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Probably a contract that was "on the books" in FY 2013 but later canceled before payment in FY 2014. I assume there is a considerable time lag in payment when dealing with the US govt.

This most likely. You get to count the money for a contract when it gets booked and awarded, even if you don't start work on it immediately or actually receive any money. If you book a contract (and count the money) in one fiscal year and it gets reduced or canceled in a subsequent one the reduction counts as a "loss" even if no money has actually changed hands yet.

It might have been an equipment buyback. I.e., some large piece(s) of hardware that BD wanted to keep going forward, but that was procured with funding from a DoD contract.

(Incidentally, looking at the detail for year 2014, the total giveback was $5M. It was balanced by $1.5M of receipts in another category.)

I was just wondering the same thing