Northrop Grumman lays off 51 Virginia IT workers

RICHMOND – Northrop Grumman has laid off 51 state employees, cutting ties with the last of the state employees who chose to stick with the state – but be managed by Northrop Grumman – when the state signed a multi-billion-dollar IT contract with the company in 2006.

Some 500 employees were affected by that deal, with about half moving to Northrop Grumman and half remaining Virginia employees in name, though their salaries and benefits were reimbursed by the company.

"This afternoon it's down to zero, although they'll be on the payroll through the end of the month," said Marcella Williamson, spokeswoman for the Virginia Information Technologies Agency.

The agency works with Northrop Grumman, which won a $2.4 billion, 10-year state IT contract in 2006. The idea was to standardize IT services throughout state agencies and, hopefully, to cut costs. The savings haven't materialized, though the contract has been extended into 2019.

The McAuliffe administration, and state legislators, are studying now how to proceed beyond the contract's end, and whether to bring some operations back in house.

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