Engineering Ethics & Practices

Vice President Spiro Agnew and Construction

Kickbacks in Maryland

Gulraiz Maqbool (BATM-F16-014)

Bilal Mohsin (BATM-F16-041)
Imran Ahmad (BATM-F14-019)
Q#1: Briefly narrate the ethical issues in the case study.
Ans: Engineers shall not give, solicit, or receive either directly or indirectly any political
contribution, gratuity, or unlawful consideration in order to secure work, exclusive of securing
salaried positions through employment agencies.
Engineers shall not knowingly act in a manner which will be derogatory to the honor, integrity,
or dignity of the engineering profession or knowingly engage in business or professional practices
of a fraudulent, dishonest, or unethical nature.
Civil Engineers shall act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or
trustees, and shall avoid conflict of interest.
Q#2: Does the fact that paying government officials for receiving contracts (seemed to be a
common-place business practice in Maryland at that time) make this practice ethically
acceptable?
Ans: Any practice that is not ethically acceptable, will never be ethically acceptable. Even when
a large number of people are doing these kind of practice because it damage the credulity of the
project and it is directly or indirectly bribery. Which cause high final price of the project. Which
cause economic loss as well as moral values
Q#3: What should an engineer do in the face of competition from others who are willing to
resort to bribery?
Ans: Engineers must follow code of ethics and perform their duties ethically. He should refuse to
take any kind of gift in form of money or any material things from any person. He should be
honest to his work and he should give that project on merit
Q#4:
a. Briefly describe what is a competitive bidding process?
Competitive bidding.
Ans: Competitive bid process is mostly used in the procurement of goods and services.
The process entails submitting a sealed envelope detailing the price and terms of an offer.
The recipient of the offer then selects the competitive bidder that has delivered the
lowest price or best terms.

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 There are two step of competitive bidding
1) Technical evaluation
2) Price evaluation
In Technical evaluation government organization sees the bidder satisfied the pre-qualification
criteria of the project.
In Price evaluation government organization sees weather the bidder submitted lowest price bid.

b. What issues does this case raise regarding competitive bidding for engineering services?
 Ans: The selection of engineers for the contracts was solely at the discretion of the governor
and the members of the State Roads Commission.
 According to the report prepared by the Department of Justice, several engineering firms
were awarded state Contracts with the understanding that they were to pay Agnew a
percentage of the amount of the contract.
 Some engineers made this payment through a go-between who also received a share of the
payment, while others made the payment directly to Agnew while he was Maryland's
governor and, later, the country's vice president.
 Before the code was revised and adopted in its current form. For the sake of this discussion,
the current code provisions will be substituted for those in existence at the time of this case.
 The guidelines to practice in category of canon 5 state that "engineers shall not give, solicit,
or receive either directly or indirectly any political contribution, gratuity, or unlawful
consideration in order to secure work, exclusive of securing salaried positions through
employment agencies."
c. Would competitive bidding for the engineering contracts in Baltimore County have
solved this problem?
Ans: No, engineering contracts in Baltimore County does not have solved this problem for
competitive bidding

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 Q#5: What is the ethical status of a ‘campaign contribution’ given to a politician to secure
future business?
Ans: It is UN ethical status of a ‘campaign contribution’ given to a politician to secure future
business.
Under the presidential public funding program, eligible presidential candidates receive federal
government funds to pay for the qualified expenses of their political campaigns in both the
primary and general elections.
It is unethical practice to contribute in election campaign for taking benefit in business in future.
In this way we will take other’s right to business who is compatible and professional also.
Q#6:
a. Is this a case relates to bribe?
Ans: Yes, by taking some percentage, vice president give contracts in return.
It is UN ethical status of a ‘campaign contribution’ given to a politician to secure future business.
Under the presidential public funding program, eligible presidential candidates receive federal
government funds to pay for the qualified expenses of their political campaigns in both the
primary and general elections.

b. Is it the same as a kickback?

Yes
c. Please use a line drawing problem solving technique to answer this question

NP PP

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