The company is alleging that Taser caused the city to go back on a contract it was planning on awarding Vievu for police body cameras. Vievu scored more points than the other bidders on the contract, and Phoenix announced in September that it would award the contract to the company.
But the city decided to scrap the $3.6 million deal and go out to re-bid on the contract in January, according to AZcentral.com. The city maintains that the move was done to give a new police chief a say on the contract, but Vievu is alleging that Taser employees and Chief Executive Officer Rick Smith approached Phoenix officials repeatedly to sway them from Vievu.
It’s the second such tussle between the two companies this year. Vievu also beat out Taser for a $6.4 million contract with the New York Police Department, but recently the city’s comptroller decided not to proceed on the deal. Vievu has blamed Taser for that roadblock as well, but has yet to go to court over the incident.
Taser is largely dominant in the police body camera space, but Vievu has been winning local government contracts lately in several places, including Miami-Dade County and Aurora, Colo.
