Ontario provincial police have laid charges against the private security firm and many of its top executives hired by the RCMP to do screening and metal detection at checkpoints during last summer's G20 summit in Toronto.

Contemporary Security Canada (CSC) is accused of a string of provincial offences under Ontario's private security guard legislation, including three counts of offering services while not licenced, hiring an unlicenced guard at the G20 and G8 and two counts of failing to ensure proper uniforms.

During the probe, the OPP made the unusual move of executing a search warrant on RCMP headquarters in Ottawa on Nov. 24, 2010 and seized documents about the bidding and tendering of the contract.

It all stems from the RCMP's controversial tendering of a $21-million contract for two weeks of work doing metal detection, spot checks and x-ray screening inside summit security zones.

Lecia Stewart, of a public relations firm working on behalf of CSC, said Friday she was "disappointed and surprised the OPP are going ahead with this" given CSC's flawless delivery of service at the G20. She rejected suggestions CSC did anything wrong, insisting that given their specialized skills and experience delivering private security at 25 Olympic venues, they felt entirely up to bidding on the Toronto G20.

Ex-RCMP ties

CSC and its partner company Aeroguard both worked on the G8 and G20 contracts and won the $87-million contract to do private security at the Vancouver Olympic Games, despite the fact CSC — an American company — did not exist in Canada until just before the Olympics.

CSC vice-president Jane Greene was one of the executives charged Friday, accused of selling services when not licenced. Greene is also Aeroguard's president and CEO. The two companies call themselves "joint-venture partners."

Some in Ontario's private security guard industry question whether the presence of Terry Smith played any role in the RCMP awarding the contract. Smith joined Aeroguard in Dec. 2009 — a partner company of CSC. Before that he had been chief coroner in British Columbia and had spent 35 years in the RCMP, rising to the position of officer in charge of the Surrey Detachment.

The RCMP has denied any favouritism — nor has the CBC found any evidence of favouritism.

Greg Cox, an RCMP spokesman, told CBC News on Friday that the RCMP had "no prior knowledge" of Terry Smith's connection to the winning bidder.

Smith is not facing any charges.

Reached at his home in British Columbia, Smith told CBC News "I am not involved with CSC — I work for Aeroguard."

Smith acknowledged he's aware of the CSC contract dispute at the G20, but he wouldn't discuss his precise business relationship with CSC.

"I had no involvement," he told CBC.

CSC had no staff and was not licenced to operate in Ontario when it bid on the RCMP contract for the G20 and G8 summits, but still won the contract over three other companies which bid millions of dollars less.

RCMP spokesman Cox said the "procurement process on this file was conducted in an open and competitive manner requiring that the successful bidder meet local licencing requirements at time of operation."

Competitors felt shut out

The original tender for the G20 contract was put out on April 6, 2010, three months before the summit.

That alone raised suspicions, said Dwayne Gullsaby, head of Toronto-based Securitas, which decided not to bid.

"Given the lack of detail in the RFP [request for proposal] and the one-week turnaround time [in which bids were being accepted], I felt this opportunity had already been teed up for somebody, if you will," Gullsaby told CBC News.

It was as if "a company had already been identified to provide these services." he said.

By April 22, the RCMP narrowed the bidding to four companies, including CSC, the only one not qualified to work in Ontario. CBC News contacted the other three competitors — Garda, G4S and Federal Security Agency — and they all confirm their bids came in the $8 million to $16 million range, below the $18 million CSC originally bid [later billing for $21 million.]

"The money the taxpayer paid for the private security portion of the G8/G20 security is outrageous," said Ross McLeod, head of the Association of Private Security Agencies based in Ontario.

He says CSC inflated its billing rates to almost double the industry standard.

"How does an unlicensed company with unlicensed employees get the contract?" Ross told the CBC. "It just boggles the mind.

"The contract was let by the RCMP and that's ultimately where the questions have to go."

The RCMP has told CBC News they selected CSC over the other bids because of its experience and specialized skills at large events.

The RCMP disqualified Garda from the bidding saying their x-ray machines were not up to the job, even though Garda is qualified and contracted to run airport screening at many Canadian airports.

The RCMP also disqualified G4S by saying they had unsatisfactory references, even though the company won contracts and did work at previous international summits in both London and Pittsburgh.