Book Review: Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce

• Author: Heather Getha-Taylor
• Published date: 01 June 2016
• DOI: 10.1177/0734371X16631045
• Date: 01 June 2016
• Subject Matter: Book Review

631045ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X16631045Review of Public Personnel AdministrationBook Review
book-review2016
Book Review
Review of Public Personnel Administration
2016, Vol. 36(2) 210 –213
Book Review
© The Author(s) 2016
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Voelz, G. J. (2010). Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce.
Lanham, MD: Government Institutes. 171 pp. ISBN: 9781605906980.
Reviewed by: Heather Getha-Taylor, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA
DOI: 10.1177/0734371X16631045
In Contractors in the Government Workplace: Managing the Blended Workforce,
Glenn Voelz traces the growth of contracting and effectively argues for government
supervisors to understand the rules, expectations, and boundaries of managing the
government–contractor relationship. The challenges for managing this dynamic are
many and start with the fact that the public sector’s acquisition workforce is thin and
has not kept pace with massive expansion of contracting in recent years. Voelz’s con-
tribution is a valued one in this environment. Current and future managers need to be
familiar with the basics of contract administration and understand how best to build
contractor relationships while protecting legal and ethical priorities.
Voelz’s book draws upon primary and secondary data collected via seminars, inter-
views, regulations, other published documents, and personal experience to present
practitioners with a useful guide for understanding the scope and complexity of the
government–contractor relationship. Voelz is careful to note both the strengths and the
limitations of the book. Although the text is intended to provide a basic understanding
of “tools, techniques, rules, and regulations relating to the supervision of contractors
in the workplace,” it is not intended as a substitute for formal training that would allow
someone to “write contracts or make obligations on behalf of the government” (p. 4).
Nor does it offer theoretical foundations or empirical research results. Rather, this
practical resource provides general context and broad recommendations.
To begin, Chapter 1 offers some striking facts about the rise of contracting. Voelz
notes that the U.S. federal government is the single largest buyer of commercial ser-
vices in the world and that government purchasing increased by nearly 75% between
2000 and 2005 (p. 1). The challenges associated...