| Advisory opinion request from a former employee of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority ("CPRA") regarding whether she can provide compensated construction administration services that directly support CPRA projects through her current employer, Intracoastal Consultants LLC. |
|
Destiny Lynch was employed with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority ("CPRA") as a Coastal Resources Program Specialist in the Contracts & General Services Section from July 29, 2024, until April 11, 2025. The Contracts & General Services Section handles all types of contracts under Title 39, such as Professional, Consulting, Personal, Interagency, and Cooperatives, as well as contracts not under Title 39, such as Intergovernmental, Cost Shares, and MOU/MOA. During her employment with CPRA, Ms. Lynch was responsible for drafting and processing contracts for signature and approval by all parties, which included drafting the contract with a contractor, working internally with CPRA Staff and Executives to ensure the contract was signed and all required documentation was received and in the file folder, working with the contractor to ensure all required documentation was received and the contract was signed, and entering the contract into LaGov for approvals and final approval by the Office of State Procurement.
Some of the contracts Ms. Lynch worked on were Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity ("IDIQ") contracts, which function as large, broad-scope retainer contracts. Once a project team is ready for a contractor to begin work on a specific project, a Task Order is issued to the contractor for the more specific project work. Ms. Lynch was responsible for entering the Task Order into LaGov against the specific contract and specific project to encumber the funds. Ms. Lynch was also responsible for reviewing invoices for correctness and compliance with the contract being billed, which included, but was not limited to, checking that the term of the invoice was within the contract term dates, that the rates being billed did not exceed the established rates in the contract, and that all invoice supporting documentation had been received, then she would process the invoices to Accounting for payment. Due to the volume of contracts, task orders, and invoices that Ms. Lynch handled daily, it is difficult to determine which contracts or projects Ms. Lynch worked on while employed with CPRA in the Contracts & General Services Section. However, Ms. Lynch did not work on any construction contracts or bids under Title 38.
On December 1, 2025, Ms. Lynch began new employment with Intracoastal Consultants, LLC ("Intracoastal"), a private civil engineering firm, as an Administrative Assistant. Her current job duties mostly involve working on construction administration tasks, invoicing, bid documents, field logs, meetings, meeting notes, and assisting with PowerPoint development. Previously, Intracoastal entered into an IDIQ Limited Engineering Services Contract with CPRA in 2022, which began on January 1, 2023, and ended on December 31, 2023. On April 1, 2024, Intracoastal was issued its first task order to provide services on CPRA's Delta Wide Crevasses Project. Intracoastal's design services contract with CPRA ended on December 31, 2025. On January 1, 2026, at the beginning of the new period of the IDIQ Limited Engineering Services Contract between CPRA and Intracoastal, Intracoastal started providing services on a Construction Services Contract with CPRA for the Delta Wide Crevasses Project, which is the only active project that Intracoastal currently has under its IDIQ Limited Engineering Services Contract with CPRA.
|
|
La. R.S. 42:1121B(1) provides that 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 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.
La. R.S. 42:1121C provides that no legal entity in which a former public servant is an officer, director, trustee, partner, or employee shall, for a period of two years following the termination of his public service, assist another person, for compensation, in a transaction, or in an appearance in connection with a transaction in which such public servant at any time participated during his public service and involving the agency by which he was formerly employed or in which he formerly held office.
|
|
|
Adopt the proposed advisory opinion.
|
|
| Assigned Attorney: |
Jessica Meiners |
|
|