Objectivity Obligation of Municipal Advisory Engineer
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/105#Objectivity_Obligation_of_Municipal_Advisory_Engineer
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Engineer A's advisory role and evaluation of Engineer B's performance
Balancing with
Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint
Loyalty
Concrete expression
Engineer A's advisory role required that his advice to Smithtown not be influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project — the objectivity obligation requires scrupulous separation of advisory assessment from competitive self-interest
Confidence
0.87
Importance
high
Interpretation
The objectivity principle in the municipal advisory context requires that advisory opinions be grounded solely in professional assessment of the contractor's performance, not in the advisory engineer's competitive interest in the design opportunity that would flow from an adverse evaluation
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
Objectivity requires scrupulous separation of advisory assessment from competitive self-interest; the ethical violation arises not from the evaluation itself but from the subsequent attempt to benefit from it through the design contract
Source Evidence
Source text
the engineer must be scrupulously careful that his advice is not influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project
Text references
it is axiomatic that a professional person may not take action or make decisions which would divide his loyalties or interests from those of his employer or client
the engineer must be scrupulously careful that his advice is not influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project
TTL
@prefix case105: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/105#> .
@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#> .
case105:Objectivity_Obligation_of_Municipal_Advisory_Engineer a proeth:Objectivity,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Objectivity Obligation of Municipal Advisory Engineer" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's advisory role and evaluation of Engineer B's performance" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Competitive Employment Freedom With Confidentiality Constraint",
"Loyalty" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's advisory role required that his advice to Smithtown not be influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project — the objectivity obligation requires scrupulous separation of advisory assessment from competitive self-interest" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "105" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T08:37:40.867958+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "105" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T08:37:40.867958+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The objectivity principle in the municipal advisory context requires that advisory opinions be grounded solely in professional assessment of the contractor's performance, not in the advisory engineer's competitive interest in the design opportunity that would flow from an adverse evaluation" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Objectivity" ;
proeth:sourcetext "the engineer must be scrupulously careful that his advice is not influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Objectivity requires scrupulous separation of advisory assessment from competitive self-interest; the ethical violation arises not from the evaluation itself but from the subsequent attempt to benefit from it through the design contract" ;
proeth:textreferences "it is axiomatic that a professional person may not take action or make decisions which would divide his loyalties or interests from those of his employer or client",
"the engineer must be scrupulously careful that his advice is not influenced by his secondary interest as the engineer likely to be retained for the design of the project" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 105 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T08:46:32.093010"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 105 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
105
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T08:37:40.867958+00:00
First case
105
Generated
2026-02-28T08:37:40.867958+00:00
Attributed to
Case 105 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T08:46:32.093010
Generated by
ProEthica Case 105 Extraction