DECLAN GANLEY'S US business, Rivada Networks, is involved in contracts with the US military and other public bodies that could be worth up to $240 million, a company spokesman has said to The Irish Times.
However, the spokesman would not give any information as to how much the contracts might be worth in revenue to Mr Ganley's business.
US websites that monitor public contracts record Rivada Pacific, a joint venture with which Rivada is associated, as having received contracts worth $35 million in income in recent years.
However, other information indicates that the contracts have a potentially greater value depending on takeup by the contractor.
Rivada Networks has a 49 per cent interest in Rivada Pacific, and the rest of the shareholding is held by an Alaskan company, Nana Pacific, according to the Nana Pacific website (www.nanapacific.com).
Nana Pacific is in turn part of the Nana Regional Corporation, a native Alaskan corporation which, as such, has special rights in US law allowing it bid for state contracts without complying with certain aspects of public tendering law.
According to the Rivada Pacific website, the joint venture "will be a key player in the comprehensive communications upgrade for US Northern Command.
USNorthcomm is the backbone of Homeland Defense.
"The scope of work for the eight-year contract is to define, document, design, acquire, deploy and maintain deployable communications for the USnorthcomm homeland defense and civil support. Full project details are confidential.
"Due to the situations left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rivada Pacific has become part of the response and recovery effort. The plan to upgrade first responder communications was put into action through assisting USNorthcomm with a number of tasks, primarily with mobilization to restore communications to the impacted areas."
A US Air Force 2008 global war on terror budget amendment document, available on the web (at /www.saffm.hq.af.mil), states that Rivada Pacific "currently manages all Department of Defence and Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) deployable cell stations".
The document indicates that a contract for an undefined level of service supply is to be exercised with Rivada Pacific.
Rivada Networks has an office at Colorado Springs in the US. According to a report in the Colorado Springs Gazette in August of this year, Rivada planned at that time to double its 45- strong workforce over the following year and to eventually employ 300. It said the company had contracts with the Northern Command, the National Guard and Fema.
The report quoted James Tackett, senior vice-president of homeland security with Rivada, as saying the contacts won in recent years by Rivada "could total as much as $240 million".
A spokesman for Rivada in the US confirmed that the figure quoted by Mr Tackett was correct but would not give any further information.
"As a private company, Rivada Networks is under no obligation to disclose its business relationships. James Tackett's comment is accurate as it stands," the spokesman said.
Rivada does not disclose financial or shareholder information. A recent filing by an Irish subsidiary, Rivada Networks Ltd, stated that Mr Ganley had a 43 per cent shareholding in the ultimate parent, Delaware-based Rivada Networks International.
A former fellow director of the Irish subsidiary, James O'Reilly, has a 4 per cent share. Who owns the rest of Rivada Networks International is not known.
