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If governments do not report accomplishments relative to costs, citizens will be uninformed. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is encouraging Service Efforts and Accomplishments reporting but it is being opposed by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) and others. Analysis, reported here, of performance reports submitted to the Association of Government Accountants for peer review indicates participating governments are effectively addressing most, but not all, of the concerns raised by the GFOA. Future research and innovative practice are needed to facilitate better linking of costs to performance and finding practicable ways to independently validate cost and performance claims.

Enlightenment philosophers profoundly influenced the emergence of democracy. Enlightenment ideas underlie much of the theory and practice of public procurement today. Economic theory, dating from the writings of Adam Smith and his mentor Frances Hutcheson, assumes that suppliers will act in their own self interest. Knowing this, public buyers seek to fashion incentives to align the private interests of suppliers with public needs. But Hutcheson and others argued that civic duty and benevolence should guide public servants in seeking value for their fellow citizens. That argument is the basis of our codes of ethics. The clams of public procurement to being a profession will be greatly bolstered when it is recognized that our knowledge base is rooted in the same Enlightenment thinking that undergirds other professions and academic disciplines.

Contracting practice and theory is based upon a legal framework which impedes the attainment of value, defined as quality and cost containment. The manufacture of complex, highly technical infrastructure is especially impeded. Constraints of the legal framework are being overcome through innovative infrastructure contracting practices which maintain competitiveness and accountability, and simultaneously foster collaboration among the participants. Some of these innovations are discussed along with five projects which utilized one or more of them. A management framework for contracting based on a competitive/collaborative model is offered which emphasizes value, cooperation, long-term relationships, accountability and stewardship.