The effect brought about by the implementation of a compulsory competitive tendering policy on the administration of parks and recreation maintenance in Britain: 1988-1994

Abstract

The aim of the study was to analyze the effect brought about by the promulgation of the British Local Government Act of 1988 on the maintenance of parks and recreational services. The Act made it compulsory to local authorities to expose the maintenance of parks and recreational services to a tendering process, commonly known as compulsory competitive tendering. The implementation of compulsory competitive tendering had to be done between the promulgation of the Act in 1988, and 1994. With regard to this period, a perception existed that the standard of the administration of the maintenance of parks and recreational services declined. The research was done to determine if the implementation of compulsory competitive tendering on the maintenance of parks and recreational services could have resulted in a decline in the standard of the administration of the services, and how it could have happened. It was determined that the motive of the British Government at the time of implementation of the compulsory competitive tendering was primarily to save money. The result of the implementation of compulsory competitive legislation on the maintenance of parks and recreational services were amongst other things: - low morale of staff who were pressured to change - culture changes necessary to comply to compulsory competitive organisational structures - legislation that influenced the lives of traditional local authority employees drastically, and - the development of a new approach to financial management to comply to the government's expectations of saving money.