Understanding Local Service Delivery Arrangements: Are the ICMA ASD Data Reliable?

• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12939

Understanding Local Service Delivery Arrangements: Are the ICMA ASD Data Reliable? 613

Abstract: The authors utilize the two latest ICMA Profile of Local Government Service Delivery Choices surveys

to investigate whether the service provision and delivery arrangement information reported in the surveys accurately

represents reality and, if not, what factors contribute to generating incorrect or unreliable survey responses. Interviews

with practitioners are used to better understand both the accuracy of the survey responses and improvements that

could be made to the survey instrument. Results suggest that the ICMA ASD survey data are highly erratic, with

more than 70 percent of the cases (N = 70) investigated containing some inaccuracies. A qualitative analysis shows

that the majority of the errors appear to be caused by the lack of a clear definition of service provision or by the service

titles being too vague or too broad, both of which likely lead to discretion in interpreting survey questions and thus

inconsistent answers by individual respondents over time.

Evidence for Practice

• Contracting is only one of many policy tools that local public managers utilize to deliver local services;

this finding highlights the need for future endeavors to identify the wide variety of innovative delivery

arrangements that practitioners adopt to meet citizen demands.

• Collaboration among local governments for service delivery is a widespread practice and takes a variety of

forms, including, but not limited to, joint service delivery, consortia, and special districts.

• Local nonprofit organizations, whether in human services or the arts, are often partners rather than contract

agents in local service delivery, operating autonomous programs and providing essential services to local

residents with government support.

• The ICMA ASD data, if improved in accuracy and equipped with greater details regarding the wide array

of production modes that locales utilize, can serve as a useful source to inform public managers about local

innovations in service delivery.

Approximately every five years since 1982, the

International City/County Management

Association (ICMA) has fielded its Profile of

Local Government Service Delivery Choices survey

(also known as the Alternative Service Delivery

[ASD] survey or the ICMA ASD survey), asking local

governments what types of services they provide to

their residents (i.e., provision) and how they arrange

delivery (i.e., production) of those services. The scope

and types of information the ICMA ASD survey

collects have been comprehensive and consistent over

the years, allowing researchers to theorize about and

systematically analyze local service delivery decisions

using large-N longitudinal samples. The value of

this data source in the local contracting literature

has been evident in the widespread utilization

of the ICMA ASD data to test local government

outsourcing propositions, including by many of

the most cited articles (see, e.g., Brown and Potoski

2003; Ferris and Graddy 1986; Hefetz and Warner

2004). There is little doubt that the ICMA ASD

survey has been instrumental in the development

of the body of literature on local government

contracting.

However, as will be expanded on later, over

the years, there have been concerns regarding

the veracity of the ICMA ASD data. Given the

prominence of this survey in the local governance

research area, it is important to examine the

reliability of this data source. In doing so, we pursue

three major goals in this study: first, to assess the

extent of the reliability concerns by verifying the

accuracy of previous ASD survey responses; second,

to diagnose the nature and causes of the problems

in the hope that we might provide specific warnings

and cautions to be taken for any future use of

the existing data; and, finally, to develop a set of

recommendations for future improvement of ICMA

ASD survey instruments.

Meeyoung Lamothe

Scott Lamothe

Elizabeth Bell

University of Oklahoma

Understanding Local Service Delivery Arrangements:

Are the ICMA ASD Data Reliable?

Elizabeth Bell is a PhD candidate in

the Department of Political Science at

the University of Oklahoma. Her research

agenda broadly speaks to questions of

importance for public administration and

public policy, with a substantive focus on

accountability and education policy.

E-mail: bell3922@ou.edu

Scott Lamothe is associate professor

in the Department of Political Science

at the University of Oklahoma. His

research interests include privatization

and contracting, public management, and

innovation and diffusion of public policy.

E-mail: slamothe@ou.edu

Meeyoung Lamothe is associate

professor in the Department of Political

Science at the University of Oklahoma.

Her research interests include local service

delivery arrangements, contracting, and

nonprofit advocacy and accountability.

E-mail: mlamothe@ou.edu

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 78, Iss. 4, pp. 613–625. © 2018 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12939.

Research Article