Int 0271-1998

Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section one. Declaration of Legislative Findings and Intent. City contracting personnel, responsible for the expenditure of billion of taxpayer dollars, have a responsibility to ensure that their conduct will not violate the public trust placed in them. Their actions must be governed at all times by the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and impartiality. In order to accomplish this, vendors and their representatives must also fulfill their responsibility to deal ethically with the city and its employees, and respect the ethical duties of city contracting personnel. This legislation is designed to provide vendors who want to do business with the city with a single, comprehensive manual containing guidance about standards of conduct, rules, regulations, and laws applicable to their activities. While such a manual cannot specifically address every incident or situation that may arise, it will serve to answer the most frequently asked questions, resulting in an environment where vendors and their representatives can more readily identify and avoid situations in which the propriety of their conduct may be at issue. �2. Chapter 13 of the New York City Charter is hereby amended by adding a new section 336, to read as follows: �336. Procurement Ethics. a. The solicitation of a bid or proposal pursuant to this chapter shall include a vendor's ethics manual that shall be distributed with such solicitation. The manual shall provide vendors with a comprehensive reference containing guidance about standards of conduct, rules, and laws applicable to city procurement of goods, services, and construction. b. The procurement policy board shall promulgate the ethical rules to be followed by vendors contracting with the city, and shall develop the ethics manual distributed in accordance with this section. c. The procurement policy board shall encourage all entities, the expenses of which are paid in whole or in part from the city treasury, or the majority of the members of whose board are city officials or are appointed directly or indirectly by city officials, to distribute this manual, modified as necessary, with any solicitation issues. �3. This local law shall take effect sixty days after it shall have been enacted into law, but shall apply only to contract solicitations occurring after its effective date. Steps to effectuate its implementation shall begin immediately, including, but not limited to, promulgation of related rules and of the ethics manual by the procurement policy board. JD:rd PC-MW INT479.OLD - 2 -