IBM was the main supplier in a failed project by British intelligence to upgrade its communications system so various organizations and agents in different locations could share information, a report said on Friday.

The Register, an online technology publication, said IBM's failure to meet deadlines, as well as security concerns, led the Cabinet Office to scrap the project last year after years of development and write off 24.4 million pounds ($39 million).

IBM declined to comment.

The report said IBM was the lead contractor in the second phase of the SCOPE project, which aimed to bolster collaboration among the branches of British intelligence including the MI5 Security Service, MI6 Secret Intelligence Service, the Government Communications Headquarters, and the Foreign Office.

The UK Intelligence and Security Committee said in its last annual report, presented to Parliament in March, that phase 2 of the SCOPE program had been delayed numerous times and had finally been abandoned.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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