| Date: | 04/03/1979 |
|---|---|
| Organization: | State Ethics Commission |
A former state employee may respond to a request for a proposal from his former agency as long as he did not "participate" in or have "official responsibility" for the issuance of the RFP.
- This page, EC-COI-79-44, is offered by
- State Ethics Commission
Opinion
Opinion EC-COI-79-44
Table of Contents
Discussion
You were employed by a state agency until 1979. At present you are Executive Director of a private organization. You ask whether the state conflict of interest law, Chapter 268A, prohibits you from responding to a Request for Proposal by the agency.
You are a former "state employee" as that term is defined in General Laws chapter 268A, § 1(q). Section 5(a) prohibits you from receiving compensation from anyone other than the commonwealth or a state agency in connection with any particular matter in which the Commonwealth or a state agency is a party and in which you participated as a state employee. The Request for Proposal is clearly a particular matter as that term is defined in 1(k). You specifically state, however, that you took no part in the decision to issue the Request for Proposal, or in any other matter pertaining to this request including its content, term or format. Neither did you have official responsibility for any part of the process resulting in the issuance of the RFP as this was part of "Fiscal 80" and was initiated following your departure from the agency. Therefore, the prohibitions of 5(b) will not apply.
The Commission has previously ruled in similar cases that there would be no conflict of interest under the facts as you have stated them. See EC-COI-79-32.
End Of Decision