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This paper examines the possibilities and limitations in pursuing value for money (VfM) in public procurement. There is ambiguity about the VfM concept and the methods that public procurers should ...

In public management a key driver of effectiveness is value for money (VfM). This paper argues that the VfM concept suffers from conceptual ambiguity, and thus ethical implications arise when VfM is used to legitimize public buying decisions. A conceptual framework, which clarifies properties and boundaries of VfM, is proposed. Empirical data collected from public employees involved in public procurement in Ireland and a perceptual map of subjective meaning and impact of VfM are discussed. While the conceptual framework is broadly supported, it highlights different interpretations of VfM and distinguishes those employees who dent the VfM pinata from those who break it. The implications of the research in this paper include a need for more debate concerning the usefulness of the VfM concept.

This paper analyses the processes, outcomes and tensions of a cross-sectoral collaborative venture involving several organizations with multiple logics and is based on empirical evidence from a collaborative ‘Empty Homes’ project. While, paradoxically, multiple logics are a basis for the partnership's existence (for example ‘value for money’ and local community benefit) to achieve these different aims simultaneously, its other aims or logics at times conflicted, resulting in intra-partnership tensions. Hence we offer novel insights into the practical aspects of collaboration at a local level and on multi-organizational relationships.

The Westminster Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is considered to be one of the most effective and important parliamentary committees. Devolution in the late 1990s resulted in the establishment of separate public accounts committees in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This paper examines the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland PAC. Given the consociational nature of devolved government in Northern Ireland, and the potential for sectarian politics, the PAC has adopted an independent and non-partisan approach. Weaknesses identified in the study include a tendency to dwell on detail, and over-reliance on the Northern Ireland Audit Office. However, despite these weaknesses the committee has proven to be highly effective.

In October 2013, the Royal Mail (RM) was sold by the UK government through a public share offering. This was the largest privatization by value since the 1990s. The RM is facing competition in its core letters and parcels businesses and the coalition government concluded that its future best lay in the private sector with access to the private capital market. This study contrasts this privatization with large privatizations in the 1980s and 1990s. Significant differences are identified in terms of post-privatization gains to investors, the attitude towards marketing of the shares to the public, the preferential share scheme for employees and the treatment of pension liabilities. This privatization is shown to be particularly poor value for money for British taxpayers.

An examination of documents released under FOI legislation relating to the contract for a UK hospital PFI project enables a large number of problems to be identified in the procedures which led to the PFI contract. These problems relate to the nature of the risk transferred and to the assumptions made in assessing value for money and affordability. The authors suggest there is a need for much better training of those involved in PFI bids, and much more effective central scrutiny of deals as they are being struck to prevent further poor value PFI contracts. The analysis should therefore be of use to public sector bodies and researchers appraising future contracts. The findings of this research have wider implications than in the field of PFI.

Substantial sums of money are spent in the UK funding Masters of Public Administration (MPA) programmes. In the current financial climate, learners and employers are seeking evidence that courses provide relevance, value for money and return on their investment. New guidance has been developed by government and academic groups to set a benchmark for excellence in content and delivery. UK MPA courses already attract a large number of international students and this new guidance should add value for overseas participants as well as UK students.

This article examines operational Private Finance Initiative (PFI) school projects and reports the experiences of UK headteachers. It considers the impact of project size on value for money (VFM). Headteachers involved in small projects are more satisfied with costs than those involved in large projects, but headteachers involved in larger projects are more satisfied with affordability. Generally, heads are more satisfied with the buildings than with the services. The authors question the government's recent policy changes to increase the size of PFI projects.

The article analyses the cost of using private finance to build, finance and maintain toll roads in Spain. Spain is the primary exponent of private finance for roads in Europe, where the case rested on the lack of public finance, in contrast to the UK that has stressed value for money. The evidence shows that more than half of the toll charge represents the cost of finance; the cost of private finance is nearly double the cost of public finance; and financing is underpinned by various forms of public support creating risks for the taxpayers.

This article responds to a paper by Lewis in the November 2014 issue of Public Money & Management. It explores 'value for money’ within the policy and management context of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in place within the publicly-funded system of higher education in the UK.

The radical reform of the civil service has coincided with a period of judicial activism. This article examines the role of the courts in public administration and the effect of a more interventionist judiciary upon public administration. It argues that while the principles upheld by the courts have much in common with the traditional model of public administration, they may not accord with those associated with the drive for efficiency, measured in terms of value for money. It concludes that now, more than ever, both administrators and judges would benefit from a Code of Administrative Practice.

Urban policy has been dominated by physical development and the balance of public spending (through City Grant and Urban Development Corporations for example) has reflected the centrality of property and development interests. Expenditure programmes directed to the leverage of private sector resources have been volatile and unpredictable in the face of cyclical recession, while receipts from the disposal of land and assets have fallen away. It is not clear whether urban public expenditure has or has not been intended as counter cyclical. Since development‐related programmes remain at the heart of the Single Regeneration Budget, improved forecasting, management and control are prerequisites for its success.

Cities in Britain, the rest of Europe and especially North America are struggling to accommodate rising levels of private car ownership and usage. The consequences of this are: widespread congestion, personal danger from accidents, noise and air pollution. This article examines some of the trends which have led to that situation, the financial costs involved and the opportunities for improvement which investing in light rail systems might provide.

Because the effectiveness of police services is difficult to measure in terms of final outputs, there is often a tendency among police managers to see its value‐for‐money as incalculable. Attention has focused instead upon how budgets are spent on input resources. But the police service is making progress on a number of fronts towards better management which would put a premium on quality of services. The success of these initiatives will depend upon delegating more responsibility for resource management to professional local police commanders, as a corollary to holding them more accountable for the value‐for‐money of the services they produce.

The dependence of local authorities on IT continues to grow, and, as a consequence, the process for acquiring IT successfully becomes more critical to value for money. Much depends upon management having a clear understanding of IT's potential and recognizing that IT is a motivator for change and not merely a means of mechanizing an established process. Critical to the effective acquisition of IT will be the procedures which management must employ to help ensure that the right decisions are taken. External European pressures will also play an increasing part in formulating those procedures.

The Government's privatisation programme poses challenges for the National Audit Office. The Office has a role to play in preparing independent assessments of the programme for Parliament and in highlighting instances where better value for money could be obtained by changing practice in future.

Rising healthcare expenditures have been a matter of concern to policy-makers for the past 50 years. Do these expenditures provide value for money? Are the increases in expenditures matched by sign...

Urban development is one area where it is notoriously difficult to disentangle the impacts of different policy instruments and other factors. The Aston team examine the relevance of the ‘value for money’ parameters for performance measurement and suggest ways of broadening them to get closer to the complexity of the real world.

Public sector pay is in a state of flux. In the Civil Service, under a regime of tight running cost controls, Departments have been obliged to look for flexible pay solutions to their specific recruitment and retention problems. Geographical pay variations and the introduction of performance pay each have apart to play in getting better value for money out of the paybill.

The well‐documented expansion in the supply of residential and nursing home care over the past decade has been fuelled by public funds. About half of the patients receiving care in private homes are receiving income support towards their fees. There is now growing concern that the substantial amounts involved should represent value for money.