Ethics in Healthcare Administration

You are a manager of an outpatient clinic in a rural setting. Over the past year you have developed a friendship with the sales representative of the company who sells supplies to the clinic. You have a lot in common, children of similar age and your spouses also get along great. You have socialized together, taking family vacations and dining out on a number of occasions. Your friend, the sales representative, has come to you to ask for a favor. The sales representative has learned that the organization that owns the clinic that you manage is seeking out bids for new suppliers. The sales representative further tells you that since they are smaller than some of the other companies who will be bidding; it may be harder for them to compete on pricing of supplies. The sales representative, your friend, asks you to help by letting them know who the other bidders are but not the pricing they are bidding. Is this request by your friend a conflict of interest? Why or why not?