing sovereignty
3. The growth of contracting out in government
4. The consequences of federal contractor government
5. State examples of government failure
6. Why professionals in government matter
7. The civil service and its reform
8. Living with and improving the multi-sector workforce
9. In sum – reprofessionalize government.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND]