Contracted Vulnerability? Job Quality, Service Quality, and Public Procurement of Services

Given the high importance of public procurement as a tool for safeguarding the availability of goods, works, and services on the one hand, and potential pitfalls and procurement failures on the other hand, ‘when to purchase and how to manage and regulate purchasing’ (Potoski 2008: 558) has become a crucial question. This chapter focuses on the regulatory function of public procurement with a particular focus on the implications for job quality. The aim here is threefold. First, based on an outline of the vulnerability approach and the role of public services in mitigating individual vulnerability, we highlight the importance of working conditions and qualifications for mitigating vulnerability in public services delivery and for service users. Turning to the public procurement of services more specifically, we secondly sketch the interaction between public procurement practices, working conditions, and qualifications levels in publicly contracted services. Thirdly, we turn to the implementation of public procurement policies to examine the conditions that affect the safeguarding of working conditions and adequate qualification levels. With a growing importance of public contracts for the delivery of services, the possibility that the regulation of public procurement and institutional practices may reduce employees’ vulnerability deserves examination as factor that shapes quality of services.