In this article, the local government (LG) administrative implications of the movement from government to governance, involving multiple ties and externalized services operations, are examined from a cross-national perspective. Derived from a series of studies of LGs in multilevel systems, this article examines key patterns of cross-agency administration. First, administrative intergovernmental relations (IGR) are defined. Then common trends in local governments in their IGR arenas are identified. Next, changing managerial paradigms in outward as well as inward directions are introduced. Then a series of managerial challenges, including system development, IGR politics, collaborative knowledge development, network management, and interoperability are introduced. A research agenda for multilevel system local governments in IGR in the governance era concludes the article.