Defence firm chided for insulting soldiers
• A federal trade tribunal has torn a strip off the subsidiary of a U.S. defence firm for insulting Canadian soldiers, calling it shameful that the company made unsubstantiated claims that the troops were biased when testing battlefield communications equipment.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) admonished Raytheon Canada for making a complaint with no supporting evidence whatsoever, and pointed out in unusually strong language that the soldiers from Garrison Petawawa in Ontario were evaluating equipment their lives depended on, and that they conducted the tests with honesty and professionalism.
Raytheon complained last fall to the trade tribunal when its battlefield communications system was rejected for the Canadian military’s Integrated Soldier System Project, or ISSP.
Just days before the federal election was called in August, then-defence minister Jason Kenney announced that Rheinmetall Canada, of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., had been awarded an initial $7-million contract for the Integrated Soldier System Project. The deal is potentially worth up to $250 million if all the proposed gear is eventually purchased and Rheinmetall is selected for related projects.
After losing, Raytheon filed a complaint with the trade tribunal alleging that soldiers from Garrison Petawawa, along with officials from Public Works, now known as Public Services and Procurement, did not follow proper procedures in their evaluation of the company’s bid.
Raytheon alleged the evaluation of the equipment was “arbitrary and imprecise.” It said the soldiers who performed the evaluation “lacked the necessary expertise”; that they based their evaluation on undisclosed criteria; and that the federal government failed to follow the stated process. “Aspects of the evaluation process raise a reasonable apprehension of bias,” the complaint alleged.
It asked the tribunal to cancel the contract to Rheinmetall and have the federal government re-evaluate the bids.
But after investigating the allegations, the trade tribunal concluded that Raytheon had no evidence to support its claims.
And it blasted the company for making accusations of bias that “were entirely unfounded” against the soldiers who were assigned to test the equipment in the field.
“They (Raytheon) most certainly cast aspersions on their work and personal integrity,” the CITT wrote in its findings. “We do not know how this has individually affected them, but it is shameful that they were targeted in the first place.”
The CITT also admonished the company’s lawyers for not persuading the firm to proceed differently. “Good faith must be presumed, and unfounded accusations discouraged,” the tribunal noted.
“Because of the nature of the work of public servants and members of the Canadian Forces, and their commitment to Canada, until there are serious and real grounds to believe otherwise, the Tribunal would hope that they are all treated with respect.”
The tribunal ordered Raytheon to pay costs of $4,700.
The company did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.