Public value creation through private partnership: Lessons from public service delivery in Karnataka, India

Abstract

The process of globalization coupled with continuous innovations in information and communication technology (ICT) has led to governments across the world experiencing increasing challenges to maintain a competitive economy, achieve technology convergence and effectively deliver public services (Burd and Currie, 2004). Having realized the benefits of the use of ICT through private sector offerings, citizens are demanding similar improvement in services provided by the government as well. There is recognition that improvements in efficiency and effectiveness in public service delivery could release limited public resources that could achieve Pareto efficient allocation and maximize social welfare (Burd and Currie, 2004). These pressures coupled with rising fiscal constraints are forcing governments to seek cooperation from private players to partner in delivering public services. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) is one form of cooperation between the private sector and governments created to design and deliver public services operating under constraints such as weakness in enabling policy and regulatory framework or lack of capacity in public institutions (CII, 2007).  Private sector investments, knowledge and experience in the use of technology and customer interface capabilities are key attributes in countries like India. Thus PPPs have the potential of creating public value[1] that neither of the two parties would be able to achieve alone (Kelly and Muers, 2003).