Parliamentary Committee Notes: CBSA equipment manufactured by Sinclair and Hytera
2022-2023 Sinclair Technologies and Hytera CBSA
Date: 2023-01-20
Classification: Unclassified
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: CBSA
Proposed Response:
- The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) does not have a contract with Sinclair nor Hytera.
- The CBSA has equipment manufactured by Sinclair, which are passive components; they require a connection to a transmitter or receiver to process radio frequency signals and in all cases are made by American and New Zealand companies.
- With respect to Hytera radios, the CBSA procured 589 since 2016 and has replaced 464 of them to date. The remaining 125 will be replaced before March 1, 2023.
Background:
CBC reported on December 7, 2022 that the RCMP awarded a contract to a firm (Sinclair Technologies) with ties to China. The CBSA has an extensive radio communication network with parts of that network leveraging RCMP, Provincial and Municipal government systems already in place. Sinclair's parent company, Norsat International, was purchased by Hytera Communications of Shenzen on July 20, 2017. The Chinese government owns approximately 10% of Hytera Communications.
The CBSA does not have a contract with Sinclair or Hytera. This includes any contract for service, maintenance, or support as was included in the recent RCMP contract. The CBSA, facilitated by the contracting authority PSPC, does have contract 47419-180625/001/QD with a Canadian/American company, Canquest Inc. As part of the contract, Canquest provides system access for our Peace Bridge Port of Entry and acted as a reseller of Hytera radios. This contract ends in March 2023 and will not be renewed.
The CBSA has been working diligently to replace its radios with modern digital equipment that are encrypted end to end. There are approximately 300 radios including the remaining 125 Hytera radios to be replaced as part of the Accelerated Radio Deployment Project. The CBSA currently has approximately 6000 encrypted digital radios in operation.
The CBSA now conducts an Invitation to Qualify process for all sensitive equipment that includes a supply chain integrity assessment by the Communications Security Establishment.
- Given the low dollar value of the Sinclair antennae procured and the passive nature of the equipment this process was not part of our standard acquisition process.
- New radios purchased for the CBSA include an “authority to operate” review by security.
Contacts:
Prepared by: Alain Bourgon, Director Science and Engineering Support Operations, 613-762-6035
Approved by: Minh Doan, Vice President Information Science and Technology Branch
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