Course Description:
Within society, professional engineers occupy a place of special trust. Errors by engineers can have devastating consequences. Ethical behavior by engineers is therefore of primer importance.
Engineers performing work for the Federal Government under a consulting contract are categorized as contractors to the government. The Federal Government has strict rules of ethics that government contractors must abide by. Additionally, government procurement officers also have ethical requirements that they must comply with. Therefore, it is important for an engineering consultant working on a federal contract to know not only the rules pertaining to their own ethical conduct, but also the ethical constraints that the government employees who are supervising their work must abide by.
While the rules presented in this course are specific to the Federal Government, very similar ethical rules and responsibilities are applicable at all levels of government and private engineering work.
Upon completing this course, the engineer will have a better understanding and appreciation of ethics.
To complete this course, the engineer will study a pamphlet “Ethics and Procurement Integrity – What You Need to Know as a Federal Employee Involved in the Procurement and Acquisition Process”, and sections of the US Code that pertain to Federal contractors.
Both documents contain rules for ethical practice of engineering.
Learning Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student will be familiar with
• Sections of the US Code that pertain to Federal contractors
• Ethical procurement and acquisition processes.
