A Casebook of Alternative Governance Structures and Organizational Forms

This study is a short-term effort examining alternative ways that government can carry out its activities. The study was commissioned by the Defense Reform Initiative Office and should prove useful to government agencies and decisionmakers who are considering options for organizing themselves or their functions in different ways. The report considers governance structures and organizational forms that offer alternatives to the usual in-house provision of services. The alternatives can offer a chance to adopt modern business practices, streamline the organization, and adopt market mechanisms to improve quality, lower costs, and become more responsive to constituencies. As specific illustrations, the report describes several case studies.