# 4.4 Conflicts of interest VVBs are required to be free from any conflicts of interest with the project and project proponent who they are contracted to audit. To mitigate potential conflicts of interest between the project proponent and the VVB, NCS will take responsibility for selecting and engaging VVBs for project validation and verification. Additionally, all VVBs are required to submit a conflict of interest disclosure prior to engagement. VVBs are beholden to the NCS conflicts of interest policy, where they fall into the category of contractors to NCS. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://standard.nature-value.org/readme/4-validation-verification-requirements/4.4-conflicts-of-interest.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.