Free Essay

Does Total Quality Lead to Improved Performance in Prisons?

In: Business and Management

Submitted By meindert
Words 2111
Pages 9
Does Total Quality lead to improved performance in prisons?

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 1 TQM only relates to Human resources 5 2 The only customers are inmates 6 3 Staff should only follow orders 6 4 The managers’ tasks are only to control the staff 7 5 Quality improvements only to be initiated by the management 7 Conclusion 8 List of references 10

Executive Summary

In this quotation about Total Quality, the Governor makes 5 assumptions:

* TQM only relates to human resources * The only customers are the inmates, * Staff should only follow orders, * The managers’ tasks are only to control the staff, * Quality improvements are only to be initiated by the management.

TQM is aimed at customer satisfaction, through continuous improvement, which is process focussed, and involves all levels of an organisation’s management.

Apart from the detainees there are other customers in a prison, such as the partners from the criminal justice chain, the visitors, society at large, and the internal customers.

In the TQM approach, employees are not there just to carry out instructions, they should be empowered to exert influence on their own job.
Managers should act as coaches rather than supervisors, by providing guidance to help employees to do a better job and encourage teamwork. Through empowerment, involvement, and encouragement, employees in all levels of the organisation and processes should be able to participate in continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

Introducing Total Quality will lead to a better performance because it improves customer satisfaction, process improvement, more motivated staff, and a better service to the customers.

Introduction

Management in the public sector has been changing dramatically since the 1980s (Osborne and Gaebler, 1992, p166-194). Total Quality Management has been introduced, and there is a growing notion to consider the citizen as a real client (Bouckaert and Thijs, 2003). This is also applicable for prisons.
The Governor of a private sector managed prison in the North of England was quoted:

“Total quality is a myth – or at best wishful thinking from the HR people. Our so-called customers don’t want to be there and the staff just follows orders. Whatever quality we achieve results from the way my managers and I control what is happening, 24 hours a day”.

The Governor makes a few assumptions in his statement: 1) TQ only relates to human resources, 2) The only customers are the inmates, 3) Staff should only follow orders, 4) The managers’ tasks are only to control the staff, 5) Quality improvements are only to be initiated by the management.

In this report, I will comment on each the assumptions that the governor has made. Finally I will discuss how the TQ approach could lead to improvement of the organisation’s performance.
.

1 TQM only relates to Human resources

“Total quality is a myth – or at best wishful thinking from the HR people”. The Governor implies that TQM only relates to human resources. TQM is difficult to define: Juran (1995, p649): “At the outset there was no agreed standard definition for TQM, so communication became confused—among company departments, in their training courses, and in the general literature. This confusion has since been reduced by the publication of the criteria used by the American National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) to judge the applications for the United States’ Malcolm Baldrige”.

Source: NIST

Figure 1
Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence Framework

Figure 2
TQM Model
There is no clear definition of TQM, but the different quality awards criteria, the TQM models, and the textbooks have a few terms in common. Considering the Baldrige Award criteria in figure 1 that Juran talks about, and the TQM model in figure 2 we can conclude that TQM is a holistic approach to customer satisfaction, through continuous improvement, which is process focussed, and involves all levels of an organisation’s management, including leadership, strategy formation, management of processes, and the individual employee. So TQM is much more than Human Resources alone.

2 The only customers are inmates

With the Governor’s comment: “Our so-called customers don’t want to be there”, he assumes that the only customers of a prison are inmates. Indeed, the context of a prison is that service is provided involuntarily. Foster (2004, p 217) states that “The quintessential example of an involuntary service is a prison.”.
However, the detainees are not the only clients. There are other clients which can be grouped into two categories: external and internal customers

External customers
Apart from the prisoners, other examples of external clients are: * partners from the criminal justice chain, such as courts of justice, police services, lawyers, transfer services, administrative jurisdictional bodies, etc, * partners of co-operation like hospitals, psychiatric organisations, education organisations, reintegration officers, etc, * detainees’ visitors, * society at large, * the local community where the prison is housed, * ................

Internal customers
Within an organisation, there is a chain of internal customers that connects individuals and departments. Each employee receives inputs from others and produces some output for their internal customers. Satisfying the internal customers leads to better internal service, greater job satisfaction, and eventually to a better quality product for the external customer.

In the previous paragraph, we saw that the focus on customers is one of the principles of the TQ approach. According to Evans and Lindsay (2008, p17): “Quality is meeting or exceeding customer expectations”. So in order to improve quality, it is important for the prison to identify their different customers. Each of the customers have different needs and expectations, ranging from a proper reception area (visitors) to quick and clear administrative procedures to a well guarded prison with no risk of escapees (society at large).

3 Staff should only follow orders

The Governor says“...and the staff just follows orders.” In the TQ approach, employees are heavily involved in continuous improvement, and are not there just to carry out instructions. Human Resources Management is to develop a system wherein the prison awakes, manages, and develops the knowledge and capabilities of its staff to their full potential. The aim is to encourage staff to get involved in quality and improvement.
Kohn (1992, p241) states “we find that people do terrific work when (1) they are inspired, challenged, and excited by what they are doing, and (2) they receive social support and are able to exchange ideas and collaborate effectively with others”, So staff should be encouraged on an individual level and on team level. Individually, the staff should be given the appropriate skills and knowledge through training and education, and they should be empowered to exert influence on their own tasks. Finally a motivation system (e.g. rewarding), needs to be developed to encourage staff to innovate.
Teamwork is also advocated by Deming in point 9 of his “14 points for Management” (Deming, 1986, p62-65). He argues that working in teams reduces inefficiency, breaks down the barriers between departments and individuals, and therefore produces a better quality product. Furthermore, people learn from each other in team and they are able to solve issues they cannot solve individually (1+1=3).
Employee involvement refers to any work related decision making activity that employees participate in. This ranges from simply sharing information to making business decisions and solving problems.

4 The managers’ tasks are only to control the staff

“....my managers and I control what is happening.” According to the Governor, the task of the manager is to control and supervise staff. Point 7 in Deming’s list (p54-59) is “institute leadership” which means that managers should act as coaches rather than supervisors, by providing guidance to help employees to do a better job and encourage teamwork. So the prison managers should support, motivate and act as a role model to their employees, and not just control staff.
This statement also brings a connotation of fear, and implies that the Governor and the managers do not accept any objections or failures. Deming (p 58): “No one can put in this best performance unless he feels secure”. Managers should stimulate the employees to get involved in continuous improvement, and not maintain a culture of fear of reprisal.

5 Quality improvements only to be initiated by the management

“Whatever quality we achieve results from the way my managers and I control”. This assumption is closely related to the previous two points. Quality improvement requires total participation of all staff. The person who is in the best position to propose improvements on his job, is the one performing it. Through empowerment, involvement, and encouragement employees in all levels of the organisation and processes should be able to participate in continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

How does TQ lead to improved performance? From the previous chapters we have seen that TQ is based on four principles: 1) customer focus, 2) participation and teamwork, 3) process focus, 4) continuous improvement.

ad1)
To be customer focussed means satisfying or exceeding customer needs. The Governor needs to realise that the prison has, in fact, several clients with different expectations and views on performance. Each performance can be measured by identifying performance indicators. Figure 3 gives a few examples of different prisons’ clients, their expectations and possible indicators.

Client | Client’s expectation | Indicator | Inmates | * Safe environment * Certain degree of privacy | * Number of assaults in prison * Number of prisoners per square meter | Partners criminal justice chain | * Timely delivery to court * Timely reports to court | * % of prisoners delivered to court before the agreed time * % of reports to be provided in agreed time | Society at large | * Safe environment * Reduce re-offences | * Number prison escapes * % inmates that follow an education | Detainees’ visitors | * Proper reception area | * Cleanliness, privacy | Prison staff | * Safe working environment * Job satisfaction | * Number of assaults on prison staff * Staff turnover ratio |
Figure 3
Examples of prison customers and their expectations

Apart from these measurable indicators, customer satisfaction should be analysed though information gathering, such as collecting comment cards and surveys, focus groups, direct customer contact, and studying complaints.
Once we know the clients’ expectations and their view on the delivered quality, we know in which areas we should improve our performance

ad2)
In the TQM approach all levels of the organisation are involved in continuous improvement, not just the management. Involving employees in decision making, and empowering them to influence their own work, will give great benefits to the performance. When they see that their suggestions are considered and actioned, people will feel appreciated and valuable to the organisation, which will motivate them to initiate more improvements. They should be fully supported by management, who will have to act as coaches rather than supervisors.
Another important element of total quality is teamwork. It reduces inefficiency, breaks down the barriers between departments and individuals, and therefore produces a better quality product.

ad3)
TQM requires a process thinking mindset. Everything we do is part of a process. In TQM the focus shifts from managing outcomes to managing and improving processes and continuously achieving the greatest potential benefit for the customer.

ad4)
Continuous improvement refers to incremental changes and large, rapid improvement. A constant focus on (the ever changing) customer requirements and meeting them, leads to an improved performance.

So introducing a Total Quality culture in the organisation means focussing on customer needs and their satisfaction. Employee involvement, from all levels of the organisation, leads to a better motivated workforce from where ideas and suggestions are initiated. This will lead to continuous improvement of work processes, and finally to a service to the customer that improves continually.

List of references

Baldrige National Quality Program, 2009-2010. Criteria for Performance Excellence. Gaithersburg, MD, United States of America: .Baldrige National Quality Program National Institute of Standards and Technology United States Department of Commerce

Bouckaert, G. & Thijs, T., 2003. Kwaliteit in de Overheid. Een Handboek voor Kwaliteitsmanagement in de Publieke Sector op Basis van een Internationaal Comparatieve Studie. Gent, Belgium: Academia Press

Deming, W.E., 1986. Out of the Crisis. Cambridge, MA, United States of America: Center for Advanced Educational Services

Evans, R.E. & Lindsay, W.M., 2008. The Management and Control of Quality. 7th ed. Mason, OH, United States of America: South-Western Cengage Learning

Foster, T., 2004. Managing Quality: An Integrative Approach. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States of America: Pearson

Juran, J. M., 1995. A History of Managing for Quality: The Evolution, Trends, and Future
Directions of Managing for Quality. Milwaukee, WI, United States of America: ASQC Quality Press

Kohn, A, 1992. The Case Against Competition. Why we Loose in our Race to Win. New York, NY, United States of America: Houghton Mifflin Company

Osborne, D. & Gaebler, T., 1993. Reinventing Government. New York, United States of America: Addison-Wesley

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Total Quality in Private Prisons

...To the attention of the Prison Governor North of England Sir, Following are some national scale statistics related to prisons’ performance and associated costs as issued by the Center for Social Justice in March 2009A. which I would like to use as argument in reply to your statement on Total Quality. - Prisons population has increased dramatically in the last decade, counting as of today about 83000 people; - Approximately three quarters of young prisoners under 25 and two thirds of all adult prisoners are reconvicted within two years of release; - Today, the annual public expenditure costs of running prisons and managing offenders is over £5 billion, which combined with £11 billion costs of re-offending as estimated by Social Exclusion Unit (in 2002), amount to an annual total of £16 billion. Relating statistics to your statements, I agree with you, “Total Quality is a myth” but I add “because people in charge fail to commit to it” Although not directly related to our business, I want to use these statistics as a means to show the impact of Total Quality culture as compared to traditional management style of prisons. A critical analysis instead, leads to the conclusion that prisons management and the correctional system is stuck in a closed cycle between overcrowding and failure to rehabilitate. This is part of a traditional prison management where more of the same, brings in turn more of the same, resulting in long term progressive loss, both financial...

Words: 2305 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Six Sigma

...and then conclude all of my work together and discuss the principal arguments. Six sigma is a methodology used to focus an organization on reducing variations and errors in processes and driving quality improvement. Developed by Motorola Inc in the USA in 1986, it became well known in the 90’s, when GE CEO Jack Welch evangelized it. Six sigma is now according to many business development and quality improvement experts, the most popular management methodology in history. Six sigma aims to maximise customer satisfaction and minimise defects. In statistical terms, the purpose of six sigma is to reduce the process variation so that virtually all the products or services provided meet exceeded customer expectations. The standard metric for Six Sigma is 3.4 defects per million opportunities. For example for every 1 million transactions that go through a system, there will be 3.4 errors and still achieve six sigmas. Therefore this process has so few defects that is nearly perfect. By the year 2000, six sigma was effectively established as an industry in its own right, involving the training, consultancy and implementation of six sigma methodology in all sorts of organisations around the world. Therefore as well as being a hugely popular methodology used by many corporations for quality and process improvement it also became the subject of...

Words: 3886 - Pages: 16

Free Essay

Eco203

...Federal Pay……………………………………………………………….…..…..4 Federal Employees’ Health Benefits Program……………………………….15 Official Time for Federal Employee Union Representatives………….........22 Arbitrary Cuts in Civil Servants………………………………………………..26 Sourcing: Complying with the Law……………………………………….......31 Capping Taxpayer-Funded Service Contractor Compensation……………43 Transportation Security Administration and TSOs…………………………..46 Domestic Partnership Benefits……………………………..………………….49 Employment Non-Discrimination Act……………………………………..…..55 Paid Parental Leave………………………………………………..…………..57 One America, Many Voices Act………………………………………….…....60 Department of Veterans Affairs…………………………………..……………62 Department of Defense……………………………...……….………………...71 Federal Prisons………………………………………………………………….90 Social Security Administration ……………………………………….…...…103 National Guard/Reserve Technicians ………………………...……….……108 D.C. Workers’ Issues …………………...……………………………..…..…117 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ……………………..……...120 Another Manufactured Crisis: What’s Next in the Fiscal Showdown? Background At the beginning of January, President Obama signed a tax deal that restored higher Clinton-era rates to those making over $450,000, and funded an extension of unemployment insurance benefits to the long-term unemployed, extended for another year the $240 monthly transit subsidy, but did not extend the 2% payroll tax holiday. The deal also delayed until March 1 the sweeping across-the-board agency cuts...

Words: 54164 - Pages: 217

Premium Essay

Vision 2

...important milestone in our country’s development as it comes soon after the successful implementation of the “Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation” (ERS) over the period 2003 to-date. The Kenya economy has now recovered from the slow growth rate of 0.6 percent in 2002 to a projected growth of over 7 percent in 2007. Indeed, the last five years represent the best phase of sustained economic growth in our country in all sectors of our economy notably; agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade and telecommunications as well as the social Sectors. The vision will be implemented through five year medium-term rolling plans, starting with the first one which will cover the period 2008-2012. Thus, the performance of the government should in future be gauged on the basis of these medium term benchmarks. The Vision also aims at...

Words: 24420 - Pages: 98

Premium Essay

Jet2 Task#1

...Running head: Financial Analysis Report 1 Competition Bikes, Inc. Financial Analysis Report Western Governors University Financial Analysis Report 2 Competition Bikes, Inc. Financial Analysis Report Analysis must be completed to determine a company’s performance and future viability. The review of income statements, balance sheets, past and present performance will be utilized to predict future company performance. Management of Competition Bikes, Inc. will then use this information to help influence decisions that will meet with company goals. The financial analysis report for Competition Bikes, Inc. (CBI) will include a total of four sections. The financial strengths and weaknesses for years 6, 7, and 8 will be analyzed through utilization of horizontal analysis, vertical analysis, trend analysis and ratio analysis. Secondly, the company’s working capital will be reviewed. Suggestions will be made on how to improve working capital and improve profits. Thirdly, the internal controls within CBI will be reviewed and weaknesses will be identified at this time. Finally, the Sarbanes-Oxley requirements will be detailed and requirements that CBI needs to adhere to for risk reduction and maintain compliance. A1a. Horizontal Analysis CBI years 6 and 7 will be compared first and then years 7 and 8. This will provide a three year time period to analyze. This information will provide insight into CBI business and if business is growing, steady, or falling. CBI net sales...

Words: 5856 - Pages: 24

Premium Essay

Growing the Private Sector

...PART 3 GROWING THE PRIVATE SECTOR CHAPTER 17 INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS Institutions refer to arrangements and processes for the purposeful administration or management of a polity or the management of an entity. The importance of institutions will probably be best understood from the governance perspective. In this regard, we recall that governance is 111 primarily concerned with two inter-related issues. These are (a) existence of societal institutions for managing social relations; and (b) the degree of independence enjoyed by each institution in the performance of its assigned duties. Hence, the state of institutions along these two dimensions determines the quality of governance. Herein lies the desirability of assessing the current state of institutional setting in which ODSEEDS would be designed and implemented. For the purpose of our discussion, we have identified three major groups of stakeholders around which institutions could be appraised. These groups comprise (a) the government (public sector), (b) business (private sector); and (c) civil society (the people). These are the three primary partners (3PP) in the development process of any nation. The characteristic of each partner group in Ondo State are highlighted briefly as follows: 17.1 The Public Sector Ondo State has a seasoned executive arm of government, a legacy it inherited from the early 60s. The state’s civil service is blessed with competent technocrats and is expected to serve as...

Words: 16543 - Pages: 67

Premium Essay

Wgu Capstone

...Why Information Security Management Is Important For Payday Lending Business Laquinta Denise Mason A Prospectus Presented to the Information Technology College Faculty Of Western Governors University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Degree Area 3/14/2014 Abstract The purpose of this project was to ensure the client is compliant with the requirements specified by the Grahm-Leach-Bliley Act. Information is what drives business today and if the information is not available or reliable then the business cannot function. Most customer’s information, financial records, medical records, and sales records are stored on computers today. Clients and the government expect business to maintain the availability, integrity and confidentiality of their information. The project was created to address the importance of Information Security Management and compliance for businesses in the financial sector. ABC Loans are a small independently owned payday loan company. The client was concerned about the recent penetration of local business networks and wanted me to perform an assessment on his network and determine the vulnerable areas of his networks and the recommendations for making it more secure and GLBA compliant; now that the assessment is completed the client is aware of the vulnerabilities and the areas where they are not meeting GLBA requirements. My capstone will focus on the steps that will assure...

Words: 8774 - Pages: 36

Premium Essay

Test

...Final Report Jan Berry Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing Advocate October 2010 Contents Executive Summary 1 Risk (Good Decision Making) 7 Governance Accountability & Performance 10 Continuous Improvement 15 Criminal Justice System 17 Key Processes 24 Technology 29 Reducing Bureaucracy Practitioners Group 31 Executive Summary Introduction Sir Ronnie Flanagan likened bureaucracy to cholesterol; there is both good and bad. The police service is accountable and records need to be kept. Some bureaucracy, enough to run an efficient and effective police service is necessary, but extra layers of bureaucracy have been created to meet the demands of scrutiny and quality assurance, in times when budgets are being cut, the question needs to be asked, what is affordable? Where the requirement to record becomes more important than the quality of the investigation, the balance is wrong. And when quality assurance is more about complying with a set of rigid rules than achieving a successful outcome the balance is also wrong. The checks should not outweigh the balances. Recognition of the negative impact excessive bureaucracy creates has long been understood. Previous Chief Inspectors of Constabulary, Sir David O'Dowd and Sir Ronnie Flanagan both made a series of recommendations aimed at reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and prepared costed business plans for change. The reports received considerable support across policing...

Words: 14153 - Pages: 57

Free Essay

Inmate Work in Canada

...production and marketing arm of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Currently, CORCAN programs operate in over half of the federal correctional facilities across Canada, employing 4000 offenders throughout the year (CSC, 2001). CORCAN currently operates five main business lines: Agribusiness, Construction, Manufacturing, Services and Textiles. Each business line is responsible for providing services or products that range from agriculture commodities to computer data entry and data base creation services. In 1992, CORCAN was granted the title of Special Operating Agency (SOA), which provides certain organizations with the opportunity to become more productive, efficient and competitive. The move to SOA status does not represent the privatization of CORCAN, but does allow CORCAN greater control over the creation of various work programs and the revenue these programs generate. The CORCAN work program at Warkworth institution currently employs 70 inmates and 12 correctional staff, and is the most profitable of all federal correctional industries in Canada. The program manufactures a variety of components for office furniture. Production facilities include a cabinet shop, paint shop, sheet metal shop, welding shop and an...

Words: 7133 - Pages: 29

Free Essay

Privatization in Bd

...Service Sector Preface We know that the countries which are developed today are getting very strong in service sector day by day. Without having a very significant service sector it is impossible to retain the development of the economy of a country. Service sector is the accelerator of an economy. And Bangladesh is one of the least developed countries of the world with a huge number of different problems but most importantly with an emerging service sector. Really this is a great tonic for this underdeveloped country on the way of development. So to utilize this potential setting up of a lot of service organization is needed. But the service organization should not be public rather private. Because we all know about the poor service quality and negative profit of the public service organizations of Bangladesh. So the privatization of service sector is one of our desired initiatives. It is one of the leading aspects with a very bright potential to boost-up the economy of this third-world poor country. Prepared by: Md. Abdul Hai – 07882860 Essence of Privatization Despite a significant degree of public ownership in health, education, communication, utilities and energy sectors in the pre-independence period, Bangladesh inherited basically a private sector dominated economy at the time of independence in 1971. A set of three inter-related reasons are put forward as rationale for privatization in Bangladesh. These are: • Improvement of the governments’ fiscal situation; ...

Words: 7769 - Pages: 32

Free Essay

Management Paper

...Introduction By Paul Andrisani and Simon Hakim Co-Directors Center for Competitive Government Richard J. Fox School of Business and Management Temple University Privatization of public services to reduce cost and improve quality has a long history. Peter Drucker, the Austrian born management professor, was the first to suggest contracting out of local services to private companies. Indeed many municipal services were already contracted out by 1980 in Great Britain. But the most significant drive for privatization in Great Britain, which signaled the way to the rest of the world, came about with the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. In the following decade a host of state owned enterprises were privatized including British Petroleum, British Aerospace, Jaguar, Rolls Royce, National Freight Corp., Cable and Wireless, British Airways, British Gas, British Telecom, several water and electric utilities. In addition, public housing was sold to the residents and compulsory competitive bidding of local services was initiated. By the late 1980’s, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina elected presidents who adopted privatization initiatives. But the trend toward privatization was not confined to western countries. The collapse of Communism in the Soviet Bloc prompted the sale of many state owned enterprises as well as other forms of privatization. Even earlier, China in 1978 allowed private farming and later private sector manufacturing and...

Words: 9556 - Pages: 39

Premium Essay

Sole Trader

...NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE GRADE 12 BUSINESS STUDIES FEBRUARY/MARCH 2013 MEMORANDUM MARKS: 300 This memorandum consists of 28 pages. Copyright reserved Please turn over Business Studies 2 NSC – Memorandum DBE/Feb.–Mar. 2013 NOTES TO MARKERS 1. For marking and moderation purposes, the following colours are recommended: Marker: Senior Marker: Deputy Chief and Chief Marker: Internal Moderator: 2. Red Green Black/Brown/Pink Orange The numbering of Assessment Standards is in accordance with the principle of progression from Grades 10 to 12, e.g. the first Assessment Standard is 12.1.2. Candidates' responses must be in full sentences for SECTIONS B and C. This would depend on the nature of the question. A comprehensive memorandum has been provided but this is by no means exhaustive. Due consideration should be given to an answer that is correct but: • • • • uses a different expression from that which appears in the memorandum. comes from another source. is correct and original. relates to another applicable LO or AS. 3. 4. NOTE: There are no alternative answers for SECTION A. 5. Take due note of other relevant answers provided by candidates and allocate marks accordingly. (In cases where the answer is unclear or indicates some understanding, part-marks should be allocated, for example, one mark instead of the maximum of two marks.) The word 'sub-max' is used to facilitate the allocation of marks within a question or subquestion. The purpose of circling marks (guided by...

Words: 7705 - Pages: 31

Premium Essay

Sae Lay Kwor Ball Lar

...ISSN 1608-7143 OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING Volume 5 – No. 3 © OECD 2006 The United Kingdom Private Finance Initiative: The Challenge of Allocating Risk by David Corner∗ Since 1992, the United Kingdom has used a new type of public-private partnership for the delivery of public services: the Private Finance Initiative. In the design of PFI projects, the assessment of risk, and who is best able to manage it, needs to be carefully considered. Using data from government reports and case examples in the British public sector, this article explores aspects of procurement including, among other things, due diligence, public sector comparators, and the consequences of taking back the responsibility for delivering the service (taking back risk). PFI contracts can deliver better value for money than traditional methods of procurement if risks are transferred to the parties best able to handle them. The article concludes with a discussion of guidelines on generally accepted accounting practice and indicators for assessing risk. ∗ David Corner is Director of Corporate Policy in the United Kingdom National Audit Office. This article was originally published as Chapter 3 in Graeme Hodge and Carsten Greve (eds.) (2005), The Challenge of Public-Private Partnerships: Learning from International Experience, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, United Kingdom, and Northampton, MA, United States, pages 44-61. Reprinted with permission from the editors and the publisher. OECD JOURNAL ON...

Words: 7740 - Pages: 31

Premium Essay

Uk Post Office

...ISSN 1608-7143 OECD JOURNAL ON BUDGETING Volume 5 – No. 3 © OECD 2006 The United Kingdom Private Finance Initiative: The Challenge of Allocating Risk by David Corner∗ Since 1992, the United Kingdom has used a new type of public-private partnership for the delivery of public services: the Private Finance Initiative. In the design of PFI projects, the assessment of risk, and who is best able to manage it, needs to be carefully considered. Using data from government reports and case examples in the British public sector, this article explores aspects of procurement including, among other things, due diligence, public sector comparators, and the consequences of taking back the responsibility for delivering the service (taking back risk). PFI contracts can deliver better value for money than traditional methods of procurement if risks are transferred to the parties best able to handle them. The article concludes with a discussion of guidelines on generally accepted accounting practice and indicators for assessing risk. ∗ David Corner is Director of Corporate Policy in the United Kingdom National Audit Office. This article was originally published as Chapter 3 in Graeme Hodge and Carsten Greve (eds.) (2005), The Challenge of Public-Private Partnerships: Learning from International Experience, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, United Kingdom, and Northampton, MA, United States, pages 44-61. Reprinted with permission from the editors and the publisher. OECD JOURNAL ON...

Words: 7765 - Pages: 32

Free Essay

Review of Related Lit

...80401-3393 NREL is a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory Operated by Midwest Research Institute • Battelle • Bechtel Contract No. DE-AC36-99-GO10337 NOTICE This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. Available electronically at http://www.osti.gov/bridge Available for a processing fee to U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors, in paper, from: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and...

Words: 23650 - Pages: 95