(OCT 1994)
It is the Department of Transportation's (DOT) policy to award contracts to only those offerors whose objectivity is not impaired because of any related past, present, or planned interest, financial or otherwise, in organizations regulated by DOT or in organizations whose interests may be substantially affected by Departmental activities. Based on this policy:
(a) The offeror shall provide a statement in its proposal which describes in a concise manner all past, present or planned organizational, financial, contractual or other interest(s) with an organization regulated by DOT, or with an organization whose interests may be substantially affected by Departmental activities, and which is related to the work under this solicitation. The interest(s) described shall include those of the proposer, its affiliates, proposed consultants, proposed subcontractors and key personnel of any of the above. Past interest shall be limited to within one year of the date of the offeror's technical proposal. Key personnel shall include any person owning more than 20% interest in the offeror, and the offeror's corporate officers, its senior managers and any employee who is responsible for making a decision or taking an action on this contract where the decision or action can have an economic or other impact on the interests of a regulated or affected organization.
(b) The offeror shall describe in detail why it believes, in light of the interest(s) identified in (a) above, that performance of the proposed contract can be accomplished in an impartial and objective manner.
(c) In the absence of any relevant interest identified in (a) above, the offeror shall submit in its proposal a statement certifying that to its best knowledge and belief no affiliation exists relevant to possible conflicts of interest. The offeror must obtain the same information from potential subcontractors prior to award of a subcontract.
(d) The Contracting Officer will review the statement submitted and may require additional relevant information from the offeror. All such information, and any other relevant information known to DOT, will be used to determine whether an award to the offeror may create a conflict of interest. If any such conflict of interest is found to exist, the Contracting Officer may (1) disqualify the offeror, or (2) determine that it is otherwise in the best interest of the United States to contract with the offeror and include appropriate provisions to mitigate or avoid such conflict in the contract awarded.
(e) The refusal to provide the disclosure or representation, or any additional information required, may result in disqualification of the offeror for award. If nondisclosure or misrepresentation is discovered after award, the resulting contract may be terminated. If after award the Contractor discovers a conflict of interest with respect to the contract awarded as a result of this solicitation, which could not reasonably have been know prior to award, an immediate and full disclosure shall be made in writing to the Contracting Officer. The disclosure shall include a full description of the conflict, a description of the action the contractor has taken, or proposes to take, to avoid or mitigate such conflict. The Contracting Officer may, however, terminate the contract for convenience if he or she deems that termination is in the best interest of the Government.
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