It is possible to put the controller into the JSP page. It's not the MVC model used by Struts, but it could still be called MVC. So your contractor may not necessarily be incorrect.
For example, one platform which puts the controller into the JSP page is
SOFIA Ask yourself the following: Is there a seperate model, such as a Java Bean? Is there a seperate View (such as the JSP page)? And what builds and manipulates the model? If the JSP page is creating and manipulating the model directly, that is probably not MVC. But if the JSP page creates some special object which creates and manipulates the model, that special object could be a controller.