Palo Alto Municipal Code Part 7 Ethics in Contracting

(a) Statement of Policy. City employees shall discharge their duties impartially so as to assure fair competitive access to city contracting opportunities by responsible consultants and contractors. Moreover, they shall conduct themselves in a manner as will foster public confidence in the integrity of city contracting policies, procedures and activities.

(b) Conflict of Interest. No city employee shall participate directly or indirectly in a city contract when the employee knows that:

(1) The employee or any member of the employee’s immediate family has a financial interest pertaining to the contract; or

(2) The employee or any member of the employee’s immediate family is negotiating or has an employment arrangement which is contingent upon or will be affected by the contract.

(c) Withdrawal from Participation. Upon the discovery of an actual or potential conflict of interest, an employee shall promptly withdraw from further participation in the contract procurement process.

(d) Gratuities. No person shall offer, give or agree to give any city employee any gratuity, discount or offer of employment in connection with the award of a contract by the city. No city employee shall solicit, demand, accept or agree to accept from any other person a gratuity, discount or an offer of employment in connection with a city contract.

(Ord. 5387 § 1 (part), 2016: Ord. 4827 § 1 (part), 2004)

In accordance with State conflict of interest law, a contractor or consultant that prepares, advises or assists in the preparation of plans and/or specifications that will be included as part of an invitation for bids or request for proposals shall be ineligible: (i) to submit a bid or proposal under that invitation for bids or request for proposals; (ii) to be a subcontractor or sub-consultant under a bid or proposal under that invitation for bids or request for proposals; and (iii) to be a subcontractor or sub-consultant under (or have any interest in) a contract arising from that invitation for bids or request for proposals. This ineligibility shall not apply where a single entity acts as both the designer and builder of the same project pursuant to a design-build procurement contract or other alternative procurement method-based contract as may be permitted by law. Nothing in this section is intended to differ from State conflict of interest law, as may be amended from time to time, and in the event of a conflict between this section and State conflict of interest law, State conflict of interest law shall control.

(Ord. 5494 § 30, 2020: Ord. 5387 § 1 (part), 2016: Ord. 4827 § 1 (part), 2004)