Handling Potential Conflicts and Ethical Issues in Your Role with the Society
Please see the Policy Manual for the specific policies referred to below.

Sometimes, in your role as a member of a SCCM’s creative community (committee, task force, special body or other workgroup), you may encounter circumstances that require special care in their handling.  Most often this comes about in relation to purchasing, contracting and sometimes doing business with the Society as a vendor.  To ensure these matters are handled in the most ethical and transparent fashion, SCCM has several detailed policies and procedures that apply to these circumstances.  In order to assist you in understanding these policies and procedures, this document has been developed to compile the information into a single, more user friendly source.  While every effort has been made to ensure the clarity of the information provided herein, you are encouraged to seek out the source material if you have any questions or concerns, or to discuss the matter in question with your staff partner, the SCCM CEO/Executive Vice-President (CEO/EVP) or the President of the Society.

As you may know, SCCM is charted as a charitable non-profit organization.  So as not to compromise that charter, monies of the Society may not benefit individual members.  SCCM members that serve on workgroups are volunteers that, by definition, do work not to be paid but to improve the state of patient care and the art and science of medicine and thus to improve the lives of those living within our society.  Hence, it has been the policy of SCCM to occasionally pay reasonable honoraria only for tasks that consume an inordinate amount of time, but not to pay for other services performed by those serving on SCCM’s workgroups.  All proposed honoraria must be approved as part of SCCM’s annual budget.  Travel and related expenses are reimbursable in line with the detailed policies provided in the Policy Manual.

Realizing there may be times when SCCM members, volunteers or the companies for which they work, may in fact be the best or most appropriate vendor for a particular project, Council approved a policy that outlines member participation as a vendor to the Society.  Members can only participate in the request for proposal (RFP) process and otherwise offer goods or services to the Society for a fee in the event of full compliance with this policy:

 A completed Volunteer Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest, Assignment of Rights, and Speaker Disclosure form must be on file at SCCM Headquarters.

 Full detailed disclosure must be made in advance to all interested parties, clearly stating your relationship to the party that would benefit from the business arrangement if you are not personally the beneficiary.

• Would-be vendor must be in the business of regularly providing similar services or goods to other customers.
• The would-be vendor must not participate in the decision making process in any way.
• The would-be vendor must have no role in the post-award evaluation process.
• The transaction must be in the best interests of the Society, which includes a competitive bid process.
• No special advantages in marketing or promotion shall be received by the would-be vendor.
• All applicable requirements of the Society’s Bylaws, Policies or Procedures must be met, both in letter and spirit, throughout the process.

The SCCM Council has therefore vested in the CEO/EVP the responsibility for ensuring the Bylaws, Policies and Procedures are implemented.  Consequently, the CEO/EVP or his designee will work with elements of the SCCM leadership in the vendor selection process.  The CEO/EVP will serve as the sole signatory on all contracts, agreements and other documents which are intended to bind the Society financially or obligate the Society in any legally binding way.  Please remember that the Society’s CEO/EVP is the SCCM Registered Agent and the address of record is that of the SCCM Headquarters.  In your role as a workgroup member, you are not authorized to engage in business activities on behalf of the Society (or any of its constituent parts) and should always refer such business issues to your staff  partners, who will in turn involve the SCCM CEO/EVP as necessary to ensure these matters are handled in accordance with the governing documents.

In short, it is the intention of the Society to act at all times in a way that complies with all industry standards and government regulations, and at the same time is in the best overall interest of the Society and its full membership.  If at any time you encounter a situation that you believe could possibly be misconstrued or that has the potential to be viewed as counter to these principles, please contact the SCCM President or the CEO/EVP to ensure matters of this nature are handled appropriately and with full transparency.