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Re LEM CR CRIS Tre rd wate Vite! * ~21- of public bids in Maryland. Instead, the selection of engineers for State 4 . . = Roads contracts: has” rested exclusively in the discretion of public officials —-in Maryland,| the Governor and the members of the State Roads Commission. \ They have had tirtually absolute control. There are many engineering companies me seek contracts, but price competition was not allowed under the ethical seqndards of this profession until October of 1971. Therefore, engineers are ¥ ry vulnerable to pressure from public officials for both legal and illegal payments. An engineer who refuses to pay can be deprived of, substantial public work without effective recourse, and one who pays can safely expect that he will be rewarded. | A few companies developed in time a size, expertise, and stature that insulated them to some extent from this system. One or two developed an expertise, for example, in large bridge design, that other local companies could not match. One or two grew so large and had been awarded so many substantial contracts that the State could not do without their services unless out-of-state consultants were employed. In these ways, a few companies in effect "graduated" in time from the system to a position of lesser weenie, and: they could afford | to resist and perhaps in some instances, refuse to participate. In fact, Green believed that his own company was in recent years in the process of moving into this class. It was seldom necessary, in Green's experience, for there to be any express prior agreement between an engineer and a public official in Maryland. Under this system, which each State administration perpetuated, the connection between payments and contracts rested on a largely tacit under- standing under which engineers knew that if they did not pay, they would not receive very many contracts and that if they did pay, they would receive favored treatment. Therefore, when a politician requested a payment or when an engineer offered one, it was not necessary for anyone expressly to refer to the connection between payments and contracts because everyone understood the system, and could rely upon it without actually talking about it. 8 ME eR POET AA ETE a TIE TORN OE ADTRAN EAT Ay ERRATA GE WANE OI UE EY EI PELE, SHAE ARI LAS HAT A TRIES AMRIT RAE FRE SEERA AS AW AIG 8 EEE SR, EAE TORE BA ES IRE REN HAR OUe cetl peng Stet tay S| . * : . - - “