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On March 2, 2004, an Ethics Advisory,
titled Gifts From Outside Souces, was issued.
It gave guidance on handling gifts from the Microsoft
Corporation-full versions of Microsoft Office
Professional Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office
OneNote 2003. Since that time the Department has
issued additional guidelines. Their guidance states,
impart:
"The Departmental Administration
Office of Procurement and Property Management
(OPPM) and the Office of Ethics have been informed
[of] a recent mailing of "free" versions
of Microsoft Office 2003 to USDA personnel. OPPM
has informed the USDA Management Council of this
issue, and provided a letter/template for use
in returning the "free" software to
Microsoft. The letter has been posted to the IT
Leadership QuickPlace at the link below. OPPM
is unsure how widely within USDA this software
was distributed, but provided this letter as an
example of how to respond. As noted in the letter,
providing "free" software constitutes
a gift from a prohibited source under 5 CFR 2635
subpart B.
The sample letter for use in returning
the [complimentary] software is available at the
following link:
http://quickplace.usda.gov/quickplace/usda-itlc/Main.nsf/h_BC2418076D56DE5586256D87006D98D0/A19901E0528F183486256E6600584433/?OpenDocument
As indicated
in the earlier advisory, this marketing technique,
for training, computer items/software, etc. is
common in the private sector; however, it creates
conflict of interest issues when used to market
products to the Government. For more information,
please review the website at 5 CFR 2635.202.
If you have questions or
encounter situations not covered by this advisory,
please contact your supervisor. Supervisors with
inquiries should contact the Agency Ethics Office
at 504-426-0308 or 504-426-0307.
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