The Laboratory is bound by a variety of conflict-of-interest policies, some of which emanate from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) contractual requirements and some of which are founded on University policies, State of California law, and Federal regulations. These policies pertain to a broad range of employee activities, including outside employment and business activities (RPM §10.02), hiring procedures (RPM §2.01(C)(5)(b), sponsored research (RPM §10.05), human subjects research (RPM §10.09), licensing (RPM §10.11), and technology transfer (RPM §10.08). An employee who fails to comply with Laboratory conflict-of-interest policies may incur disciplinary action by the Laboratory and prosecution under State law.
Contract 31 contains Clause I.66, Organizational Conflicts of Interest, whose purpose is to ensure that the Regents (and its employees) are not biased because of financial, contractual, organizational, or other interests that relate to the work under the Contract, and that there is no unfair competitive advantage over other parties due to the performance of the Contract. Employees who obtain access to information (such as DOE financial plans or data) that has not been released to the general public must not use such information for any non-Laboratory purpose.
Clause I.109, Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) Sponsoring Agreement, contains prohibitions about using privileged information to compete with the private sector. Additionally, for employees who receive information that may be sensitive or proprietary to the Government, care must be taken to ensure LBNL is operated in the public interest with objectivity and independence, free from organizational conflict of interest.
The University has a compendium of Conflict of Interest policies that can be found here. These policies should be adhered to in concert with the specific requirements under Contract 31.
Questions concerning potential conflicts of interest should be addressed with the employee's supervisor, Division Director, Laboratory Counsel, or the Laboratory Conflict of Interest Coordinator.
Summary of Conflict of Interest Related Links