Budget Issues: Privatization/Divestiture Practices in Other Nations

摘要

General Accounting Office (GAO) reviewed the divestiture experiences of centralgovernments of several other nations. Specifically, issues relating to (1) the privatization process, (2) the valuation and preparation of the assets for sale, and (3) the use and display of the sale proceeds for budgetary purposes were examined. In the United States, the term privatization can refer to a broad range of activities that, to varving degrees, lessen the government's involvement in the provision of goods and services. In common discourse, the privatization spectrum can include contracting out, public-private partnerships, vouchers, and franchising, as well as the actual sale-divestiture-of government assets and operations. GAO's review focused on the last activity, the transfer of ownership from the government to the private sector. Specifically, GAO studied the divestiture of entire operations, a process which involves the sale of an ongoing concern along with the physical assets associated with the operation. GAO did not address concessioning, which is a process by which the government sells the right to operate property.