DP3

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

DP3

At what point was Engineer A obligated to disclose his prospective employment conflict, and is the informal isolation implemented by the State ethically sufficient to discharge the conflict-of-interest obligations that arose from the cross-side employment transition — or does the gravity of the transition require a formal, documented, and enforceable recusal protocol?

Timing and Adequacy of Engineer A's Conflict of Interest Disclosure and the Sufficiency of Informal Isolation as a Remedial Measure

Disclose the prospective employment conflict to the private firm and client at the earliest practicable moment — before stamping the final analysis — seek informed consent under III.4.b. before accepting the State position, and upon transition, work with the State to implement a formal, documented recusal protocol with defined information barriers, named personnel restrictions, and written supervisory accountability, disclosed to the court as a transparency measure

Treat the informal isolation already implemented by the State as ethically sufficient under the evolved conflict-disclosure-and-management standard — on the grounds that Code II.4.a. requires disclosure and management rather than avoidance, that Engineer A's voluntary compliance with isolation satisfies the management requirement, and that the profession's recognition of conflicts as virtually immutable in engineering practice supports informal good-faith arrangements as adequate remedies for revolving-door transitions

Disclose the conflict to the private firm and client retroactively upon accepting the State position — rather than before stamping — and propose a formal isolation protocol to the State, on the theory that the disclosure obligation under II.4.a. crystallized upon formal employment acceptance rather than during preliminary negotiations, and that retroactive disclosure with prospective formal isolation adequately protects all parties' interests going forward even if it does not address the pre-stamp period

Engineer A