Contracting can be used to achieve which of the following?

• A. Encourage corporations to improve themselves, build the economy, promote desirable goals/behavior (like equal employment opportunity).
• B. Increase taxes on contractors
• C. Limit competition and innovation
• D. Reduce government oversight

Answer: (D)

Contracting serves as a policy tool that lets the government leverage private or non-government delivery of services while guiding outcomes through contract terms, performance standards, and accountability requirements. The choice that describes using contracting to push for improvements and to promote desirable behaviors—such as equal employment opportunity—best captures this use. By tying contracts to specific standards and incentives, the government can encourage providers to raise practices, boost efficiency, and advance public goals in the economy and society.

Increasing taxes on contractors isn’t the aim of contracting itself; it’s a fiscal action unrelated to how contracts are used to achieve policy goals. Limiting competition and innovation runs counter to the way contracting is typically used to foster efficiency and new solutions. Reducing government oversight would undermine the accountability mechanisms that contracts establish to ensure compliance and performance.