Contract management

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Contract management is a central instrument for controlling results in public administrations as part of the administrative reform according to the NSM (New Control Model).

Classification of contract management

Contract management plays a decisive role in setting up a company-like, decentralized management and organizational structure in public administrations. Contract management is a control and planning tool in which the management of an organizational unit and the management of an operational level agree on the services to be provided, the resources made available for this purpose and the type of reporting on the result. The communal community center for administrative management (KGSt) recommends in the report "Contract management: Control via target agreements" to replace the previous control of the local administration via individual instructions and hierarchical interventions by control via target agreements (contract management).

Definition and content

A contract is a written agreement between two partners about results to be achieved within a defined period of time with a fixed budget. Indispensable contract content is derived from this definition:

  • the operationalization of the results to be achieved into concrete measures
  • the definition of financial resources
  • the information on key figures, indicators for evaluating the result achieved
  • the manner and frequency of reporting
  • Incentive, sanctioning and intervention options for clients and contractors

The control via target agreements ranges from the product-oriented budget as the main contract between politics and administration through the departmental or official contract to the goals agreed with the employees in target agreement discussions. KGSt sees contracts as a new type of management, planning and controlling, in which binding agreements are made between different organizational units over a certain period of time. It is not controlled via individual instructions or individual interventions, but on the basis of the contracts “at a distance”. As part of the delegation of responsibility to the departments, contract management serves to maintain the control of the overall administration; this also includes municipal holdings. Formalized reporting enables the management and control of target achievement. Contract management is the consistent control principle of a reformed local government in the sense of the new control model. Contracts therefore have a target element (control via target agreements ), an agreement element ( instead of hierarchy) and a control element ( reporting ). It is only when these three elements are systematically linked that the local government can be controlled via contract management.

Objectives of contract management

The main objectives of contract management are:

  • Creating a balance between decentralized responsibility and centralized control
  • Strengthening the responsibility of decentralized units while ensuring a new type of centralized control
  • Act instead of react
  • Transparency about the services to be provided
  • Effective performance of the control function by politics and top management
  • Control of the entire use of resources
  • Changed behavior of those involved: new understanding of leadership, new way of dealing with one another
  • Synonymous with a new administrative culture

Legally binding contracts

Internally, contracts are not legally binding. External contracts between specialist services / administrative management and private or non-public producers are legally binding contracts which, however, do not otherwise differ from contracts.

literature

  • KGSt: Report "Contract Management: Control via Target Agreements", KGSt Report 4/1998, Cologne