Faithful Agent Obligation Violated by U.S. Agency Engineers Through Covert Private Contracting
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/102#Faithful_Agent_Obligation_Violated_by_U.S._Agency_Engineers_Through_Covert_Private_Contracting
Properties
Instance of
FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
Applied to
Covert negotiation of private contracts while serving as faithful agents of U.S. Agency
Balancing with
At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right
Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint
Concrete expression
The U.S. Agency engineers violated their faithful agent obligation to their public employer by covertly negotiating private contracts for work related to their public duties, using their employer's resources, relationships, and work product to advance competing private interests without disclosure or consent.
Confidence
0.9
Importance
high
Interpretation
The faithful agent obligation requires undivided loyalty and good faith in executing assigned work; covert private contracting for related work is a paradigmatic breach of this obligation because it converts the employment relationship into a vehicle for private competitive advantage.
Invoked by
U.S. Agency Engineers Group
Tension resolution
The faithful agent obligation does not prohibit eventual departure for private practice, but it does prohibit using the employment relationship as a platform for covert private contracting; the engineers could have resigned first and then negotiated, which would have respected the faithful agent boundary.
Source Evidence
Source text
Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work.
Text references
At or about the time the negotiations with the foreign government were concluded, this group of engineers resigned their positions with the U.S. Agency
Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work.
TTL
@prefix case102: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/102#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case102:Faithful_Agent_Obligation_Violated_by_U.S._Agency_Engineers_Through_Covert_Private_Contracting a proeth:FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Faithful Agent Obligation Violated by U.S. Agency Engineers Through Covert Private Contracting" ;
proeth:appliedto "Covert negotiation of private contracts while serving as faithful agents of U.S. Agency" ;
proeth:balancingwith "At-Will Employment Symmetry and Engineer Mobility Right",
"Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The U.S. Agency engineers violated their faithful agent obligation to their public employer by covertly negotiating private contracts for work related to their public duties, using their employer's resources, relationships, and work product to advance competing private interests without disclosure or consent." ;
proeth:confidence "0.9" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "102" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "102" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The faithful agent obligation requires undivided loyalty and good faith in executing assigned work; covert private contracting for related work is a paradigmatic breach of this obligation because it converts the employment relationship into a vehicle for private competitive advantage." ;
proeth:invokedby "U.S. Agency Engineers Group" ;
proeth:principleclass "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The faithful agent obligation does not prohibit eventual departure for private practice, but it does prohibit using the employment relationship as a platform for covert private contracting; the engineers could have resigned first and then negotiated, which would have respected the faithful agent boundary." ;
proeth:textreferences "At or about the time the negotiations with the foreign government were concluded, this group of engineers resigned their positions with the U.S. Agency",
"Several engineers in the employ of the U.S. Agency responsible for the basic plans negotiated with at least two engineering firms with the intent of taking part in the design and supervision of the work." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 102 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T16:27:05.299783"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 102 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
102
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00
First case
102
Generated
2026-03-02T16:08:17.013024+00:00
Attributed to
Case 102 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-02T16:27:05.299783
Generated by
ProEthica Case 102 Extraction