In any dealings with the preferred tenderer or potential contractors and stakeholders during the development of the contract, entity staff should not act in any way that calls into question standards of ethical behaviour.42

Following the selection of a preferred tenderer(s) and/or when different staff members are involved in developing the contract, an acquiring entity's procedures should require relevant staff to review their conflict of interest declarations, and for any new staff involved in the procurement cycle to sign conflict of interest declarations. Issues that are most likely to arise during contract development involve actual or potential conflicts of interest. Three common scenarios where a conflict can arise are:

• the offer of gifts, hospitality or other benefits: these should not be accepted as this could be seen as undermining the integrity of the procurement process;

• employment by the preferred tenderer: an actual or perceived conflict can arise where the spouse or close family member of the person responsible for developing the contract (contract developer) is employed by the preferred tenderer. As soon as this situation is known, the facts should be advised to the contract developer's supervisor or another appropriate manager so that a decision can be made about the potential implications; and

• the offer or acceptance of employment: a related situation is when the contract developer is offered or accepts employment from the preferred tenderer. Such situations would generally require the person concerned to cease to have responsibility for the contract development or additional arrangements to be put in place to compensate for the conflict of interest that has arisen.

As a general rule, entities' approach to potential and actual conflicts of interest should be based on the principles of transparency and disclosure, as set out in an entity's CEIs and Operational Guidelines.

As a general rule, entities' approach to potential and actual conflicts of interest should be based on the principles of transparency and disclosure, as set out in an entity's CEIs and Operational Guidelines.