Federal government awarded RCMP contract to firm with ties to China | 24CA News

The federal authorities awarded a contract to offer and preserve RCMP communications gear to an organization with ties to the Chinese authorities, Radio-Canada has discovered.

The contract has safety specialists elevating considerations about potential Chinese entry to RCMP communications and knowledge.

On October 6, 2021, the federal authorities awarded Sinclair Technologies a contract value $549,637 for a radio frequency (RF) filtering system. One of the system’s functions is to guard the RCMP’s land-based radio communications from eavesdropping.

While Sinclair Technologies relies in Ontario, the corporate has been managed by Hytera Communications of Shenzen, China since 2017, when Hytera bought Norsat International, Sinclair’s mum or dad firm.

The Chinese authorities owns roughly 10 per cent of Hytera Communications by means of an funding fund.

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blacklisted Hytera in 2021. The FCC says the corporate is one among a number of Chinese companies that pose “an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons.”

Sales and imports of Hytera gear are banned within the United States in consequence.

Chinese telecommunications agency Huawei additionally seems on the record. Canada banned Huawei from its 5G community this 12 months. 

Hytera Communications is going through 21 costs in an American espionage case. The United States Department of Justice has accused the corporate of conspiring to steal commerce secrets and techniques from American telecommunications firm Motorola.

The indictment alleges Hytera recruited and employed Motorola staff to acquire confidential business data between 2007 and 2020. Hytera Communications has denied all the costs within the indictment.

Sinclair Technologies’ major competitor for the RCMP contact was Comprod, a Quebec-based communications expertise agency.

Jawad Abdulnour, Comprod’s vice-president of R&D and engineering, stated Sinclair Technologies could make gear cheaper than it did earlier than as a result of a few of its parts are actually made in China, not Canada.

“It’s very frustrating, disappointing and worrisome,” Abdulnour stated in an interview. 

“How is it that a government agency just goes with the lowest bidder and will give contracts to companies like that when we’re talking about national security?”

Radio-Canada has confirmed — by means of a number of sources with information of the method who weren’t licensed to talk publicly on the matter — that the distinction between the Sinclair and Comprod bids was lower than $60,000.

An RCMP spokesperson informed Radio-Canada in a media assertion that set up work on the techniques has began in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

“Most of the time, the RCMP radio support teams carry out the installation themselves,” stated Cpl. Kim Chamberland in an electronic mail.

But the contract’s name for tenders requires that the contractor present upkeep and technical help companies after the system is put in.

Chamberland informed Radio-Canada that the RCMP is assured the system will stay safe.

“All information, including radio frequencies, is shared securely and only with those with the appropriate level of security,” she wrote.

“All contractors who have access to RCMP networks and locations must obtain a security clearance according to the work to be performed.”

A spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the division that awarded the contract, stated in response to Radio-Canada’s questions that PSPC didn’t take safety considerations and Sinclair’s possession into consideration throughout the bidding course of.

Sinclair Technologies declined to reply Radio-Canada’s questions on whether or not its gear comprises parts made in China, and whether or not Hytera can entry RCMP radio frequencies. 

“Due to customer confidentiality, we are unable to provide comment and we respectfully decline your interview invitation,” Wee Er, govt normal supervisor of Sinclair Technologies, stated in an electronic mail.

Experts involved about safety

Conor Healy is a Canadian now primarily based in Washington who serves as director of presidency analysis at IPVM, a safety and surveillance analysis group. He stated he is involved about giving a Hytera-owned firm entry to delicate RCMP communications.

“If I worked for an intelligence agency, this is exactly the kind of system I’d want to have access to,” Healy stated.

Healy stated the dangers embody eavesdropping, assortment of communications knowledge and jamming or shutting down the radio communications system.

University of Ottawa senior fellow Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a former senior federal official and a specialist on China’s science and expertise, stated the federal government ought to terminate the contract.

“You have to be naïve,” McCuaig-Johnston stated. “It’s like giving the key to Canada’s security to Chinese actors.

“It’s not nearly eliminating the contract. It’s additionally a matter of ripping out what has already been put in.”

The October 2021 determination by the federal authorities makes Sinclair a most well-liked vendor for a three-year time period. The settlement consists of the opportunity of a two-year extension possibility.