Article 12: Ethics in Public Contracting
Proposed Revisions and Full Committee Comment
Article 12 of the Model Procurement Code for State and Local Governments covers ethics in public purchasing— conflicts of interest, kickbacks, contingent fees, gifts, restrictions on present and former employees, and the handling of confidential information, among other standards of conduct.
The Article 12 Drafting Committee has been working to revise Article 12. Earlier this spring, the committee’s subcommittees developed a consolidated set of recommended revisions covering employee conduct, vendor conduct, gifts and gratuities, remedies, ethics commissions, vendor endorsements, restricted-period communications, and related issues.
Following that subcommittee work, a Tiger Team composed of drafting committee leadership, subcommittee chairs, project staff, a project reporter, and an academic advisor met several times to review the consolidated recommendations and prepare a revised draft for consideration by the full Article 12 Drafting Committee
The Tiger Team draft is now offered for review and comment by the full Article 12 Drafting Committee.
Summary of Tiger Team Revisions
Redlines and Other Draft Documents
Committee members should review the June 8 Post Tiger Team Revisions linked below. To make the document easier to read, we recommend opening it in Word and selecting Review → Tracking → Display for Review → Simple Markup. This view will allow members to read the tiger team’s proposed draft in a cleaner format while still preserving access to the full redline.
For reference, the consolidated revisions from the subcommittees from late March are linked. This was the starting point for the Tiger Team’s work. A link to the original 2002 Article 12 and the recommended regulation is also linked below.
How to Comment
The Article 12 comment period is open through July 7, 2026. Please use the form below to share your feedback. Comments are most useful when tied to a specific provision, so the form asks you to identify the section you are addressing; where you propose a change, please include the exact language you would substitute. You are welcome to submit the form more than once to comment on multiple sections.
Comments inform the Drafting Committee’s deliberations. Staff of the MPC Revision Project will summarize the body of comments provided as well as the Drafting Committee’s responses to those comments. Please do not include confidential, proprietary, or privileged information in your submission.