CEO 84-24 -- April 26, 1984

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

D.H.R.S. EMPLOYEE CONTRACTING WITH CORPORATION DOING BUSINESS WITH DEPARTMENT

To: (Name withheld at the person's request.)

SUMMARY:

No prohibited conflict of interest exists where a speech and hearing clinician with a D.H.R.S. Sunland Center has contracted to provide audiological services for a corporation which has contracted with the Department to operate three intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded. As the employee played no role in the contracting process between the Department and his private employer, and as his public duties are unrelated to the corporation and its contract with the Department, the rationale of CEO 83-85 and CEO 84-20 would apply.

QUESTION:

Does a prohibited conflict of interest exist where you, a speech and hearing clinician with a Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services Sunland Center, have contracted to provide audiological services for a corporation which has contracted with the Department to operate three intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded?

Your question is answered in the negative.

In your letter of inquiry you advise that you are employed by the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services as a speech and hearing clinician at one of the Department's Sunland centers. In that position, you primarily are responsible for assessing the hearing acuity of clients at the center, as well as for a variety of other audiology-related matters. You also advise that you have entered into a contract with a private corporation to provide audiological services for clients at intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded which the corporation operates under contract with the Department.

We are of the opinion that your question is answered by the rationale of previous opinions CEO 83-85 and CEO 84-20. As was the situation in those opinions, you advise that you have played no role in the contracting process between the Department and your private employer. Similarly, we find that your responsibilities with the Department are unrelated to the corporation and its contract with the Department. Finally, although you have advised that it is possible for clients to be referred from the Sunland Center to one of the facilities managed by the corporation, your role in the referrals is to provide an audiological assessment report to the team which makes the referral decision; the decision to refer or not to refer is not affected by the audiological condition of the client.

Accordingly, we find that no prohibited conflict of interest exists in your contracting to provide audiological services for the corporation while being employed as a speech and hearing clinician at the Sunland Center.