Southern Africa Development Community Secretariat – Procurement and Grants Policy Article 7. Fraud, Corruption and Conflict of Interest (1) The SADC Secretariat requires that the procurement processes and the award of contracts shall be free of fraud, corruption, collusive practices, coercive practices, obstructive practises and conflict of interest. (a) Without limitation, economic operators shall not be hired under the circumstances set forth below, which constitute conflict of interest: (i) Conflict between consulting activities and procurement of goods, works or services. A supplier or a contractor that has been engaged by the Procuring Entity to provide goods, works, or services for the organization, or any of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from providing consulting services related to those goods, works or services. Conversely, a bidder or a contractor hired to provide consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a project, and each of its affiliates, shall be disqualified from subsequently providing goods, works or services. (ii) Conflict among consulting assignments: neither, economic operators (including their personnel and sub-consultants) nor any of their affiliates shall be hired for any assignment that, by its nature, may be in conflict with another assignment of the bidder or contractor. For instance, a contractor assisting the Procuring Entity to implement a project shall not be engaged to prepare an independent assessment for the implementation of the same project, or contractors hired to prepare Terms of Reference for an assignment shall not be hired for the assignment in question. (iii)Relationship with the Procuring Entity’s staff: economic operators (including their personnel and sub-contractors) having business or family relationship with a member of the Procuring Entity’s staff directly or indirectly involved in any part of: (i) the preparation of the Terms of References or Technical Specification of a contract, (ii) the selection process for such contract, or (iii) the supervision of the contract, may not be awarded the contract, unless the conflict stemming from this relationship has been resolved in a manner acceptable to the Procuring Entity. Article 8. Conduct of Economic Operators (1) Economic operators in relation with the Procuring Entity are required to act in a professional, objective and impartial manner in the mutual interest of the two parties. (2) Any attempt by an economic operator to obtain confidential information, enter into unlawful agreements with competitors or influence the members of the evaluation committee, the Procuring Entity or the SADC Secretariat’s staff during the process of examining, clarifying, evaluating and comparing bids, applications or proposals will lead to the rejection of its candidacy, proposal or bid. (3) A contractor and its staff or any other economic operator associated or linked with the contractor shall not, even on an ancillary or subcontracting basis, bid or be allowed to provide services, goods or works if this will raise a conflict of interest as defined in the Article 7 of this Policy. (4) When submitting a bid or application, the economic operator or individual shall declare that (s)he is not affected by any potential conflict of interest, and has no relationship with other bidders, applicants, the Procuring Entity or the SADC Secretariat’s staff or contractors involved in the same procurement process. Should such a situation arise during the performance of the contract, the contractor shall immediately inform the Procuring Entity. 10