Comparing strategic intents for public-private partnerships, outsourcing and shared services

ABSTRACT

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have gained the interest of public administrations as a sourcing arrangement for pubic organizations. A PPP is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies. The decision to initiate a PPP is risky and has longterm implications and as such a better understanding of the underlying strategic intents for introducing PPPs is necessary. In this research the strategic intents for PPPs for providing public ICT-services are investigated using three case studies. The cases are analyzed using a framework found in outsourcing literature by which the strategic intents for PPPs have been identified. The introduction of a PPP was not driven by a singular focus on one intent, instead it was driven by a series of different and often interrelated strategic intents. Second, because PPPs can be regarded as a specific kind of sourcing arrangement, the strategic intents for establishing a PPP have been compared with the strategic intents associated with shared service arrangements, which are completely public, and outsourcing arrangements, which can be viewed as private, as found in literature. This comparison should help decision-makers in making a tradeoff between PPPs and other sourcing arrangements.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES
      H.1.1 Systems and Information Theory

Additional Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Government

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.6 MANAGEMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
      K.6.4 System Management

General Terms:
Design, Economics, Languages, Legal Aspects, Management, Performance, Standardization, Theory, Verification

Keywords:
decision support, outsourcing, public administration, public-private partnerships, service provisioning, shared services, sourcing