Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 16-3 (2016) · Professional Selection—Receipt of Submission Beyond the Published Deadline
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
Featured
Engineer A Procurement Integrity Public Interest QBS Administration
prevails over
Engineer A Prior Performance Non-Consideration Firm B Compliance Determination
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Conflict of Interest - Engineer A QBS Evaluator with Known Firm
- Engineer A Prior Favorable Relationship with Firm B
Engineer A QBS Deadline Strict Enforcement Firm B Rejection
prevails over
City Manager Administrative Assistant Non-Facilitation Misdirected Submittal
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Late SOQ Submission - Firm B
Engineer A Procurement Integrity Public Interest QBS Administration
prevails over
Engineer A Good Intent Non-Justification Firm B Sympathy Procurement
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Firm B Late Submission Procurement Integrity Tension
- Prior Favorable Relationship - Engineer A and Firm B
Engineer B FOIA Post-Submission Timing Obligation State RFQ
prevails over
Engineer A Public Procurement Qualifications Confidentiality Self-Protection State RFQ
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER Case 10-8 FOIA Competitor Intelligence Acquisition
Engineer A QBS Deadline Strict Enforcement Firm B Rejection
prevails over
Engineer A Harmless Error Non-Exception Firm B Submittal
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Late SOQ Submission Outside Formal Process
What the board concluded
- Engineer A should return the submittal to Firm B unopened with the explanation that the bid was received late.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
Engineer A Prior Performance Non-Consideration Firm B Compliance Determination yields to Engineer A Procurement Integrity Public Interest QBS Administration. The yielding obligation ("Engineer A Prior Performance Non-Consideration Firm B Compliance Determination") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
92-6
Public Welfare - Hazardous Waste
|
Engineer B Safety Obligation Hazardous Waste Public Welfare | Engineer B Business Relationship Non-Justification Regulatory Reporting | Business-Relationship Preservation Displacing Regulatory Reporting |
|
79-7
Review of Original Engineer's Design
|
Engineer A Non-Obstruction of Legitimate Peer Review Via Complaint Filing | Engineer A Improper Complaint Filing Against Engineer B Technically Compliant Conduct | Engineer A Self-Serving Complaint Against Reviewing Engineer |
|
65-12
Participation in Production of Unsafe Equipment
|
Company B Engineers Project Withdrawal Obligation | Company B Engineers Employment Loss Acceptance as Cost of Safety Refusal | Company B Engineers Employment Loss Risk from Safety Withdrawal Obligation |
|
77-11
Supplanting - Promotion of Work by Former Employees
|
Firm B Specialized Knowledge Former Client Project Competition Constraint | Firm B Engineers Supplanting Rule Non-Application Former Clients No Active Contract | Firm B Specialized Project Knowledge Solicitation Restriction; Free and Open Competition Framework Governing Engineering Firm Competition; Prior Client Relationship Leverage by Departed Engineers |
|
73-9
Endorsement of Project by Local Chapter
|
Engineers A and B Compensated Civic Engineering Participation Permissibility | Engineers A and B Professional Affiliation Non-Exploitation Threshold Assessment | Engineers A and B Professional Affiliation Advantage Threshold; Engineers A and B Professional Society Endorsement Solicitation |