§ 2-211. Conflicts of interest and lobbying.

County employees, officers and agents involved in any procurement process shall abide by the following standards to avoid conflicts of interest, which standards are specifically found to be consistent with the provisions regulating conflicts of interest in the county's personnel policies and procedures manual:

(1)

County employees and officers involved in the selection, award or administration of contracts or purchase orders for the procurement or acquisition of goods or services shall comply with the provisions and restrictions of F.S. §§ 112.313 and 112.3148, as the same may be amended.

(2)

No county employee, officer or agent involved in the selection, award or administration of a contract, any member of his/her immediate family, his/her partner, or an organization which employs or is about to employ any of the foregoing parties, may have a financial or other interest in or a tangible personal benefit from a firm considered for such contract. Additionally, county employees, officers and agents involved in the selection, award or administration of such a contract may not solicit or accept gratuities, favors or anything of monetary value from contractors or parties to subcontracts, with the exception of unsolicited items of nominal value such as novelties with company logos.

(3)

In addition to any discipline that may be administered by the Florida Commission on Ethics pursuant to F.S. ch. 112, a county employee, officer or agent violating the restrictions of this section shall be subject to discipline by the county. Any discipline of a county officer, the county coordinator or the county attorney shall be administered by the board. Any discipline of any county employee or agent other than the county coordinator or county attorney shall be administered by the county coordinator with the cooperation and assistance of the human resources department. Discipline of a county employee pursuant to this section shall be consistent with all applicable provisions of the county personnel policies and procedures manual, any applicable contractual agreement between a collective bargaining unit and the county, or any applicable employment contract between such county employee and the county, as any of the same may apply. Discipline of a county employee may include, but may not be limited to, written or oral reprimand, suspension from work without pay, or termination. Discipline of an agent may include but not be limited to written or oral reprimand, prohibition on future appointment as an agent of the county, termination of any contract between the county and the agent or the firm of the agent, or prohibition on any future contracts between the county and the agent or the firm of the agent.

(4)

In the event a procurement is intended to be funded or reimbursed with federal or state funds, any potential conflict of interest discovered during the applicable procurement process shall be disclosed in writing upon such discovery to the federal agency, state agency or pass-through entity awarding the funds being used for the procurement process, as required by the policies of the applicable federal or state agency.

(5)

During a black-out period, no bidder, proposer, offeror, quoter, responder, lobbyist, principal, or other person may lobby, on behalf of such bidder, proposer, offeror, quoter or responder in a particular procurement matter or process, either any member of the board, or any other county employee. This does not include questions submitted to the procurement department or other county department sponsoring a particular procurement in response to, and as directed in, the solicitation documents for that particular procurement. Violation of this provision may result in disqualification of the violating party from bidding or otherwise responding to county solicitations.

(Ord. No. 2018-005 , § 2, 10-2-2018)