Requests for Proposals (RFP) may be the pinnacle of bureaucratic mundanity. Yet, hidden within this apparent monotony are powerful tools to advance public values. Federal, state, and local government grants deploy staggering sums, reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. With these distributions, the executive branch is often delegated substantial discretion. These are choices of consequence, but little support exists for public managers tasked with this work. This article examines the potential to improve administrative decision-making by enhancing our understanding of how discretion is authorized and applied regarding RFPs. Drawing from professional experience, we create a framework to identify dimensions of discretion in these proposals and apply it to a Minnesota case. We end with a call for academics and practitioners to better partner on empirical inquiry that improves RFP administration; in doing so, there is immense potential to help civil servants to improve outcomes for the public.

中文翻译：

---

隐形且不可或缺：利用低度提案征集提升公共价值

征求建议书（RFP）可能是官僚主义日常工作的顶峰。然而，在这种明显的单调背后隐藏着推动公共价值观的强大工具。联邦、州和地方政府的拨款数额惊人，每年达到数千亿美元。通过这些分配，行政部门通常被授予很大的自由裁量权。这些都是后果性的选择，但对负责这项工作的公共管理者来说几乎没有支持。本文探讨了通过增强我们对如何授权和应用 RFP 自由裁量权的理解来改进行政决策的潜力。根据专业经验，我们创建了一个框架来确定这些提案中的自由裁量权维度，并将其应用于明尼苏达州的案例。最后，我们呼吁学者和从业者更好地合作开展实证调查，以改善 RFP 管理；这样做可以帮助公务员改善公众的成果。