Building Collaborative Capacity in the Interagency Context

Abstract

Federal Acquisition Reform has consistently called for more and better collaboration among participating organizations. Experience shows, however, that inter-organizational collaboration can be difficult at best. Our research focuses on imperatives of successful collaboration and aims to assist organizations in diagnosing their collaborative capacity. Based on prior research with homeland security, we offer a model of inter-organizational collaborative capacity grounded in a systems perspective. We then offer enablers and barriers that contribute to collaborative capacity. Finally, we describe how the ability to diagnose collaborative capacity encourages literacy around collaboration and assists leaders in determining capabilities that the organization must develop to be successful in developing collaborative capacity.