Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety Invoked for Engineer D
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/22#Good_Intent_Does_Not_Cure_Procedural_Impropriety_Invoked_for_Engineer_D
Properties
Instance of
GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety
Applied to
Engineer D's informal sharing of as-built drawings with contractors
Balancing with
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Concrete expression
Engineer D's benign motivation — improving design quality by making as-built drawings available — does not render informal selective sharing ethically permissible, because the procedural harm to procurement integrity exists independently of D's intent
Confidence
0.88
Importance
high
Interpretation
The BER Case 82-2 precedent is directly applicable: just as Engineer A in that case was found to have acted unethically despite having no ulterior motive, Engineer D's good intentions do not cure the procedural impropriety of informal information sharing in a public procurement context
Invoked by
Engineer D Public Sector Fire Protection Engineer
Tension resolution
The principle is not in tension with faithful agency — rather, it clarifies that faithful agency requires procedural compliance, not merely good intentions; D can be a faithful agent by using proper channels
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer D seems to be acting without what was termed in case 82-2, an ulterior motive - D's desire is to make information available to improve designs. Even so, informally sharing as-built information is troubling.
Text references
Engineer D seems to be acting without what was termed in case 82-2, an ulterior motive - D's desire is to make information available to improve designs. Even so, informally sharing as-built information is troubling.
The board exonerated the engineer of substantial or deliberate wrongdoing, but determined it was incorrect to not recognize the confidentiality of a client relationship.
Working through informal mechanisms on public projects can give the appearance of impropriety or favoritism.
TTL
@prefix case22: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/22#> .
@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#> .
case22:Good_Intent_Does_Not_Cure_Procedural_Impropriety_Invoked_for_Engineer_D a proeth:GoodIntentDoesNotCureProceduralImpropriety,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety Invoked for Engineer D" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer D's informal sharing of as-built drawings with contractors" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer D's benign motivation — improving design quality by making as-built drawings available — does not render informal selective sharing ethically permissible, because the procedural harm to procurement integrity exists independently of D's intent" ;
proeth:confidence "0.88" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "22" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-25T19:58:39.771005+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "22" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-25T19:58:39.771005+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The BER Case 82-2 precedent is directly applicable: just as Engineer A in that case was found to have acted unethically despite having no ulterior motive, Engineer D's good intentions do not cure the procedural impropriety of informal information sharing in a public procurement context" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer D Public Sector Fire Protection Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Good Intent Does Not Cure Procedural Impropriety" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer D seems to be acting without what was termed in case 82-2, an ulterior motive - D's desire is to make information available to improve designs. Even so, informally sharing as-built information is troubling." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The principle is not in tension with faithful agency — rather, it clarifies that faithful agency requires procedural compliance, not merely good intentions; D can be a faithful agent by using proper channels" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer D seems to be acting without what was termed in case 82-2, an ulterior motive - D's desire is to make information available to improve designs. Even so, informally sharing as-built information is troubling.",
"The board exonerated the engineer of substantial or deliberate wrongdoing, but determined it was incorrect to not recognize the confidentiality of a client relationship.",
"Working through informal mechanisms on public projects can give the appearance of impropriety or favoritism." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 22 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-25T20:07:58.300685"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 22 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
22
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-25T19:58:39.771005+00:00
First case
22
Generated
2026-02-25T19:58:39.771005+00:00
Attributed to
Case 22 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-25T20:07:58.300685
Generated by
ProEthica Case 22 Extraction