Issues of Contract Implementation and Management: The Case of Performance Contracting in Florida Human Services

As more governments adopt performance measurement and opt to deliver their services through the private sector, performance contracting has emerged as a popular form of privatization. This paper examines various issues public managers confront in their efforts to manage and monitor performance contracts. To do so, this paper studies the case of Florida human services and explores challenges and difficulties the contracting staff experience when attempting to evaluate provider performance. In particular, this paper focuses on: (1) why public managers prefer quantitative performance indicators to qualitative measures; (2) why data collection systems are critical for effective performance contract management, but tend to be neglected by public managers; and 3) why data validation and monitoring are so essential in successful performance contracting. In the last two sections, this paper discusses the roles and responsibilities of two critical players in performance contracting: contract managers and monitors. While their functions are an integral part of the contracting process, it is noted that contract managers often lack the necessary skills and training to manage their contracts in effective manners and conflicting oversight roles between contract managers and monitors contribute to poor, inconsistent performance evaluation.