DP4
Individual
3ecc9535
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/98#DP4
Properties
Parent
Decision Point Id
DP4
Decision Question
Does Engineering Firm X bear an independent institutional obligation to establish internal protocols governing design-phase contractor consultations on public projects, and must those protocols be enforced even when an individual engineer like Engineer A acts with genuine good intent?
Focus
Engineering Firm X, as the institutional employer of Engineer A, must decide whether to establish and enforce internal protocols that prevent individual engineers from engaging in selective pre-bid contractor consultations on public infrastructure projects. The question arises whether the firm's institutional obligation is independent of — and broader than — Engineer A's individual ethical obligation.
Option1
Adopt and enforce written internal protocols requiring that all design-phase constructability consultations on public infrastructure projects be conducted exclusively through formal, institutionally sanctioned channels — such as public pre-bid meetings or formal addenda — with mandatory supervisory review before any contractor contact occurs, regardless of the individual engineer's intent or prior relationships.
Option2
Decline to establish firm-specific protocols on the grounds that individual engineers are licensed professionals bound by their own ethical codes, and that imposing additional institutional layers would be redundant and administratively burdensome, trusting Engineer A and colleagues to self-regulate.
Option3
Require engineers to disclose any prior relationships with prospective bidders to firm leadership before initiating constructability consultations, but permit informal bilateral consultations to proceed at the engineer's discretion once the disclosure has been logged, treating disclosure as a sufficient institutional safeguard.
Role Label
Engineering Firm X (Institutional Employer, Public Infrastructure Design Firm)
TTL
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@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proethica_case_98: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/98> .
<http://proethica.org/ontology/case/98#DP4> a owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "DP4" ;
rdfs:subClassOf <http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint> .
Metadata
Ontology
Type
Individual
Content Hash
3ecc9535685e3652...Last Updated
2026-03-08 16:29
Extraction Provenance
Generated
2026-02-28T00:54:26.937158
Generated By
ProEthica Case 98 Extraction