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Proceedings Paper (for Acquisition Research Program) ; Many goods and services required for government operations can be provided through commercial markets. Public officials, therefore, face a number of ''make-or-buy'' decisions. Transactions Cost Economics (TCE) offers a useful foundation for characterizing ''make-or-buy'' decisions, which this paper explores. Our dual objective is to synthesize key principles of TCE and to apply TCE to federal outsourcing. One especially useful insight is that transaction costs vary widely, and depend in known ways upon the attributes of the outsourcing action. This means, among other things, that one size should not fit all in outsourcing decision processes. ; Naval Postgraduate School Acquisition Research Program ; Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) is the latest in a series of attempts to introduce performance-based management and budgeting techniques at the federal level in the United States. In the past, these attempts largely failed due to administrative complexities, lack of investment in managerial, accounting, and information systems, and the absence of institutional incentives to promote gains in economic efficiency. Whereas we find the objectives of the GPRA laudable, we question whether this current incarnation of performance budgeting can succeed in transforming the traditional focus of federal budgeting from annual appropriations and obligations to multiyear outputs and outcomes.