Consultant versus Staff Engineer - Conflict of Interest?
An engineer worked for a major industrial plant for many years, and during this time established a private engineering consulting business. the plant was purchased, and the new owners were required by local regulators to engage an independent consultant to complete design of proposed multi-million dollar upgrades and significant expansion of the facility. An international engineering firm was hired, and the company recommended that the firm work with/through a specific local engineering consulting firm that possessed both business license and qualified professional engineers. After preliminary discussions, the company determined that the staff engineer could act as engineer of record. The staff engineer eventually acted as local engineer-of-record for the permitting package. Is there a lawful reason to reject the submission. or is there a conflict of interest on the part of the staff engineer?