Principles for contract design and process design – a framework for synthesising the empirical research in Contracts2.0

This report describes the framework for synthesising the empirical research carried out in the Contracts2.0 project. It encompasses how we developed the synthesis framework, the steps planned to synthesise empirical material and interpret its meaning, and the cross-checking and validation undertaken to ensure robust findings and recommendations from the Contracts2.0 project.
The synthesis framework captures principles for contract design and process design, as embedded into the respective policy framework and associated governance context. Designing novel contracts involves the whole process, from realising the need for a new type of contract and agenda setting, negotiation and designing to implementation and monitoring. Contract design refers to the resulting contract's characteristics, including, for example, contract parties, duration, objectives, funding sources, and conditions. The synthesis framework also details the various streams of data, results and lessons learned that were produced across the work packages. These include, for example, internal evaluations, knowledge exchange at cross-CIL/PIL meetings, an inventory of testing stages of novel contracts, insights from the practitioner perspective, policy pitches, experiments and empirical studies. In order to bring all this material together, the synthesis framework sets out how lessons learned are collected across the WPs, and clustered according to contract design, process design and policy framework conditions. The following step will interpret what the lessons mean and lead to the development of ‘solutions’ and recommendations for applying the lessons learned, i.e., the project’s key messages. These key messages are in a format that policymakers and practitioners can more directly utilise. Rather than being a predetermined framework existing at project start, the synthesis framework has been evolving since about the mid-point of the project. It is informed by the type of findings that are emerging, the interaction with stakeholders, practitioners and experts, and the learning taking place among project partners. The synthesis framework report represents the current state as of August 2022, eight months before the end of the project.