Question

How do you think the pay-to-play scandal affect civil engineer professions?

Answer 1

Pay-to-play is a phrase used when money is exchanged for services or rather favour being provided. In civil engineering profession the pay to play scandal can be in some of the following forms :-

1) Payment to designer by the contractor to increase the scope of work or to relax some design considerations.

2) Bribing an authority to get a contract by a company.

3) Payment done to the quality control team to get a favourable decision in quality audit or similarly to safety personnel's carrying out safety audit.

4) A quantity surveyor making dubious calculations so as to benefit the store in charge procuring more material than required in lieu of commission etc.

Thus in nutshell , pay to play is related with immoral and illegal act of influencing an authority to get favourable decisions in return. In civil engineering profession this may lead to catastrophic damages to life and property, major cost overruns etc thereby adversely affecting the profession.