<p>Abstract</p><p>C-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008</p><p>Supervisor: Susan Marton</p><p>“Good contracting? – A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children”</p><p>Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ‘shopping basket’ from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting. Based on the normative approach of NPM it would also be possible to distinguish features of ‘good’ contracting. The study will result in a thematic model that will be applied to an empirical example; namely the case of transportation of school children in Grums kommun. The methods applied for this study will be scientific literature, public documents, and interviews.</p><p>The study is guided by two overarching research questions:</p><p>1. How is good management of contracting, from the internal customer, manifested according to NPM (in the literature that has been studied)?</p><p>2. Did Grums Kommun, as an internal customer, meet these criteria for good contracting in their 2006 public procurement of the transportation of school children?</p><p>The results of the study show that good management of contracting from the internal customer manifests itself through competition, targeting and monitoring of results. Grums Kommun, as an internal customer, has not met the NPM criteria of good contracting fully. By answering the purpose the author hopes to contribute to more knowledge on New Public Management, and to give further theoretical approaches to the subject of outsourcing.</p>

Abstract C-level essay in political science, by Frida Orlinder, spring semester 2008 Supervisor: Susan Marton “Good contracting? – A study of contracting in public procurement regarding the transportation of school children” Over the last decades models influenced by the market have been gaining influence in public administration all over the world. New Public Management has been presented as a theoretical ‘shopping basket’ from which concepts can be applied to the administration of municipal services. The purpose of this essay is to investigate in an explorative way how New Public Management (NPM) views contracting and the role of the internal customer in contracting. Based on the normative approach of NPM it would also be possible to distinguish features of ‘good’ contracting. The study will result in a thematic model that will be applied to an empirical example; namely the case of transportation of school children in Grums kommun. The methods applied for this study will be scientific literature, public documents, and interviews. The study is guided by two overarching research questions: 1. How is good management of contracting, from the internal customer, manifested according to NPM (in the literature that has been studied)? 2. Did Grums Kommun, as an internal customer, meet these criteria for good contracting in their 2006 public procurement of the transportation of school children? The results of the study show that good management of contracting from the internal customer manifests itself through competition, targeting and monitoring of results. Grums Kommun, as an internal customer, has not met the NPM criteria of good contracting fully. By answering the purpose the author hopes to contribute to more knowledge on New Public Management, and to give further theoretical approaches to the subject of outsourcing.