DP11

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP11

Should Firms B and C file a public protest and demand a public hearing to challenge the award to Firm A on public safety grounds, or should they raise their fee-adequacy concern through a private confidential communication to the agency without seeking public exposure of Firm A's bid?

Engineer principals of Firms B and C face a decision about how to respond to the announced award of a highway bridge design contract to Firm A at a price ($50,000) that is 40–75% below their own qualified proposals ($120,000 and $200,000 respectively). The core tension is between their civic duty to raise a credible public safety concern about fee adequacy for a safety-critical structure and the NSPE Code's prohibition on injuring a competitor's reputation through competitive critique — compounded by the fact that the protesting firms have an undeniable financial interest in displacing Firm A as the awardee.

Formally protest the award to Firm A and request a public hearing before the agency, framing the concern as a credible public safety question raised by the extreme fee disparity — while carefully limiting characterizations to what the disparity objectively suggests rather than asserting Firm A's incompetence as established fact.

Raise the fee-adequacy concern through a private, confidential written communication directly to the agency's chief engineer or procurement officer, requesting that the agency require Firm A to explain the economic basis of its proposal before executing the award — without seeking public exposure of Firm A's bid or triggering a public hearing.

File a public protest accompanied by a general technical explanation of the minimum staffing, analytical requirements, and cost floor for competent highway bridge design — providing the agency with an independent evidentiary basis for evaluating Firm A's fee adequacy rather than relying on fee disparity alone — to distinguish the safety concern from mere competitive grievance.

Engineer (Firms B and C)