A federal contractor suspended in fallout from the ArriveCan scandal is suing the Government of Canada for $64 million in damages, according to Federal Court records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. Coradix Technology Consulting Inc. blamed federal managers and media for costing it millions in fees.“The sole basis for the suspension and termination was the false allegation that Coradix had breached the Code Of Conduct for procurement,” company lawyers wrote to the court, stating “Coradix was not in breach.”The firm was suspended March 6 amid a public outcry over the cost of the $59.5 million ArriveCan program. Coradix was involved in an unrelated joint venture with another suspended vendor Dalian Enterprises of Ottawa. The lead ArriveCan contractor GC Strategies was also blacklisted and saw the RCMP raid its Woodlawn, ON, offices on April 16 as part of an investigation into alleged fraudulent billing.Coradix’s suspension was announced without explanation in a brief March 6 news release by the Department of Public Works. “Media reporting that resulted from the press release inferred and concluded Coradix’s suspension resulted from the Department of Public Works having decided Coradix was engaged in wrongdoing that affected the integrity, fairness, openness and transparency of the federal procurement system,” wrote the company.Coradix had 81 federal contracts at the time. All were terminated or suspended within weeks, it said. The company claims $57 million in lost payments through breach of contract and $7 million for general damages and reputational harm.“Terminations and suspensions of the contracts were done in bad faith,” lawyers wrote the court. “The terminations and suspensions of the contracts were done for an improper purpose, namely to deflect or distract from negative publicity regarding alleged lapses in management and budgetary oversight of the ArriveCan app.”The firm’s federal clients included the Canada Border Services Agency, Departments of Agriculture, Employment, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Health, Immigration, Indigenous Services, Industry, Infrastructure, National Defence and Transport, Elections Canada and the National Research Council.MPs and auditors to date have uncovered numerous irregularities in ArriveCan contracting including destruction of emails, inside dealing and drinking sessions with GC Strategies’ managing partner and federal managers. “The government couldn’t spend the money fast enough on Arrive-scam,” Conservative MP Kelly Block told a June 3 hearing of the Commons Government Operations Committee.Opposition parties have cited the ArriveCan program as evidence of haphazard hiring of federal consultants that cost taxpayers $21.6 billion a year. “The government seems to be losing control,” Bloc Québécois MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné told a June 6 committee hearing.
