DP1

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

DP1

Should Engineer A accept the part-time airport consulting solicitation from the former firm, or decline it on the basis that the shared municipal client relationship creates an irreconcilable structural conflict with the State DOT employment?

Engineer A must decide whether to accept the former consulting firm's solicitation to perform part-time airport consulting work for municipalities while remaining a State DOT employee who reviews those same municipalities' traffic signal plans and administers their airport grant agreements. The core tension is between Engineer A's legitimate professional interest in pursuing private consulting opportunities in a technically distinct domain and the faithful agent obligation owed to the State DOT, which is compromised by the shared municipal stakeholder relationship regardless of technical domain separation.

Refuse the former firm's solicitation on the grounds that the shared municipal client base creates a structural conflict of interest with the State DOT employment that cannot be cured by disclosure, recusal, or employer approval, and that the faithful agent obligation requires declining the engagement regardless of technical domain distinction.

Accept the part-time role after proactively disclosing the arrangement to the State DOT and obtaining employer approval, committing to recuse from any DOT review or grant activity involving municipalities simultaneously being solicited for airport consulting work, on the theory that procedural safeguards adequately manage the conflict.

Accept the part-time role on the basis that airport design and highway traffic engineering are technically distinct disciplines with no formal overlap, that the former firm does no competing state highway work, and that the absence of an explicit outside-employment prohibition at the State DOT renders the dual engagement permissible under the standard moonlighting framework.

Engineer A