Established methods of decision-making employed by administrative agencies are often ill-suited to reaching results that best reconcile the interests of all stakeholders. Formal rulemaking and adjudicative procedures may afford the general public an opportunity to comment only when the agency has already reached a proposed decision, and even that avenue may be unavailable when an agency takes informal actions. Administrative agency decisions formulated and adopted without a full understanding of their effects on all stakeholders may create adverse impacts on communities or businesses that could have been avoided by earlier consultation with these stakeholders.

Recognizing these concerns, administrative agencies have explored alternative decision-making models that are less adversarial and more inclusive. For example, in the rule-making context, some agencies have employed negotiated rule-making (reg-neg) techniques by convening stakeholder representatives to negotiate the provisions of a proposed rule. The public is then invited to comment on the proposal. Similarly, agencies have established multi-stakeholder advisory committees to offer ideas on how agency actions can best meet stakeholder needs.  Stakeholder dialogue during the reg-neg or advisory committee process identifies solutions that benefit all stakeholders. Even when unsuccessful in reaching consensus, stakeholder dialogue provides the agency with perspectives and information important to its final decision.

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