Common use of Conflict of Interest Standards Clause in Contracts

Conflict of Interest Standards. The following is a brief overview of conflict of interest laws and policies. Contractor is responsible to know, and comply with, the full requirements of the law. 1) Under the California Political Reform Act (CPRA), codified in part as Government Code section 1090 and sequential, and section 87100 and sequential: No public official shall make, participate in making, or in any way attempt to use his or her official position, to influence a contract on behalf of the public agency when he or she knows, or has reason to know, that he or she has a personal financial interest in that contract. 2) Government Code section 1090 defines “making” a contract broadly to include actions that are preliminary or preparatory to the selection of a contractor such as but not limited to: involvement in the reasoning, planning, and/or drafting of scopes of work, making recommendations, soliciting bids and requests for proposals, and/or participating in preliminary discussions or negotiations. (Cal. Govt. Code § 1090) 3) SFUSD Board Policy 9270 provides: “Board members, employees, or District consultants shall not be financially interested in any contract made by the Board on behalf of the District, including in the development, preliminary discussions, negotiations, compromises, planning, reasoning, and specifications and solicitations for bids. If a Board member has such a financial interest, the District is barred from entering into the contract.” (SFUSD Board Policy 9270) 4) State law limits the amount of gifts that may be received by public officials from a single source during a calendar year. The gift limit is $500 per source per calendar year (effective January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022). (See e.g. Cal. Govt Code 89503; 2 CCR 18940.2. See also ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇▇) 5) State law prohibits, with limited exceptions, certain former local public officials from appearing before their former public agency for the purpose of influencing a governmental decision for 12 months from the date the former employee left that public agency. (Cal. Govt. Code § 87406.3) 6) State law bars a public agency employee from making governmental decisions regarding an organization which is engaged in employment negotiations with that public agency employee. (Cal. Govt. Code § 87407) 7) Contractors and their representatives may be required to disclose economic interests that they hold that could foreseeably be affected by the exercise of their public duties. If applicable, Contractors/representatives must submit a disclosure filing called a Statement of Economic Interests or “Form 700.” (Cal. Govt. Code §§ 81000-91015; SFUSD Board Rules and Procedures 9270, “Conflict of Interest Code”)