You and your design group are competing for a multidisciplinary concept project. Your firm is the lead group in the design professional consortium formed to compete for the project. Your consortium has been selected to be the first to enter fee negotiations with the project owner. During negotiations, the amount you have to cut from your fee to be awarded the contract will require dropping one of the consortium members whose staff has special capabilities not found in the staff of the remaining consortium members. Is your consortium response in the negotiations ethical?

a. No, not if the owner is left with the impression that the consortium is still fully qualified to perform all the required tasks.

b. Yes, if your remaining consortium members hire a few new, lower cost employees to do the special work originally intended to be provided by the consortium member dropped

c. No, because an engineer may not accept a contract to coordinate a project with other professional firms providing capabilities and services not under the engineer's direct control

d. Yes, if in accepting an assignment to coordinate a project, a single person will sign and seal all the documents in the entire consortium work.