73.       Avoidance of conflicts of interest in consultant services

 

            (1)        A consultant shall provide professional, objective, and impartial advice and at all times hold the client’s interests paramount, without any consideration for future work, and strictly avoid conflicts with other assignments or their own corporate interests.

 

            (2)        No consultant shall be hired for any assignment that would, by its nature, be in conflict with their prior or current obligations to other clients, or that may place him in a position of not being able to carry out the assignment in the best interest of the public body.

 

            (3)        Without limitation on the generality as provided for in paragraphs (1) and (2), a consultant shall not be hired under the following circumstances –

 

                        (a)        a firm which has been engaged by the public body to provide goods or works for a project, and any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from providing consulting services for the same project;

 

                        (b)        a firm hired to provide consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a project, and any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from subsequently providing goods or works or services related to the initial assignment, other than in the case when, subject to satisfactory performance of the initial assignment, it is essential for continuity that there be a continuation of the firm’s earlier consulting services for the same project.

 

            (4)        Paragraph (3) shall not apply to firms (consultants, contractors, or suppliers) that together are performing the supplier’s obligations under a turnkey or design-and-build contract.