Print/Copy Mail Services Vice President FABasics of Ethics Law
As employees of the state of Oregon, faculty and staff of the UO must follow all of the state statutes and regulations regarding ethics and conflicts of interest.
ORS Chapter 244 Government Standards and Practices, is the State of Oregon code of ethics. Among other things this chapter defines conflict of interest, potential conflict of interest, and states that no public official shall use or attempt use their official position or office to obtain financial gain or avoidance of financial detriment. Public officials include, but are not limited to all state employees.
ORS 244 also states public officials shall not solicit or receive, during any calendar year, any gift or gifts with an aggregate value in excess of $100 from any single source who could reasonably be known to have a legislative or administrative interest in a governmental agency in which the official exercises authority.
Employees involved in purchasing activities or decisions have the responsibility to promote positive vendor relationships through impartiality in all phases of the purchasing cycle. Employees should exercise caution and good judgment if offered a gift from a vendor. Personally accepting gifts from vendors may give the appearance of impropriety. Accepting gifts, entertainment, food, or other items of value before, during, or immediately after a purchasing process or when it may influence a purchasing decision should be avoided.
Code of Ethics
UO OAR 571-040-0020 Code of Ethics, is part of Division 40 of the UO OAR, Competitive Procedures for the Purchasing, Procurement and Contracting of Goods and Services. The chapter states among other things that university employees in contracting and purchasing must:
Give first consideration to the objectives and policies of OUS and the UO.
Strive to obtain the best value for expenditures.
Fairly consider prospective contractors insofar as state or federal statutes and institutional rules and policies require.
Conduct business in an atmosphere of good faith.
Demand honesty in representations made by prospective contractors.
Demonstrate support for emerging small, disadvantaged, and minority-owned and women-owned business and QRFs.
Comply with ORS 244 and other applicable conflict of interest policies that may be more restrictive.
Refrain from knowingly engaging in any outside matters of financial interest incompatible with the impartial, objective, and effective performance of duties.
Receive written consent of originator of proprietary ideas and designs before using them.
Foster fair, ethical and legal trade practices.
Fairly considering prospective contractors and conducting business in an atmosphere of good faith means you should not disclose prices to competitors during a purchasing process or attempt to have vendors lower their prices to beat another vendor's quotation.
UO Ethics Purchasing Policy - Doing Business with UO employees
http://baowww.uoregon.edu/ProcurementContracting/ethicspcs.doc. Do not purchase from UO employee, unless it can be clearly documented that the purchase is clearly in the best interest of the UO, results from competition and represent the best value. Regardless of dollar amount, departments should be obtaining competitive quotes or documenting sole source exemption.
If the potential purchase involves services, then an independent contractor analysis may also be required to determine the appropriate method for obtaining the services.
Additionally, no employee should have influence over the purchase, solicitation, award, payment nor expenditure approval of a product or service, if their action would financially impact the employee, the employee's relative, or the employee's relative's business.