Now, our first Freedom of Information request to the BAA asked for the contracts which they denied. We have since appealed that decision to the ombudsman - as is stipulated under the law. And while that is pending, 7News has obtained a leaked copy of one of those contracts - and going through it - it's fair to conclude that the priority was the contract payout more than it was the delivery of airport ready services.
Jules Vasquez reviewed it:
Signed on Christmas Eve, the Four Diamond contract is remarkable less for what it omits than what it includes.
The discussion of services provided is very general and the only technical specification is that the cameras must be HD. There is nothing specific to aerodromes, or airports, no specific zones of responsibility, no reference to terminals, apron, airside or landside, no requirements of the area of coverage, no term specified for the preservation of security recordings or retrieval of those recordings, no incident reporting and documentation. But, In a curious addition, one of the only things it specifies is that when guards are given keys they have to handle a receipt for it.
And what about those guards? The document does refer to personnel but only says in general terms that they must be qualified and competent and, of course, courteous and polite - no reference to any specialized training or certification, or any international standards, or TSA training, or even that they must be cleared by local Police, Viewers will recall that this plane was stolen by cartel operatives.
There is a reference to calling the airport authority in the case of an event but no defined protocol for incident response and reporting mechanism, including immediate notification to civil aviation authorities.
There is also no provision for performance standards and monitoring.
But one thing that is very specific is the price, 124,610 dollars monthly - that's crystal clear.
And, the automatic renewal - after 10 years and 15 million paid, the contract automatically renews unless the BAA writes to say otherwise.
And then there is the confidentiality clause that does not refer specifically so much to data and protection of sensitive airport and passenger footage, but it does refer to the contract document which must remain confidential. Of course, according to the Freedom of Information Act - "No public contract or other public document shall contain a confidentiality clause and every secrecy provision in a public contract or other public document - shall be wholly void and of no effect,
The contract is signed by Mike Estephan for Four Diamond and by chairman Ricardo Martin and Sandy Roberts for the BAA. It was not signed by the other owner of Four Diamond, BAA board member Nigel Bouloy.
It was prepared by William A Lindo - who, months later - would be appointed to the BAA board which he later resigned from.
The contract has now been suspended, and will reportedly be cancelled - but the public does not know at what cost and with how much paid out - and how is it that this lucky company was chosen for this lucrative contract in the first place - what special connection did these Four Diamonds have?
And while that is the Four Diamond contract, we are told the ISECURITY contract is very similar - and in fact may have been modeled off Four Diamond's one.
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