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Research Compliance: Conflicts of Interest

Reader Question: The sales manager of an equipment manufacturer from whom our lab has made large purchases has emailed that he would like to take me and my grad students out to a nice dinner during the upcoming national meeting of our research specialty. We obviously are already good customers. Should academics like us accept such? Why or why not? Also would it matter if we were merely "prospective" customers instead of proven ones?

Expert Comments: Knowing how to handle vendors who pass out dinner invites, ball game tickets or “lunch for the lab” is today’s hot button conflicts-of-interest (COI) issue. This conundrum can be especially tricky if you genuinely like the vendor’s products and have a great sales rep who you’ve worked with for a long time (and maybe, have even gone out to dinner with in the past!)

Most institutions’ COI policies have provisions that flatly prohibit taking gratuities from vendors, or at least require employees to avoid business relationship that are, or may appear to be, a conflict of interest.  Your “nice dinner” would certainly violate any blanket prohibition on gifts, and likely violates the second, especially when viewed through the eyes of a competing vendor.  You might be tempted to argue that “it’s only dinner,” especially if your institution allows you to take “nominal” gifts.  Your common sense, however, should tell you loud and clear that dinner at a nice restaurant with several grad students is NEVER going to fall under any de minimus exception.

Perhaps even more importantly, you should remember to take the “Newspaper Test.”  Ask yourself, would I want to read about this dinner date on the front page of my morning paper under the headline “Undue Vendor Influence Uncovered in University Purchasing Practices”? After all, COI isn’t just about actual impropriety, it’s about the appearance of impropriety too. Being technically in compliance with a rule isn’t going to help you much in the court of public opinion once the news machine starts churning.

Finally, never underestimate the anger of a “vendor scorned” – if another vendor finds out that his competitor got the sale after taking you out to an upscale steakhouse, you can bet that a complaint to your procurement department or counsel’s office will shortly follow.  Naturally you would plead your "uprightness," but the situation can be made to look ugly for you.  Don’t take any comfort from the fact that you might be an old customer that the vendor is “thanking” for prior purchases.  In either case the losing vendor is apt to be angry and possibly vindictive.

You can see it follows that you must be especially scrupulous about your actions when dealing with vendors competing for your business, whether old or new. Why expose yourself to this peril?  After all, is a nice meal out worth having your integrity questioned?

So here's an idea.  Graciously turn down the meal invitation, and let your sales rep know that with all the money he’s saving, he should be able to convert those "dinner dollars" into an even-lower price bid the next time your lab goes shopping with him.

Comments by Kristin H. West, J.D., Associate V.P. and Director, Office of Research Compliance, Emory University Atlanta

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