BAE Systems army tender withdrawn after security breach and sackings

[Erica Absetz <eabsetz () opensecurityfoundation org>]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/bae-systems-army-tender-withdrawn-after-security-breach-and-sackings/story-fndo2dsc-1226542069170

A $500 MILLION Army communications contract will be retendered after a
BAE Systems employee leaked sensitive internal Defence information.

The BAE Systems employee, who had access to the Defence Department's
computer network, informed a colleague of material that gave the
company an unfair advantage over its competitors in the bid for the
Army communications project.

Both employees were sacked after Defence officials discovered the leak.

The company this week walked away from its tender for the contract,
which could have given it 20 years' work.

Kim Scott, director of BAE Systems land and integrated systems unit,
said the Defence Department alerted the company of the security breach
in October.

He said the company sacked the employees after a review and then
decided to withdraw its tender.

"For us to take this decision was a pretty tough one, but we have a
strict code of conduct," he said.

"It not only breached our code of conduct from an internal
perspective, but we felt it may have breached aspects of the tender
protocols."

Mr Scott said BAE Systems would not put forward a bid when the project
was retendered in January.

The contract for the Army's communications services covers internet
and telecommunications access for soldiers on the ground in
Afghanistan and those based in Australia.

The employees were based in BAE Systems Communications, Command,
Control, Computers and Intelligence, or C4I unit.

The company runs the Army's Parakeet communications system and was
believed to be a frontrunner to replace it with a new Battlespace
communications system.

That system was already used by the British Army and BAE Systems were
confident they could replicate the successful program here.

Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing Australia were the other three
bidders for the work.
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