Advisory Opinion No. 95-86 Re: Lorraine Joubert A. QUESTION PRESENTED Whether an employee of the University of Rhode Island, Cooperative Extension, College of Resource Development, may, in her capacity as a public employee, bid on and/or work on contracts either directly awarded by other state agencies or funded in whole or in part by such agencies. B. SUMMARY Pursuant to the Rhode Island Code of Ethics, employees of state or municipal agencies may not engage in any conduct that impairs the employee's independence or judgment with respect to their public position and may not act in their public capacity when they have a private financial interest that conflicts with their public responsibilities. R.I. Gen. Laws §§36-14-5(a)(b) and (d). The petitioner's involvement in putting together bid proposals for contracts and, if her agency is awarded the contract, working on those contracts neither impairs her independence of judgment nor involves any sort of private financial interest and, therefore, is not prohibited by the Code of Ethics. C. DISCUSSION 1. Facts Lorraine Joubert is a Water Resource Specialist employed by the University of Rhode Island, Cooperative Extension, College of Resource Development. That agency routinely enters into contractual agreements with other state agencies; for example, the Department of Environmental Management. In addition, her agency submits bids and/or proposals for funding (usually in the capacity as a subcontractor to a private firm) to state agencies, municipal agencies, quasi-public agencies and private concerns. In addition to direct state or municipal funding for contracts, the contracts also may be funded by state grants to private concerns. In preparing and submitting bids and/or proposals for funding, and in working on the contracts after they are awarded, Ms. Joubert acts entirely in her public capacity; i.e., all of her actions are as a public employee, not as an independent consultant. Also, aside from submitting bids and/or proposals for funding, neither Ms. Joubert nor her agency in any way participates in the decisions as to whether her agency receives a contract award. 2. Analysis The petitioner is an emloyee of a state agency and therefore subject to the provisions of the Code of Ethics. R.I. Gen. Laws § 36-14-2(3). She does not work as an independent consultant. As a result, all of her actions bearing on her advisory opinion request are undertaken in her capacity as a public employee. The petitioner's agency competes for contracts with other public and private concerns. These contracts may be awarded by state or municipal agencies, quasi-public agencies and/or private companies. In none of these instances does the petitioner have any interest in the entity awarding the contracts. With respect to state agencies with which her agency may contract, the petitioner has no relationship, let alone decision-making authority, with respect to those agencies. Very simply, if and when her agency is successful in winning contract awards, part of her salary and expenses as a state employee may be paid with public funds; directly if the contract is with a state or municipal agency; indirectly if the entity awarding the contract receives state funding for a particular project. In none of these situations does the petitioner have a private financial interest that might conflict with the performance of her public duties. In addition, the petitioner has no involvement in the awarding of contracts; therefore, there is no opportunity for any employment, interest or actions involving her that might impair her independence of judgment with respect to her public employment. See R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 36-14-5(a)(b) and (d). The Commission therefore advises the petitioner that she may participate in the preparation of bids and/or proposals for funding and work on awarded contracts in her capacity as a Water Resource Specialist at the University of Rhode Island in those instances where, either directly or indirectly, the contracts are funded by the state or a municipality. Keywords Contracts Grants