Course Syllabus

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Course Description

This graduate-level course focuses on public program performance and contracting. Public and nonprofit managers rely on formal contracts as a key tool for collaborating across sectors. Students in this course will gain a theoretical understanding of these topics and develop the skills and competencies necessary for managing the various phases of the contracting process.

 Learning Outcomes 

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Assess how public sector goals and their ambiguity shape the measurement of performance and effectiveness, in both direct provision and contracted service delivery.
  • Analyze the decision to deliver a public service in-house or by contract, weighing economic, managerial, legal, and democratic criteria rather than cost alone.
  • Synthesize economic, democratic, relational, and performance frameworks to make and defend reasoned recommendations about whether, how, and with whom to contract.
  • Evaluate the trade-offs among efficiency, accountability, and democratic control raised by outsourcing, and defend a reasoned position on where the public–private line should fall.
  • Explain how contracts are embedded in social, institutional, and power-dependent relationships, and account for why identical arrangements produce different outcomes across settings.
  • Compare transactional, relational, and reference-point perspectives on contracting, and assess how each addresses the inevitable incompleteness of contracts.
  • Apply the legal and regulatory framework governing public procurement—including competition rules, contract types, and limits on inherently governmental functions—to real contracting choices.
  • Apply the Vested model and relational governance principles to shift adversarial, transaction‑based relationships toward collaborative, outcome‑focused partnerships.
  • Synthesize the frameworks of the course to assess a government's capacity to be a "smart buyer" and to produce an integrated diagnosis of a contracting scenario that balances performance, accountability, and public value.
  • Collaborate effectively in teams to analyze complex contracting scenarios and communicate findings clearly.

 Course Requirements 

Required Text and Materials

  • One book is required for this course and is available online from the IU Bloomington library at no cost: Rainey, H. G., Fernandez, S., and Malatesta, D. (2021). Understanding and Managing Public Organizations. 6th Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Other reading are listed by module on Canvas. You should be able to access readings through IUB library or Google Scholar. Any readings not available electronically can be provided by the TA.

Technical Requirements

You will need the following in order to participate in this course:

  • Desktop or laptop computer
  • Reliable Internet connection
  • Webcam
  • Access to Canvas using a supported web browser.
  • A lock-doen browser for the final exam

 Technical Support

For additional help with technical issues, consult:

 Course Assessment & Grades

Module Quizzes: 25%. Individual grade; lowest score dropped.

Midterm Exam. 25%. Individual grade. Covers Modules 1–4. Oct. 8 (tentative)

Final Exam. 20%. Individual grade. Covers Modules 5–9 with integrative questions spanning entire course. December 15 (tentative)

Group Exercises, Case Assignments: 20%. Group members initially receive the same grade. Because each student’s contribution to the group is based on understanding the material in the module, any group member who did not complete the module quiz receives a 25 percent deduction on the case assignment grade (deducted from group score).

Class Participation and Group Engagement : 10%. Quality and consistency of contributions in lecture discussions, case debriefs, in‑class exercises (instructor-rated), and ratings from peers.  

Submitting Assignments

Assignment Due Dates are Clearly Posted on Canvas with Directions for Posting. 

How Will I Know How I’m Doing in This Course?

Quizzes will be recorded in the Canvas gradebook. A missing quiz will be recorded as a zero. Grades on weekly assignments will also be posted in Canvas once reviewed. Your Canvas Gradebook will show your current overall grade based on the assignments you've submitted. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact me.

Late Work

Late Assignments are not accepted.

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due