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Ethics in Government Contracts

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Please review the attached document for the outline of this paper. This paper is for guidance only. Please compose a ten (10) page paper on Business Ethics in Government Contracts. Some sources of information are the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and Formation of Government Contracts, Third Edition, pages 134 through 202.

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This is a discussion of the role of ethics in Government contracts, including much of the legislation that is already in place

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(If you are using the APA style of writing, this is a great resource - https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/, and the PDF example paper, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20090212013008_560.pdf
My understanding of Brainmass protocol is that I don't provide you with a submit ready paper. However, with each category, I am giving you references, excerpts from them that apply to your subject with the in-text citations, some original thoughts and connections, and finally the reference itself in APA format. If you want to use the reference, the APA formatted reference should be put at the end of your paper. If it is available I have provided the links to the reference as well, so that you could go to them and find additional information to include in your paper)

Topic: Business Ethics in Government Contracts

1. Introduction

A vital part of acquisition process of supplies and services by government executive agencies is compliance with the ethical protocols that are in place. The authority of the Federal Acquisition Regulation is derived from the Department of Defense, which can issue both permissions for those who adhere to those protocols, and restrictions for those who do not conduct business in an proper and legal manner. This paper addresses the need for, and various methods whereby agencies can employ their required written ethical code in the process of procuring and completing contracts within the various levels of the US government.

Federal Acquisition Regulation - Authority of the FAR
http://www.acquisition.gov/far/far_faqframe.html

1. Definition of Business Ethics
Business ethics can be defined as the moral standards for a group of people who will work together towerd the common goal of profit for the firm. (Jennings, 1999, p 40) These are composed of the moral standards of the individuals in the business, but perhaps more importantly, those in leadership positions can affect those of the employees, who have a vested interest in retaining their jobs. Moral standards are usually derived from positive, or legal, law, which is an important source of ethics from the standpoint of one who works with the government as a supplier or as a provider of services. They also come from natural law, which most consider to be universal law from a higher source. A third source of ethics is moral relativism, which refers to standards established according to the situation in which a dilemma is found. Finally, one can base one's moral standards on religious belief, based on a writing that is considered to come from divine revelation.

Marianne Jennings. Business: Its Legal,Ethical and Global Environment, Fifth Edition. (1999) West Legal Studies in Business, South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati,OH, pp 40-41

2. Significance of the Business Ethics
Business ethics can hold a strategic position in the market of the firm. If consumers recognize that a business holds to treating them fairly and consistently, those consumers are more likely to return, and also recommend that business to friends, and this will benefit the company long term. When dealing with the government in the development of contractural agreements, holding to the conditions of those agreements can also develop a sound reputation among those who award those contracts. Some people and businesses are ethical simply because it is the right thing to do. Some who adhere to this reason for ethical behavior do not always succeed in business, and others do. But because of a personal decision, these will be ethical anyway, which is a valid reason for doing so.

Maintaining a good reputation through ethics will also benefit a company during tough times. A market or other stakeholder within a company's sphere of influence - suppliers, complementary businesses, and so forth, are more likely to help a business who has been known to live up to an ethical reputation. Often the prominent executives within a company will have a large role in maintaining the company's good reputation. If, for instance, a company executive blames everyone else for their own company's obvious faults, others, including those who award government contracts, may not find that company as trustworthy when things go bad for them.

Often ethical postures, which determine what priorities the business leadership has regarding profit, stakeholders and society in general, will strongly affect the decisions that are made within that business. For instance, if an executive board follows the inherence posture, if expressing oneself publicly on a political issue will hurt the stakeholders or share holders, they are not going to express oneself in this manner. Another business can express enlightened self interest, when it sees a trend in their market going in a certain direction, that business would ...

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