| Advisory opinion regarding whether John Wintz, a former employee of the Materials and Testing Section as an Engineer 7 with the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD), may accept employment with Michael Baker International, which has been hired by DOTD to develop a database. |
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John Wintz retired from DOTD on January 11, 2014. Mr. Wintz worked in the Material and Testing Section and he retired as an Engineer 7 with the title "Field Quality Assurance Engineer." As a Field Quality Assurance Engineer, he had oversight on the development of the SiteManager Materials Management (SMM) System recently implemented by DOTD. The System was designed to track and report on all QA samples for all DOTD projects. Mr. Wintz also supervised the legacy mainframe system, "MATT," which SMM will eventually replace. He was instructed by his administrators to not spend any time or resources to enable the SMM system to handle Design-Build Projects.
Mr. Wintz's involvement on Design-Build Projects involved geotechnical engineering, and some sampling and testing issues. According to the organizational chart provided by Mr. Wintz, it shows him over the Materials Automation Unit Gang (4 employees); the Field Operation Unit Gang (4 employees); the Soils & Aggregates Unit Gang (6 employees); the Physicals Tests Unit Gang (9 employees).
Mr. Wintz would like to accept employment with Michael Baker International. Michael Baker Int. has been hired by DOTD to develop a documentation database using SharePoint that will record all Quality Assurance and Owner Verification sampling and testing and perform all statistical analysis needed to be in conformance with FHWA-HRT-12-039 for Design Build Projects.
Mr. Wintz woul be in charge of managing the refining and troubleshooting issues that come up with the current system. Mr. Wintz's expertise in the DoTD Materials Lab will allow Michael Baker Int. to mold the system according to the many variances in DOTD needs across the state. Mr. Wintz will not work directly with any specific DOTD project, but if a DOTD project has an issue with the function of the system or a request for enhancement for the system, there will be interaction with individuals from that project to resolve the issue. Mr. Wintz may also have interaction with various districts of DOTD to determine their individual needs for the system.
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La. R.S. 42:1121A(1) provides no former agency head or elected official shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public service as the head of such agency or as an elected public official serving in such agency, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction, involving that former agency or render any service on a contractual basis to or for such agency.
La. R.S. 42:1121B provides no former public employee shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such former public employee participated at any time during his public employment and involving the governmental entity by which he was formerly employed, or for a period of two years following the termination of his public employment, render, any service which such former public employee had rendered to the agency during the term of his public employment on a contractual basis, regardless of the parties to the contract, to, for, or on behalf of the agency with which he was formerly employed.
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Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Tracy Barker |
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