Veterans Affairs kills $36M cloud contract with HP

HP Enterprise Services’ five-year $36 million cloud computing contract with the Veteran Affairs Department has been terminated, according to FCW. The contract was meant to move 600,000 VA employees to Microsoft’s government community cloud, and was awarded in November 2012.

An agency spokesperson said that the VA made the decision for the “convenience of the government,” FCW reported, which means that the cancelation is not the contractor’s fault, but was rather terminated due to a change in agency requirements.

Now that the contract is terminated, the department will have to pay $150,000 for services performed, as well as a termination settlement. The agency has not yet released any updated plans on what it will do with its enterprise e-mail system.