Government Procurement Certification Government Procurement Ethics & Integrity 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which federal law requires contractors to disclose credible evidence of fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations discovered during contract performance?
- FAR 52.203-13 – Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct (Correct answer)
- FAR 52.222-26 – Equal Opportunity
- FAR 52.232-25 – Prompt Payment
- FAR 52.215-2 – Audit and Records
Correct answer: FAR 52.203-13 – Contractor Code of Business Ethics and Conduct
FAR 52.203-13 requires contractors with contracts over $5.5M to maintain a compliance program and mandatorily disclose credible evidence of specified violations to the agency OIG and Contracting Officer.
Question 2: The Anti-Kickback Act (41 U.S.C. §§ 8701-8707) prohibits subcontractors from providing what to prime contractors?
- Payments or gifts intended to influence the award or administration of a subcontract (Correct answer)
- Competitive pricing proposals
- Past-performance references
- Certified cost or pricing data
Correct answer: Payments or gifts intended to influence the award or administration of a subcontract
The Anti-Kickback Act makes it illegal for any party in the contracting chain to exchange payments or things of value to improperly influence subcontract awards.
Question 3: When a Contracting Officer identifies a potential Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI), the first required step under FAR Subpart 9.5 is to:
- Assess the nature and extent of the conflict before deciding on a mitigation or avoidance action (Correct answer)
- Immediately disqualify the offeror
- Award the contract and monitor closely
- Transfer the acquisition to another agency
Correct answer: Assess the nature and extent of the conflict before deciding on a mitigation or avoidance action
FAR 9.5 directs the CO to analyze the specific facts of the potential OCI to determine whether it can be mitigated, avoided, or waived before taking any formal action.
Question 4: Which type of Organizational Conflict of Interest occurs when a contractor helps the government write a solicitation and then bids on the resulting contract?
- Unequal access to information / biased ground rules (Correct answer)
- Impaired objectivity
- Hard OCI
- Competitive advantage OCI
Correct answer: Unequal access to information / biased ground rules
When a contractor drafts the solicitation requirements or evaluation criteria, it gains an unfair informational advantage and may have shaped the competition in its own favor, creating a biased ground rules / unequal access OCI.
Question 5: Under the Competition in Contracting Act, restricting competition to a single vendor without a valid justification violates which principle?
- Full and open competition (Correct answer)
- Lowest price technically acceptable selection
- Past-performance evaluation
- Small business set-aside policy
Correct answer: Full and open competition
CICA mandates full and open competition for all procurements above the simplified acquisition threshold unless a specific statutory exception applies and is documented in a Justification and Approval.
Question 6: An agency employee who reports a suspected procurement fraud to the Inspector General is protected from retaliation under which law?
- Whistleblower Protection Act and the National Defense Authorization Act provisions (Correct answer)
- Freedom of Information Act
- Privacy Act
- Administrative Procedure Act
Correct answer: Whistleblower Protection Act and the National Defense Authorization Act provisions
The Whistleblower Protection Act and NDAA provisions protect federal employees and contractor employees who disclose evidence of fraud or waste from adverse employment actions.
Government Procurement Certification Government Procurement Ethics & Integrity 2
Which federal law requires contractors to disclose credible evidence of fraud, conflict of interest, bribery, or gratuity violations discovered during contract performance?