Disasters affect hundreds of millions of people every year and the response of governments is crucial in alleviating the suffering of those affected. Despite the importance of contracting in response to disasters, research on this topic is conspicuous by its absence. This paper begins to address this gap by investigating the choice of procurement contract type by US federal agencies during disaster management operations. The research relies on 47,560 contracts issued by the US federal government in response to 14 major disasters between 2005 and 2016. We build on agency theory to investigate the choice of the contract type made by federal agencies at the different stages of a relief operation. This research provides empirical evidence of the key factors underpinning the choice of contract in the context of disaster management, namely the amount of spend per contract and the type of acquisition (product or service), and reveals the moderating role of the stage of the relief operation.

中文翻译：

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美国联邦政府灾害管理合同

灾害每年影响数亿人，政府的应对措施对于减轻受灾群众的痛苦至关重要。尽管合同对于应对灾害很重要，但该主题的研究却因缺乏而引人注目。本文首先通过调查美国联邦机构在灾害管理行动期间对采购合同类型的选择来解决这一差距。该研究基于美国联邦政府在2005年至2016年间针对14起重大灾难发布的47,560份合同。我们基于代理理论来调查联邦机构在救援行动的不同阶段对合同类型的选择。本研究提供了灾害管理背景下合同选择的关键因素的实证证据，即每个合同的支出金额和采购类型（产品或服务），并揭示了救灾阶段的调节作用手术。