Meetings
 
Agenda Item
Docket No. 22-559
 
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RE:
Advisory opinion regarding whether Deloitte & Touche LLP would be prohibited from responding to requests for proposals or entering into contracts with the Louisiana Office of Community Development while the wife of Patrick Forbes, Executive Director of the Louisiana Office of Community Development, is employed with Deloitte & Touche.
Facts:
Pat Forbes is a public servant employed as the Executive Director of OCD. His agency is responsible for administering federal disaster recovery grants. The agency primarily works in the area of community development and often contracts some of its work out, including program design and implementation, program and project management, grants management, and design and construction.

Mr. Forbes' wife, Ana Forbes, is salaried employee of Deloitte & Touche, a national firm that, among many other things, provides services in the disaster recovery field and would like to respond to requests for proposals or bids published by Pat Forbes' agency, OCD, in the future. Ana Forbes works in the field of project management and program delivery. Ana Forbes' employment is based on projects between Deloitte & Touche and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness(GOHSEP). GOHSEP is a separate agency from OCD. Ana Forbes will not personally work on any projects involving OCD. Her salary will be unaffected by any contractual or business relationship that Deloitte & Touche may have with OCD. She has been employed with Deloitte & Touche for over a year. Additionally, Mr. Forbes will not participate in selection panels associated with the requests for proposals and he will recuse himself from any deliberation or discussion related to the selection processes for which Deloitte & Touche may be considered. Neither Pat nor Ana Forbes are owners, officers, directors, trustees, or partners in Deloitte & Touche.

In a prior opinion in Docket No 2020-368, the Board determined that Section 1111C(2)(d) of the Code did not prohibit Deloitte & Touche from responding to requests for proposals or entering into contracts with OCD. However, Mr. Forbes was prohibited from receiving any thing of economic value for or in consideration of services rendered or to be rendered to a person who had or were seeking to have a business, financial, or contractual relationship with the agency. Thus, Mr. Forbes was prohibited from receiving a thing of economic value by virtue of his wife's compensation for services rendered to Deloitte & Touche if it was to seek to have any contractual, business or financial relationship with OCD.

Comments:
Since the time the Board rendered AO 2020-368, La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d)(5) has been enacted providing an exception to the previous prohibition of a spouse of a public servant being employed with a prohibited source. In Board AO 2021-1057, the new exception provided in La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d)(5) is applied.
Law:
La. R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d) prohibits a public servant and a legal entity in which the public servant exercises control or owns an interest from receiving anything of economic value for services rendered to or for any person during his public service unless such services are neither performed for nor compensated by any person from whom such public servant would be prohibited by La. R.S. 42:1115(A)(1) or (B).

La. R.S. 42:1111C(5)(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of Subparagraph (2)(d) of this Subsection, the spouse of a public servant may continue employment with a person who has or is seeking a contractual or other business or financial relationship with the public servant's agency provided all of the following conditions are met: (i) The spouse is a salaried or wage-earning employee and has been continuously employed by the person for at least one year prior to the date the compensated employment would have otherwise initially been prohibited. (ii) The compensation of the spouse is substantially unaffected by a contractual or other business or financial relationship with the public servant's agency. (iii) Neither the public servant nor the spouse is an owner, officer, director, trustee, or partner in the legal entity which has or is seeking to have the relationship with the public servant's agency. (iv) The public servant recuses or disqualifies himself from participating in any transaction involving the spouse's employer in accordance with R.S. 42:1112 and related rules and regulations. (v) Either prior to or within ten business days of the date the compensated employment would otherwise be prohibited, the spouse and the public servant jointly file with the Board of Ethics a written notice containing a brief description of the nature of the contractual, business, or financial relationship with the public servant's agency, the date the spouse was employed by the person, and any other information required by the board. (vi) The spouse complies with the disclosure requirements in R.S. 42:1114. (b) The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to members of the legislature.

La. R.S. 42:1114Aprovides that each public servant and each member of his immediate family who derives anything of economic value, directly, through any transaction involving the agency of such public servant or who derives any thing of economic value of which he may be reasonably expected to know through a person which (1) is regulated by the agency of such public servant, or (2) has bid on or entered into or is in any way financially interested in any contract, subcontract, or any transaction under the supervision or jurisdiction of the agency of such public servant shall disclose certain information as set forth in Section 1114.

Recommendations:
Adopt proposed advisory opinion.
Assigned Attorney: Suzanne Mooney
 
 
ATTACHMENTS:
Description:
2022-559 - AO request
2022-559- AO 2020-368
2022-559- AO 2021-1057
2022-559 - Advisory Opinion Draft - Forbes