The United States has cancelled an order of smart rings, worth an estimated 96 million dollars (87 million euros), from Finnish health technology firm Oura.
According to reports in the US media, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) decided that the acquisition of the biometric ring trackers was "no longer required", but declined to provide further details.
The deal was announced in October last year, with the US armed forces saying at the time that it planned to use the devices to better track the health and wellbeing of military personnel.
A spokesperson for Oura confirmed to Breaking Defense, a digital news outlet, that the contract had been cancelled.
"This contract was meant to be an efficiency initiative, and we believe that the DHA had a clear business case for how this would have reduced costs and operational inefficiencies from burnout," the spokesperson said.
Yle contacted Oura for comment, but the company said it had nothing further to say on the matter.
The breakdown of the deal was first reported in Finland by tech magazine Tekniikan Maailma, although reports abut the matter began appearing in US outlets more than a month ago.
US competitors resented Oura deal
According to Breaking Defense, the deal ran into difficulties when Oura's competitor, US-based wearable tech firm Whoop, filed a complaint with the Government Accountability Office — citing insufficient information in the original tender.
Although a second bidding process was launched, specifying that the US military wanted smart rings — as opposed to other wearable devices — Whoop protested a second time and soon afterwards the DHA informed Oura that the deal was being shelved.
The wrangling over the agreement came at a difficult time for the US armed forces and its agencies, as newly appointed US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the Pentagon to cut its budget by eight percent, Politico reported, and instead direct their spending towards policies favoured by US President Donald Trump, such as border security.