Measuring Service Contract Performance: Preliminary Findings on Effects of Service Complexity, Managerial Capacity, and Prior Relationship

Abstract

Services contracts have a distinct set of challenges relating to the uncertainty and the challenges of measuring performance. Past researchers identified three overarching characteristics of interest: service complexity, management capacity, and the relationship between the buyer and the contractor. Researchers have often turned to surveys of government contracting personnel to take on the challenge of measuring service contract performance. This report takes a large-dataset, quantitative approach to looking at service contract outcomes derived from information in the publicly available Federal Procurement Data System. This iteration of the report focuses on a newly developed outcome: the extent to which the government exercised available options as an indication of positive performance outcomes.