It’s always amazed me how inefficient government agencies can be. Then our recent discussions in class about outsourcing and the reasons companies outsource, one being to gain efficiencies, including cost efficiencies got me thinking: to what extent does government and its agencies outsource? I don’t know the answer to this question, but could outsourcing provide a response to the inefficiencies in government? What are some of the functions that could/should be outsourced? For profit companies have been able to gain efficiencies by outsourcing, so it’s quite plausible that outsourcing could also improve efficiencies for governments and their related agencies.
Government agencies do outsource, but the extend to which they can and do engage in outsourcing depends upon the individual agency. The problem is that many of the inefficiencies in government agencies stem from activities that cannot be outsourced. For example, the legislature creates laws with a general purpose in mind-like improving air quality. Because the legislature doesn't want to have to deal with the complexities of improving air quality, they will basically say, "the EPA will promulgate rules in order to accomplish this objective." Administrative agencies are basically outsourced the job of making laws with regard to specific topics. So the EPA will then be able to outsource all of the research in trying to figure out which regulations they should make with regard to air quality, but at the end of the day, it is them that is going to have to write the rules which may end up being thousands and thousands of pages. Only so much can be delegated or outsourced, because you can't have non-governmental entities making laws.
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