Post-Public-Service Conflict Avoidance Violated by U.S. Agency Engineers
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/102#Post-Public-Service_Conflict_Avoidance_Violated_by_U.S._Agency_Engineers
Properties
Instance of
Post-Public-ServiceConflictAvoidance
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#Post-Public-ServiceConflictAvoidance
Applied to
Acceptance of private contract with foreign government for project on which public role was held
Balancing with
Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint
Concrete expression
The U.S. Agency engineers, having held public positions with direct responsibility for the basic plans of the hydroelectric project, accepted private contracts with the foreign government for the same project in circumstances where their prior public relationship created a reality of improper advantage and betrayal of public trust.
Confidence
0.88
Importance
high
Interpretation
The principle applies even where the prior public employer (U.S. Agency) and the new private client (foreign government) are different entities, because the public role gave the engineers privileged access to the project that created an improper competitive advantage in the private engagement.
Invoked by
U.S. Agency Engineers Group
Tension resolution
The appearance and reality of improper advantage — derived from the engineers' public role in preparing the basic plans — is sufficient to trigger the conflict avoidance obligation regardless of the formal distinction between the U.S. Agency and the foreign government client.
Source Evidence
Source text
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 and shortly thereafter entered into contract with the foreign government.
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 and shortly thereafter entered into contract with the foreign government.
The basic plans for the project were prepared by an agency of the Federal Government of the United States
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:Post-Public-Service_Conflict_Avoidance_Violated_by_U.S._Agency_Engineers a proeth:Post-Public-ServiceConflictAvoidance,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Post-Public-Service Conflict Avoidance Violated by U.S. Agency Engineers" ;
proeth:appliedto "Acceptance of private contract with foreign government for project on which public role was held" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The U.S. Agency engineers, having held public positions with direct responsibility for the basic plans of the hydroelectric project, accepted private contracts with the foreign government for the same project in circumstances where their prior public relationship created a reality of improper advantage and betrayal of public trust." ;
proeth:confidence "0.88" ;
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 principle applies even where the prior public employer (U.S. Agency) and the new private client (foreign government) are different entities, because the public role gave the engineers privileged access to the project that created an improper competitive advantage in the private engagement." ;
proeth:invokedby "U.S. Agency Engineers Group" ;
proeth:principleclass "Post-Public-Service Conflict Avoidance" ;
proeth:sourcetext "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 and shortly thereafter entered into contract with the foreign government." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The appearance and reality of improper advantage — derived from the engineers' public role in preparing the basic plans — is sufficient to trigger the conflict avoidance obligation regardless of the formal distinction between the U.S. Agency and the foreign government client." ;
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 and shortly thereafter entered into contract with the foreign government.",
"The basic plans for the project were prepared by an agency of the Federal Government of the United States" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 102 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-02T16:27:05.298494"^^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
2026-03-02T16:27:05.298494
Generated by
ProEthica Case 102 Extraction