Bid Transparency Principle
Class
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#BidTransparencyPrinciple
Class Hierarchy
- Thing
- ↳ entity (bfo)
- ↳ continuant (bfo)
- ↳ generically dependent continuant (bfo)
- ↳ information content entity (iao)
- ↳ directive information entity (iao)
- ↳ Principle (proethica-core)
- ↳ Professional Virtue Principle (proethica-intermediate)
- ↳ BidTransparencyPrinciple
Definition
Professional principle requiring an engineer-contractor who identifies deficiencies, ambiguities, or inadequacies in bidding documents to reflect those deficiencies in the bid submission, either by including appropriate bid items for additional services required to remedy the deficiencies or by seeking clarification from the owner or design engineer before submitting. An engineer-contractor who submits a low bid while knowingly accepting the risks of inadequate documents cannot later attribute resulting construction difficulties to others.
Case Provenance
Discovered in
- Case 85: Incomplete Plans and Specifications – Engineer, Government, and Contractor Responsibilities
This class was discovered during extraction of the case(s) above; the supporting verbatim quotes are in Source Evidence.
Properties
Abstract Nature
Principle requiring engineers in contractor roles to apply their professional judgment to bidding documents and to communicate identified deficiencies through the bidding process rather than suppressing them in pursuit of a competitive advantage.
Confidence
0.85
Derived Obligations
Include bid items for additional services when documents are incomplete
Refrain from submitting bids that conceal known document inadequacies
Request clarification from owner or design engineer before bidding on deficient documents
Extensional Examples
BER case involving Engineer C who bid on an unbuildable dam project without disclosing document inadequacies in the bid
Operationalization
Requires engineer-contractors to include bid items for additional services when documents are incomplete, to request clarification before bidding when documents are ambiguous, and to refrain from submitting artificially low bids that conceal known document deficiencies.
Potential Conflicts
Competitive bidding pressures
Faithful Agent Duty Principle
Principle Category
professional_virtue
Value Basis
Honesty and professional integrity in commercial transactions, protection of the owner from uninformed contract awards, and professional accountability for the consequences of knowingly accepting deficient work conditions.
Property Structure
1 · Object and Data Properties
rdfs:domain on this class or ancestor
| Property | Range | Description |
|---|---|---|
| establishedBy inherited | CodeProvision | Indicates which code provision establishes this ethical concept. |
| invokedBy inherited | Agent | Relates a Principle to the Agent(s) that invoke it in the case scenario (the parties who appeal to the principle to justify or evaluate conduct). May name several agents. |
2 · Definitional Attributes
SHACL definitional shape
| Attribute | Property (sh:path) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| principle kind | principleCategory | The controlled principle kind, which drives the four-kind subClassOf typing: FundamentalEthicalPrinciple, ProfessionalVirtuePrinciple, RelationalPrinciple, DomainSpecificPrinciple. The canonical leaf label becomes the rdf:type; the category is a routing input, not stored as a literal. |
| extensional cases | extensionalCases | Class-level prior cases that instantiate the principle (McLaren extensional grounding); an optional class-mint field. |
3 · Bearer Attributes
SHACL property shape
individual data
| Attribute | Property (sh:path) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| interpretation | interpretation | Per-case reading of what the principle requires in this situation (a defeasibility-pipeline source field). |
| concrete expression | concreteExpression | How the principle is concretely expressed in the case (a defeasibility-pipeline source field). |
| applied to | appliedTo | What the principle is applied to in the case (the situation or party it bears on). |
| balancing with | balancingWith | The competing principle or value this principle is balanced against in the case, recorded as a literal; extraction records the tension but asserts no defeat or precedence, and the defeasibility edges are materialized by a separate pass from this field. |
| tension resolution | tensionResolution | How the case resolves the tension involving this principle (a defeasibility-pipeline source field). |
| invoked by | invokedBy | The agent who invokes the principle, via the P->Agent invokedBy edge (resolved to a case Agent by embedding shortlist + LLM select; a Board-pattern invoking party resolves deterministically to the case-scoped NSPE Board of Ethical Review Agent). Range: Agent. |
4 · Referenced By
rdfs:range on this class or ancestor
| From | Property | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Action | guidedByPrinciple inherited | Relates an action to a principle that directs it. The principle supplies the value the action is taken to serve. |
| Code Provision | establishes inherited | Relates a code provision to the ethical concepts (principles, obligations, constraints) it establishes or defines. |
| Obligation | derivedFromPrinciple inherited | Relates an obligation to the principle or principles it operationalizes. The obligation gives concrete directive force to the more abstract value the principle expresses (Dennis et al. 2016). |
| Role | adheresToPrinciple inherited | Relates a role to principles that guide its conduct; the role-relative applicability edge of the R->P->O chain (the role determines which principles apply to conduct in that standing). |
Source Evidence
Text references
Engineer C could have requested further clarification from the owner or Engineer A in order to better understand the engineering drawings
Engineer C had no one to fault but himself for the problems Engineer C encountered in attempting to build the project. Engineer C submitted the low bid on the project, presumably knowing inadequacies of the documents as well as the obvious risks involved
If the engineering documents were incomplete or inadequate, then Engineer C's bid should have reflected that fact and contained appropriate bid items for additional services required to complete the work for the benefit of the owner
Source text
If the engineering documents were incomplete or inadequate, then Engineer C's bid should have reflected that fact and contained appropriate bid items for additional services required to complete the work for the benefit of the owner
Used in cases 1
Case ontologies that instantiate this class or one of its base-ontology descendants. Computed from each individual's type, so the list stays current as cases are extracted. The originating case is shown under Extraction details.
Case 85@prefix core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix pcsh: <http://proethica.org/shapes/core#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-prov: <http://proethica.org/provenance#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix sh: <http://www.w3.org/ns/shacl#> .
@prefix skos: <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
proeth:BidTransparencyPrinciple a owl:Class ;
rdfs:label "Bid Transparency Principle" ;
proeth:abstractNature "Principle requiring engineers in contractor roles to apply their professional judgment to bidding documents and to communicate identified deficiencies through the bidding process rather than suppressing them in pursuit of a competitive advantage." ;
proeth:confidence "0.85" ;
proeth:derivedObligations "Include bid items for additional services when documents are incomplete",
"Refrain from submitting bids that conceal known document inadequacies",
"Request clarification from owner or design engineer before bidding on deficient documents" ;
proeth:extensionalExamples "BER case involving Engineer C who bid on an unbuildable dam project without disclosing document inadequacies in the bid" ;
proeth:operationalization "Requires engineer-contractors to include bid items for additional services when documents are incomplete, to request clarification before bidding when documents are ambiguous, and to refrain from submitting artificially low bids that conceal known document deficiencies." ;
proeth:potentialConflicts "Competitive bidding pressures",
"Faithful Agent Duty Principle" ;
proeth:principleCategory "professional_virtue" ;
proeth:textReferences "Engineer C could have requested further clarification from the owner or Engineer A in order to better understand the engineering drawings",
"Engineer C had no one to fault but himself for the problems Engineer C encountered in attempting to build the project. Engineer C submitted the low bid on the project, presumably knowing inadequacies of the documents as well as the obvious risks involved",
"If the engineering documents were incomplete or inadequate, then Engineer C's bid should have reflected that fact and contained appropriate bid items for additional services required to complete the work for the benefit of the owner" ;
proeth:valueBasis "Honesty and professional integrity in commercial transactions, protection of the owner from uninformed contract awards, and professional accountability for the consequences of knowingly accepting deficient work conditions." ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInCase 85 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInPass 2 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInSection "discussion" ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredAt "2026-06-04T16:53:07.457315+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredInCase 85 ;
proeth-prov:matchConfidence 0.0 ;
proeth-prov:matchesExisting false ;
proeth-prov:sourceText "If the engineering documents were incomplete or inadequate, then Engineer C's bid should have reflected that fact and contained appropriate bid items for additional services required to complete the work for the benefit of the owner" ;
rdfs:comment "Professional principle requiring an engineer-contractor who identifies deficiencies, ambiguities, or inadequacies in bidding documents to reflect those deficiencies in the bid submission, either by including appropriate bid items for additional services required to remedy the deficiencies or by seeking clarification from the owner or design engineer before submitting. An engineer-contractor who submits a low bid while knowingly accepting the risks of inadequate documents cannot later attribute resulting construction difficulties to others." ;
rdfs:subClassOf proeth:ProfessionalVirtuePrinciple ;
skos:definition "Professional principle requiring an engineer-contractor who identifies deficiencies, ambiguities, or inadequacies in bidding documents to reflect those deficiencies in the bid submission, either by including appropriate bid items for additional services required to remedy the deficiencies or by seeking clarification from the owner or design engineer before submitting. An engineer-contractor who submits a low bid while knowingly accepting the risks of inadequate documents cannot later attribute resulting construction difficulties to others." ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-06-04T16:53:07.457315+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasAttributedTo "Case 85 Extraction",
"claude-sonnet-4-6" .
pcsh:CaseAnnotationShape a sh:NodeShape ;
rdfs:label "Shared per-case annotation schema (all nine components)"@en ;
rdfs:comment "The cross-component annotation fields on committed case individuals: proeth:confidence (extraction confidence, decimal; all components except Action, whose Step-3 contract carries no confidence field), proeth:textReferences (verbatim supporting quotes, universal), proeth-prov sourceText (the source snippet, on the Step-1/2 provenance layers; Step-3 A/E individuals ground via textReferences only), and the involvement gloss (proeth:caseInvolvement on role individuals, proeth:caseContext on obligation, capability, and constraint individuals). Values are per-individual; the fields do not individuate any type."@en ;
sh:property [ sh:description "Extraction confidence for this individual (0 to 1)." ;
sh:name "confidence" ;
sh:order 1 ;
sh:path proeth:confidence ],
[ sh:description "Verbatim case quotes supporting this individual." ;
sh:name "text references" ;
sh:order 2 ;
sh:path proeth:textReferences ],
[ sh:description "How this individual figures in the case narrative (role individuals; the same text is routed into rdfs:comment)." ;
sh:name "case involvement" ;
sh:order 3 ;
sh:path proeth:caseInvolvement ],
[ sh:description "Grounding context in this case (obligation, capability, and constraint individuals)." ;
sh:name "case context" ;
sh:order 4 ;
sh:path proeth:caseContext ] ;
sh:targetClass core:Action,
core:Capability,
core:Constraint,
core:Event,
core:Obligation,
core:Principle,
core:Resource,
core:Role,
core:State .
pcsh:PrincipleDefinitionShape a sh:NodeShape ;
rdfs:label "Principle definition schema (type-level, descriptive, field contract)"@en ;
rdfs:comment "What individuates a principle TYPE: its canonical kind (drives the four-kind subClassOf typing; the canonical leaf becomes the rdf:type) and the extensional cases that ground it (McLaren). The five per-case narrative literals and the invokedBy edge are per-individual and now declared on PrinciplePropertyShape, mirroring the RoleDefinitionShape/ProfessionalRolePropertyShape split so the {{ principle_schema }} prompt separates the type judgment from what the case supplies. Descriptive only (no validation result); principle_category is a routing input, not stored as a literal."@en ;
sh:property [ sh:description "The controlled principle kind, which drives the four-kind subClassOf typing: FundamentalEthicalPrinciple, ProfessionalVirtuePrinciple, RelationalPrinciple, DomainSpecificPrinciple. The canonical leaf label becomes the rdf:type; the category is a routing input, not stored as a literal." ;
sh:name "principle kind" ;
sh:order 1 ;
sh:path proeth:principleCategory ],
[ sh:description "Class-level prior cases that instantiate the principle (McLaren extensional grounding); an optional class-mint field." ;
sh:name "extensional cases" ;
sh:order 2 ;
sh:path proeth:extensionalCases ] ;
sh:targetClass core:Principle .
pcsh:PrinciplePropertyShape a sh:NodeShape ;
rdfs:label "Principle per-case schema (individual data, non-definitional)"@en ;
rdfs:comment "What a principle INDIVIDUAL is described by in a specific case: the five narrative literals the defeasibility pipeline consumes and the agent that invokes it. These do NOT individuate the principle TYPE (that is PrincipleDefinitionShape); their values are per-case, asserted on the individual. Descriptive only."@en ;
sh:property [ sh:description "Per-case reading of what the principle requires in this situation (a defeasibility-pipeline source field)." ;
sh:name "interpretation" ;
sh:order 1 ;
sh:path proeth:interpretation ],
[ sh:description "How the principle is concretely expressed in the case (a defeasibility-pipeline source field)." ;
sh:name "concrete expression" ;
sh:order 2 ;
sh:path proeth:concreteExpression ],
[ sh:description "What the principle is applied to in the case (the situation or party it bears on)." ;
sh:name "applied to" ;
sh:order 3 ;
sh:path proeth:appliedTo ],
[ sh:description "The competing principle or value this principle is balanced against in the case, recorded as a literal; extraction records the tension but asserts no defeat or precedence, and the defeasibility edges are materialized by a separate pass from this field." ;
sh:name "balancing with" ;
sh:order 4 ;
sh:path proeth:balancingWith ],
[ sh:description "How the case resolves the tension involving this principle (a defeasibility-pipeline source field)." ;
sh:name "tension resolution" ;
sh:order 5 ;
sh:path proeth:tensionResolution ],
[ sh:description "The agent who invokes the principle, via the P->Agent invokedBy edge (resolved to a case Agent by embedding shortlist + LLM select; a Board-pattern invoking party resolves deterministically to the case-scoped NSPE Board of Ethical Review Agent). Range: Agent." ;
sh:name "invoked by" ;
sh:order 6 ;
sh:path core:invokedBy ] ;
sh:targetClass core:Principle .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
85
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-06-04T16:53:07.457315+00:00
First case
85
Match Confidence
0.0
Matches Existing
false
Generated
2026-06-04T16:53:07.457315+00:00
Attributed to
['Case 85 Extraction', 'claude-sonnet-4-6']