Amanda Girth

Policymakers increasingly turn to the private sector to deliver public services through contracts, public-private partnerships and other market-based techniques. For scholars of public administration, the imperative is to better understand the accountability dynamics in third-party governance structures, especially those related to the contract implementation process. Dr. Amanda Girth researches implementation issues and accountability challenges in third-party governance. She examines how public managers design and implement performance incentives to motivate contractor behavior. She studies the strategies that front-line public managers utilize to manage their contracts, contract markets and various constituencies. She also analyzes inclusion policies that target underrepresented groups to understand the impact of such acquisition policies on purchasing agencies and suppliers.
 

Dr. Girth’s research is widely published in leading academic journals, and she is a recognized national expert in acquisition policy and practice. She has testified before the U.S. Congress and conducts sponsored research for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), positioning her at the forefront of acquisition innovation. Her research on government contracting is published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Journal of Supply Chain Management, Public Administration Review, Implementation Science, International Public Management Journal, and Administration & Society, among other outlets. Her research on federal contracting has been funded by the DoD, National Center for the Middle Market, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She was awarded the 2011 Leonard D. White Award for the best dissertation in public administration from the American Political Science Association.

Dr. Girth received her doctorate in public administration from the School of Public Affairs at American University. She has a Master of Business Administration degree from The George Washington University, where she specialized in management decision-making. She also has a Bachelor of Science degree in public administration and policy from Oakland University.

Prior to her academic appointments, she was a manager in a global management consulting firm overseeing information technology transformation initiatives for clients such as the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development. She is an expert in project management, and she has been a certified Project Management Professional since 2004. Her career began with an internship in Michigan state government that later turned into her first full-time job. She worked in both the executive and legislative branches and, among other activities, advanced policy initiatives associated with disability, civil rights and women’s issues.

Dr. Girth is an Adjunct Fellow in the Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a member of the Research Council for the Systems Engineering Research Center/Acquisition Innovation Research Center. She was the Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation, and is involved with several professional associations, in editorial and support roles.