Avoid Conflicts of Interest

All employees are required to take appropriate action to avoid conflicts of interest. Conflicts generally arise when an employee’s personal interest (often financial) is at odds with the company’s interest. Conflicts may arise, for example, when an employee has the discretion concerning the award of a contract for work and the employee has a familial or financial interest in one of the vendors. Similarly, in hiring decisions, a conflict could arise if the deciding party has a close personal friendship or family relationship with one of the candidates for the position. Another example is when a deciding party receives a gift from a bidder that could influence the deciding party’s decision. A more blatant conflict of interest arises when an existing Southland employee takes on employment concurrently with another party involved in Southland’s projects. For example, employees may not work for Southland while simultaneously working for Southland upstream clients, competitors, or downstream vendors (even on a consulting basis). Full-time Southland employees may not work full-time for another company.

Simply stated, the company must not become involved in situations with customers, vendors, subcontractors, or other parties that could impair the company’s ability to make an honest business decision. Personal reputations and Southland’s reputation coincide and thus each of us must avoid situations that could compromise our ability to have fair and objective business dealings.

At the same time, just because a contractor has a connection to you does not mean that that contractor cannot participate in the proposal process. In that instance, transparency and disclosure to your supervisor is the wisest path before the RFP process commences. Any perceived or actual conflicts of interest should be discussed with a supervisor or manager, the regional president or general counsel.