Advisory Opinion No. 97-15

Re: Robert A. Vierra

QUESTION PRESENTED

The Petitioner, a member of the Wawaloam Elementary School Building Committee, a municipal appointed position, requests an advisory opinion as to the potential conflicts for the petitioner given that his employer may bid on a construction project for the School District.

RESPONSE

It is the opinion of the Rhode Island Ethics Commission that the Petitioner, a member of the Wawaloam Elementary School Building Committee, a municipal appointed position, may not participate in any matters relating to bid development or in the awarding of a contract if his employer bids on the project. Given that the Petitioner may not be certain at this juncture whether his employer may bid on the contract, the safest route for him would be to recuse from any participation in even the bid development process. If the Petitioner chooses to participate in the bid development process, either because he does not believe his employer ultimately will bid on the contract or otherwise, this advisory opinion serves as notice to him that that participation may preclude his employer from qualifying as a bidder on the contract and/or fall within prohibited activities of the Code if his employer submits a bid and/or receives the award of the contract.

Code Citations:

36-14-5(a)

36-14-7(a)

36-14-5(h)

Related Advisory Opinions:

95-16

95-24

95-41

95-60

95-90

95-114

95-116

Keywords:

contracts