Stewardship in Large Public Projects: The Practicality of Shakespeare

Public Voices ◽  
10.22140/pv.7 ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
Catherine Horiuchi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Administrative Operation ◽  
Individual Decisions ◽  
Separated Powers

Can reading great literature, considering its heroes and small characters, improve the performance of public sector actors? King Lear’s characters fault a wickedly disinterested heaven for life’s setbacks and woes. Yet Shakespeare makes clear that these actors’ own terrible choices beset the king, his family and the rest of us who are subject to the acts of public leaders. Reading this literature as analogy for the effectiveness of the modern public sector suggests how administrative operation of our democratic state may – or may not – successfully parcel power and control so as to limit negative externalities derived from ill-informed, self-serving or rent-seeking executive and individual decisions. Lear’s tragic arc mimics a sorrowful “muddling through” and potentially unnecessary “satisficing” in certain large public works projects. One large public project currently deemed successful is examined here – the replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge in San Francisco – as a reflection on separated powers, the limits of human nature, and the inevitability of error.

scholarly journals Design and Build Procurement System – Contractor Selection

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Lesniak ◽  
E. Plebankiewicz ◽  
K. Zima
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Contractor Selection ◽  
System A ◽  
Build System ◽  
Procurement System ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Design And Construction

AbstractOne of the contract awarding systems in public sector in Poland is the Design & Build system. In this system, a client concludes a contract agreement with only one company, a contractor, in order to carry out both design and construction of works. While deciding on this form of delivery of a public project, the client is obliged to conduct a single proceeding aiming to select the contractor. In this paper, public works contracts awarded in the D&B system in Poland are analysed, whilst attention was put on the contracting modes and assessment criteria. The results are assessed against the experience of other countries and recommended methods for selection of the Design and Build contractor.

The Distributional Impact of Public Goods

1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Raymond ◽  
Michael Sesnowitz
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Impure Public Goods ◽  
Pure Public Good ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
Distributional Impact

Aspects of the method developed by Aaron and McGuire and Maital (AMM) for estimating the benefit distributions associated with the provision of pure public goods are clarified and the method is extended to cover the case of public projects designed to improve the quality of impure public goods. The extended method is used to estimate the distributional impact of a proposed public project in the Cleveland-Akron metropolitan region, and the results are compared with estimates obtained from three naive models and from the AMM model for pure public goods. It is found that the native models overestimate substantially the net benefits received by low-income families and underestimate the net benefits received by high-income families. Using the AMM method for a pure public good similarly distorts the results, though by a much smaller magnitude.

Public Involvement in the Design of Public Projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-79
Author(s):  
Emad S. Mushtaha ◽  
Omar Hassan Omar ◽  
Dua S. Barakat ◽  
Hessa Al-Jarwan ◽  
Dima Abdulrahman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Public Involvement ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Public Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Building Program

The involvement of the public in the decision-making process is essential, especially in the early stages of a design process. This study aims to achieve the development of an architectural program for a memorial public project, using the outcomes of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on public opinion. It employs a novel approach that sharply focuses on public involvement in the design process, using a quantitative methodology for the development of a suitable building program and selecting a memorial form that meets the public's needs in a practical way. The study drew on data from various memorial projects to identify possible spaces and their selection criteria. A written questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 105 members of the public, to narrow down the number of spaces according to public response. Then, a hearing (spoken) questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 20 to produce the program for development by generating the most strongly preferred form of memorial. The results contradicted the existing norm for a memorial as a sculpture; it was revealed that most of the public preferred memorial landscapes to buildings and great structures. The study concluded that AHP could be used to further involve the relevant stakeholders in the decision-making process of the design of a public project.

The ‘Unique Role’ of Government Lawyers in Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Dodek
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Special Subset ◽  
Public Law Litigation

Discussions and depictions of lawyers in Canada largely ignore a significant segment of the legal population: government lawyers. Canada is a modern liberal democratic state with a significant public sector employing a large number of lawyers in many public sector settings. Lawyers who work directly for the executive branch – government lawyers – are a special subset of public lawyers. These government lawyers are ‘unique’ in many respects. They do not have paying clients as do private sector lawyers. Their client is ‘the Crown’ – an abstract emanation of the state. This article explains the unique role of government lawyers in Canada as derived from the historic and legislative responsibilities of the Attorney General. It then addresses questions that arise for government lawyers in Canada in public law litigation.

scholarly journals Walk the Talk? The Effect of Voting and Excludability in Public Goods Experiments

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Czap ◽  
Natalia V. Czap ◽  
Esmail Bonakdarian
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Public Project ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Other Regarding

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of voting and excludability on individual contributions to group projects. We conducted two experiments on excludable and nonexcludable public goods, which provided several important results. First, contrary to our expectations, subjects are generally contributing more to the non-excludable compared to the excludable public good. Second, participating in a vote to choose a public project per se makes no difference in contributions. However, if the project that the individual voted for also gets selected by the group, they contribute significantly more to that project. Third, empathy and locus of control are important driving forces of participation in common projects. Our results have implications on the procedural design of obtaining funding for public projects. First, the public should get involved and have a say in the determination of which project should be realized. Second, it might well pay off to attempt to develop a consensus among the population and obtain near unanimous votes, because in our experiment, subjects discriminate between the project they voted for and the project chosen by the majority. Third, the policy proposers should stress the other-regarding interest of the public good rather than just pecuniary incentives.

scholarly journals Public Choice Theory Perspective—Issue Research on Public Project Construction Involving Non-Governmental Organization

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Wenxi Yi
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Public Project ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Projects ◽  
Project Construction ◽  
The Government ◽  
General Secretary

<em>General Secretary Xi has repeatedly stressed the need for redevelopment of public projects in the party’s nineteenth report, accelerating the construction of projects and seeking for greater development. Public project construction is the main vehicle of public administration and is the cornerstone of overall social operation. Due to the majority of public welfare projects that are characterized by economic and social development services, which are non-profit, difficult to profit or have a long payback period, they are often necessary for the development of national or regional economic development. Therefore, NGO need to participate in and participate in the public project construction with their advantages and particularity. NGO undertake many governmental responsibilities and functions that cannot be performed by the government. However, in practice, the NGO faces many problems and difficulties.</em>

scholarly journals PRÁTICAS VICIOSAS EM LICITAÇÕES: ANÁLISE DE CASOS INVESTIGADOS PELA CONTROLADORIA-GERAL DA UNIÃO (CGU)

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antônio Eronilton Pereira Buriti ◽  
Maria Lírida Calou de Araújo e Mendonça ◽  
Marco Antônio Praxedes de Moraes Filho
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Public Agency ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Money ◽  
General Aspects ◽  
And Control ◽  
Official Records ◽  
Selection Of

O principal escopo desta pesquisa se concentra em investigar algumas das práticas viciosas mais comuns durante a realização de processos licitatórios no setor público brasileiro. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida na metodologia exploratória, sendo aplicada a partir de casos práticos examinados por um dos órgãos de fiscalização e controle da verba pública brasileira. Foram estudados 70 (setenta) relatórios da Controladoria-Geral da União, os quais estão disponíveis na página eletrônica do referido órgão. A seleção dos casos práticos se deu aleatoriamente, sem comparar localização, perfil político e grau de repetitividade. O que se buscou foi apresentar o que é considerado bastante “grosseiro” do ponto de vista de erros administrativos. Preliminarmente, o estudo trata de aspectos gerais da licitação pública, abordando os princípios setoriais deste microssistema jurídico e as diferentes modalidades estabelecidas pelo ordenamento. Na sequência, adentrando na proposta central deste trabalho, foram examinados alguns casos práticos constatados a partir de fiscalizações em atividades de execução de obras públicas em diversos períodos e locais do Brasil. O instrumento utilizado na sondagem foram os registros oficiais dos órgãos públicos de controle, bem como, seus documentos disponíveis em suas páginas eletrônicas. A título de conclusão foi possível verificar inúmeras lacunas no tocante a organização destes procedimentos, causa principal do não cumprimento da legislação especializada. VICIOUS BIDDING PRACTICES: ANALYSIS OF CASES INVESTIGATED BY THE BRAZILIAN OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL (CGU) ABSTRACT The main scope of this research focuses on investigating some of the most common vicious practices during bidding processes in the Brazilian public sector. The research was developed in the exploratory methodology, being applied from practical cases examined by one of the organs of fiscalization and control of the Brazilian public money. We studied seventy (70) of the Comptroller General's reports, which are available on the website of this public agency. The selection of practical cases occurred randomly, without comparing location, political profile and degree of repetitiveness. What was sought was to present what is considered quite "huge" from the point of view of administrative errors. Preliminarily, the study deals with general aspects of public bidding, addressing the sectoral principles of this legal micro-system and the different modalities established by the ordinance. Following, in the central proposal of this work, we examined some practical cases verified from inspections in activities of execution of public works in diverse periods and places of Brazil. The instrument used in the survey were the official records of the public control bodies, as well as their documents available on their electronic pages. As a conclusion, it was possible to identify a number of shortcomings in the organization of these procedures, the main cause of non-compliance with the specialized legislation.

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