Abstract
Much of the basic work of the U.S. federal government is performed by private contractors. This reliance on contractors is not new. It is the product of bipartisan reform that dates to the mid-20th century. The reform has yielded major successes, but has left a legacy of unaddressed questions, including the ability of the official workforce to account for the government's work. This article recounts the history of the ongoing reform from two viewpoints. First, it reviews organizational models that serve as building blocks for the relationships between organizations and contractors. Second, it focuses on the constitutional models within which the organizational models operate. The underlying argument is that the early reformers identified questions of constitutional significance that have yet to be resolved, and at least three models for their possible resolution concurrently exist.
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Guttman, D. Contracting United States Government Work: Organizational and Constitutional Models. Public Organization Review 3, 281–299 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025389532718
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025389532718