PADP 6910 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Government Accountability Office

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Public Administration and Policy
• Course: PADP 6910
• Professor: George Krause

Document Summary

Implementation: what is it, the dismal sub-field of public administration, the process & outcomes associated with administrative action. Policy programs: governance by unelected officials. Private firms (non-govt helping actors: why is it so difficult, uncertainty over program goals. The role of incomplete contracts > does not account for every contingency (parts not covered by formal law & procedure the gray area) Different interpretations ~ administrative discretion: resource deficiencies/cost overruns, organizational problems: lack of coordination. Different motives/goals of constituents, politicians, & administrators lead to gray area (when sides cannot agree on a trade-off in dimensions of policy: transient & low caliber leadership. Political executives on federal level do not serve long (high turnover) Increasingly hard to recruit because noncompetitive salaries compared to private sector. Networks: the trend toward contracting, pros. Who watches the administrators: general accounting office (gao) > internal regulatory of bureaucracy. Evaluates third party entities > contractor & grant recipients. Citizen participation (e. g. public notice & comment)