Oracle agrees $100m settlement with the state of Oregon

Deal includes cash and unlimited free enterprise software for six years

Oracle has reached a settlement with Oregon that will see it give the US state $100m in cash and free enterprise software licences.

Part of the deal is a six-year Unlimited License Agreement (ULA) for various Oracle products and services.

"Today's settlement agreement ends years of turmoil and taxpayer expense related to a troubled health exchange programme I dissolved in March 2015," said Oregon governor Kate Brown.

The settlement also includes $60m in free customer service support, a $10m grant for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) programmes in Oregon schools, and $25m compensation to the state to cover its legal costs.

The state's attorney general Ellen Rosenblum expressed her delight at the outcome, explaining that Oregon would now be able to modernise its IT systems.

"This settlement outcome is a win-win for the people of Oregon - without the expense and continued impact on our collective psyche.

"But, the beauty of the deal is that if we choose to take full advantage of the free ULA's, we are uniquely situated to modernise our statewide IT systems over the next six years - something we could not otherwise afford to do. It is a creative solution that allows us to take advantage of Oracle's suites of products that already serve several Oregon state agencies well, and are used by the majority of other state governments."

The Oracle software available under the ULA to Oregon State includes:

• PeopleSoft Enterprise ERP suite: a set of integrated end-to-end business software packages, including Financial Management, Supplier Relationship Management, Enterprise Service Automation, Human Capital Management, and Customer Relationship Management.
• Hyperion Enterprise Financial Planning suite: a portfolio of software packages focused on improving financial management, reporting and analysis. The suite includes products designed to assist financial management, budgeting, planning, financial forecasting, financial reporting, database management, and business intelligence.
• Business Intelligence suite: software tools designed to enable interpretation of large volumes of data by providing analytics and insights designed to empower data-driven decision-making. The suite includes products that enable business performance management, statistical analysis, and data visualisation.

The litigation stems from the failure of Cover Oregon, an ambitious plan to create the US' most advanced health insurance exchange, but which never actually worked despite hundreds of millions of dollars of investment.

Oracle was the lead contractor on Cover Oregon, and alleged during the litigation that Orgeon's inept management was to blame for the project's failure.