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DynCorp to Pay Subcontractor In Racial Discrimination Suit
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One person at the party, a DynCorp employee who was laid off in December 2006, later testified about the details of the letter. Other employees at the party said they couldn't recall the letter.
"DynCorp International has made a thorough investigation of allegations of misconduct, but has found no case of actual racial discrimination," spokesman Douglas Ebner said by e-mail. "In any case, the alleged misconduct has no relation to the corporate decision not to renew a contract option with WWNS."
In 1993, when Walter Gray founded WWNS, it was a small shop providing technology services to area businesses. In 2003, it became a subcontractor to DynCorp, and its revenue grew from $500,000 to $50 million a year.
Some of the revenue came from DynCorp's work in Iraq. DynCorp won a State Department contract training the civilian police force in Iraq and a smaller contract providing diplomatic security. WWNS was selected to provide telecommunications support on those contracts.
Over time, WWNS claimed in its suit, its employees were increasingly subjected to racial epithets, banned from meetings and in some cases forced to leave Iraq. The lawsuit claimed that DynCorp used WWNS's status as a small, minority-owned firm to help win the deals before the relationship soured.
In summer 2006, DynCorp decided not to renew its contract. Ebner said his firm received three letters, two in January 2006 and one in June 2006, from the State Department specifically citing its WWNS-supported technical equipment. The letters were submitted as evidence during the trial, Ebner said.
WWNS, in its filings, cited DynCorp's positive evaluations of its work.
After ending the relationship with WWNS, DynCorp hired EDO, which is not minority-owned, to replace WWNS. EDO, which was originally named in the suit, and WWNS settled separately.
Gray and Bailey, who have spent the past year and a half pursuing the lawsuit, said they hoped to use proceeds from the case to rebuild their company.
