Procurement Process Spirit and Intent Compliance Applied to Pre-Selection Arrangement
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/117#Procurement_Process_Spirit_and_Intent_Compliance_Applied_to_Pre-Selection_Arrangement
Properties
Instance of
ProcurementProcessSpiritandIntentComplianceObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ProcurementProcessSpiritandIntentComplianceObligation
Applied to
Engineer A's acceptance of the pre-selection arrangement
Engineer C's verbal pre-selection promise
Balancing with
Gratitude and recognition of prior contributions
Literal compliance with written procurement rules
Concrete expression
The Board evaluates Engineer C's and Engineer A's conduct not merely against the literal text of specific procurement rules but against the spirit and intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics and procurement law, finding that advance verbal promises of selection violate that spirit even if no single written provision is explicitly transgressed
Confidence
0.87
Importance
high
Interpretation
The spirit and intent standard requires that all procurement conduct support the underlying values of public announcement, equal competitive access, and qualifications-based review — not merely avoid explicit rule violations
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The Board holds that spirit-and-intent compliance is the operative standard; literal non-violation of specific written rules is insufficient to discharge the ethical obligation
Source Evidence
Source text
promising Engineer A in advance that Engineer A would be selected for a future contract without considering the qualifications, experience, and other factors is not consistent with either the spirit or the intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics
Text references
promising Engineer A in advance that Engineer A would be selected for a future contract without considering the qualifications, experience, and other factors is not consistent with either the spirit or the intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics
TTL
@prefix case117: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/117#> .
@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#> .
case117:Procurement_Process_Spirit_and_Intent_Compliance_Applied_to_Pre-Selection_Arrangement a proeth:ProcurementProcessSpiritandIntentComplianceObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Procurement Process Spirit and Intent Compliance Applied to Pre-Selection Arrangement" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's acceptance of the pre-selection arrangement",
"Engineer C's verbal pre-selection promise" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Gratitude and recognition of prior contributions",
"Literal compliance with written procurement rules" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board evaluates Engineer C's and Engineer A's conduct not merely against the literal text of specific procurement rules but against the spirit and intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics and procurement law, finding that advance verbal promises of selection violate that spirit even if no single written provision is explicitly transgressed" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "117" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T15:52:44.038907+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "117" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T15:52:44.038907+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The spirit and intent standard requires that all procurement conduct support the underlying values of public announcement, equal competitive access, and qualifications-based review — not merely avoid explicit rule violations" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Procurement Process Spirit and Intent Compliance Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "promising Engineer A in advance that Engineer A would be selected for a future contract without considering the qualifications, experience, and other factors is not consistent with either the spirit or the intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The Board holds that spirit-and-intent compliance is the operative standard; literal non-violation of specific written rules is insufficient to discharge the ethical obligation" ;
proeth:textreferences "promising Engineer A in advance that Engineer A would be selected for a future contract without considering the qualifications, experience, and other factors is not consistent with either the spirit or the intent of the NSPE Code of Ethics" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 117 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T16:01:19.957620"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 117 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
117
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T15:52:44.038907+00:00
First case
117
Generated
2026-02-28T15:52:44.038907+00:00
Attributed to
Case 117 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T16:01:19.957620
Generated by
ProEthica Case 117 Extraction