Is It OK to Bid Again?
Stephen Bell and Brenda Sims were university professors who had chosen Global Campus Tours to be the travel provider for a travel study course they were planning. Stephen notified the other companies that submitted proposals—UniTours and Collegiate Trips—to tell them he and Brenda had chosen another vendor. Before he could call Global Campus Tours to tell them the decision, Stephen received a call from Jerry at UniTours. Jerry wanted to know whose proposal they chose, but Stephen would not tell him. Jerry then asked if he could see the successful proposal and develop one with a lower cost. Stephen and Brenda had not considered that a provider might ask to revise its proposal after the submission deadline and realized giving UniTours an opportunity to revise its bid could reduce the cost to the students. But would it be fair to the other companies? And would it be ethical?
- Decide if it would be ethical to allow one company to revise a bid that it had submitted without giving other companies the same opportunity.
- Identify who the stakeholders are in a situation and analyze the impact a decision would have on each of them.
- Apply the theory of utilitarianism to an ethical dilemma.
- Apply the theory of relativism to an ethical dilemma.