PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY - IS IT A PRIVATE RESPONSIBILITY

Public law principles must be paramount in designing and implementing privatized administrative arrangements. private nonprofit organization s are a familiar part of the public administration landscape. A case s tudy demonstrates how public accountability is diminished when governm ent arranges a service, leaving implementation to a private, nonprofit agency, but public law principles are not central to the contractual arrangement. Ineffective policy implementation, blurred lines of execu tive accountability, and diminished management capacity resulted. Admi nistration by civil suit was substituted private administrators are se en as having constitutional responsibilities, constraints on discretio n, and obligations to be open to public scrutiny and government regula tory oversight.