Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 20th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview PA Reform Author(s) Ringa Raudla Tallinn University of Technology Tallinn Estonia Title Pitfalls of contracting for policy advice: Preparing performance budgeting reform in Estonia File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Ringa Raudla Abstract The goal of this paper is to analyse the challenges involved in contracting for policy advice with the example of performance budgeting reform in Estonia in 2009-2011. The Ministry of Finance of Estonia has sought to prepare a major change in the budgeting system by outsourcing the analytical preparation of different aspects of the reform to various private sector organizations. The case study seeks to identify the challenges and pitfalls involved in contracting for policy and management advice, which touch upon the core activities of the public sector. The Estonian experience shows that such a reform preparation strategy can run into serious problems, including fragmented and inconsistent reform plan, limited learning and high transaction costs. The contractualization of reform preparation has constrained deliberations on the planned changes to the strategic planning and budgeting system and undermined the democratic legitimacy of the reform.
