Public Accounts committee  If I could correct you on the pronunciation, it's “Bad-OON”.

Public Accounts committee  This is a contract dispute, and it's a very minor element of a very large contract. We recognize that the money is important to the individual members. If in fact we've incorrectly interpreted, then by all means we will do that. On a matter of principle, this is truly an interpretation difference.

Public Accounts committee  I think that's the heart of the matter. This is a commercial dispute, and contract law would dictate that you can't take any one provision of a contract and look at it in isolation. There are several other provisions that reference this real estate incentive and how it's funded.

Public Accounts committee  We read the contract differently. We think there is an element in terms of that pricing matrix, but there are also several references. For example, on page 45, there's a reference to the policy, which says we have to administer the benefits under the integrated relocation policy document.

Public Accounts committee  It's not complex for me in terms of how we understand the policy. The policy and all of the supporting documents and instructions that we were given—to bid on a total cost to the crown—have to take into consideration different elements of the agreement, and not just that one page.

Public Accounts committee  If I may, I could refer people to the illustrations that I had submitted or I could walk people through some charts that I brought with me.

Public Accounts committee  The incentive is to not sell the property. For members of the military who elect not to sell their property but rent it out instead, there is what's called a real estate incentive that's funded.

Public Accounts committee  Correct.

Public Accounts committee  Thank you for the question and the opportunity to clarify that. We engaged Fleishman-Hillard, a firm we've used on and off over the years to help us with in preparation of bids, etc., when we learned that this committee was being lobbied by Mr. Atyeo and his advisers around certain aspects of the process.

Public Accounts committee  It was work we asked of the firm; I believe she engaged with us and the firm around May of 2005.