Public Sector is Multi-Sector. Do you believe it?

Comment

Comment by GovLoop on March 5, 2010 at 6:04pm

It'll be interesting to see how multi-sector evolves.

I think a lot of times there are perceived differences that often aren't true - I had a friend who worked for a non-profit whose budget was 99% federal grants. But she said she would never work for the gov't agency who funded the programs as they were big and evil and against her politics.

But in actuality she was really similar to the people running the program from the gov't side.

Comment by Tina M Borger, CPPO on March 5, 2010 at 5:07pm

Coming from local-level public procurement and now working for NIGP, a non-profit that supports public procurement, I love this concept of 'multi-sector'. As a County Procurement Manager, I valued suppliers both as partners in solutions to public needs, and as customers in the procurement process. Now, as Research Director at NIGP, I have been exposed to the additional value provided by academicians, authors, and researchers. It truly is multi-sector!

Comment by David Tallan on March 4, 2010 at 12:24pm

I agree with you that the ecosystem is broad and many parties are working toward improving government performance. Not everyone who works for the government on government projects is a government employee. Many are consultants and/or contractors working on a fee for service basis. I think that this is only going to increase as the government works increasingly through allied parties working towards the same policy goals - either individuals or non-profits.

However, I still think there is a perceived difference between working for a for-profit corporation and being a public servant. (People working for non-profits fall somewhere in the middle, closer to one side or another of the spectrum depending on how much their non-profit is seen as being about "the public good".)