Human Resources for Public Sector Contracting: An Education and Training Perspective for Formal and Relational Management

Effective public sector contracting requires government personnel trained with the right skills for performing contract management. We propose a conceptual framework of three clusters of public sector contracting competencies: technical, interpersonal, and strategic, and apply them to formal and relational contracting, the two most prominent contract management approaches. We then examine how higher education programs across the world are training government contract managers. We analyze the course content of 26 public sector contract management programs in higher education institutions across nine countries and three continents. The findings suggest that contract management programs primarily emphasize formal contracting competencies, focusing mainly on technical skills and secondarily on strategic skills, whereas interpersonal skills are covered less and typically only at more shallow levels. A more balanced contract management education with more interpersonal skills can enhance public sector competencies along the spectrum of formal and relational contracting.