These factors led to a change in nature of public services provision. Far from this role being the assumed priority of the state, it became increasingly a task undertaken by a range of organizations in what has become known as the plural state (Osborne and McLaughlin 2002).This comprises a range of PSOs from the government, non-profit and business sectors that need to collaborate in the provision of public services. The evolution of this plural state has also seen a shift, first from the administration of public services to their management – and then from their management to their governance, where the governance of plural relationships has become the central task for the provision of effective public services (Kickert et al. 1997