Beyond Big Contracts: Commissioning public services for better outcomes

This report is the output of a joint project between Collaborate and the Institute for Government, supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

It aims to convey the experience of those organisations and workers most closely involved in delivering complex services, such as adult social care, mental health drug and alcohol rehabilitation and special educational needs.

Research involved a series of in-depth interviews, expert workshops and roundtables with commissioners, policy professionals, providers and practitioners of complex services.

Two separate surveys asked participants about how ready organisations were to respond to the government’s public service reform agenda, and how well set up they were for an increasingly complex commissioning environment.