California cancels Oracle contract
C|Net | at | by Mike
The state of California has officially canceled a sprawling six-year deal that united scores of its contracts with software maker Oracle under one mega-contract, state officials said Tuesday. The $95 million contract, signed in 2001, became the subject of a politically charged, two-month hearing by the state's Joint Legislative Audit Committee after a state audit report released in April estimated the contract would cost California $41 million--rather than save the state $100 million over six to 10 years, as Oracle contended.
During the course of the hearing, four high-ranking officials resigned over allegations of negligence and misconduct in dealing with Oracle and its reseller Logicon. The disclosure that an aide to California Gov. Gray Davis had accepted a $25,000 campaign contribution from Oracle just days after the state signed the contract was a political embarrassment to Davis, who is running for re-election. Davis returned the contribution to Oracle shortly after that fact came to light.