Conflict of interest
A situation where someone involved in an award has a personal or financial interest that could improperly influence a decision. Federal recipients must have a written policy covering it, and must disclose conflicts rather than merely avoid them.
Part of the GrantTrove grant funding glossary — one entry for every field the catalogue stores.
Also called COI · Organizational conflict of interest
In detail
It reaches further than most organisations expect: procurement decisions, subrecipient selection, and hiring are all covered, and a relative’s interest is generally treated as the employee’s own.
Disclosure is the operative duty. A conflict that is disclosed and managed is usually workable; the same conflict undisclosed is a finding regardless of whether anything improper happened.
Against the eligibility fields
`elig_entity_types`, `elig_states`, `elig_industries`, `elig_demographics` and `elig_size_limit` describe classes of applicant a notice named. A conflict is a fact about individuals and relationships inside an organisation. No eligibility value expresses one, and we do not extend eligibility to cover conduct.
How GrantTrove stores it
- Eligibility fields carry the source’s own values, mapped only where a mapping is honest, with `elig_note` for wording the vocabulary cannot express.
- We publish no policy templates and no compliance advice, which is a boundary rather than an omission: the notice and your own counsel are the authorities.
Common questions
Do we need a written policy?
For federal awards, yes. The Uniform Guidance requires one.
Does a relative’s interest count?
Generally yes. Most policies treat immediate family interests as the employee’s own.
Is disclosure enough?
Disclosure plus management, per your policy. Silence is what creates the finding.