This article is concerned with the properiety political seasibility of relying upon private organizations as alternative means to deliver public goods and services. The central thesis is that this propriety and seasiblity can best be determined by examining separately the broad functional areas of governmental activity. The argument is that legislative tolerances for relying upon private organizations for some of these functional categories should be lower than for others, depending upon such factors as the degree of coerciveness required for the functions's accomplihshment and the extent that the function is perceived as being critical to the safety and security of society. The proposal will be that these tolernces should form a hierarchy and constitute the parameters within which alternative delivey systems are designed.
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