WASHINGTON (CNN)  -- Herndon, Virginia-based Triple Canopy has been awarded the security services contract in Baghdad, a State Department source told CNN Tuesday. Triple Canopy is taking over the expiring Iraq security contract of Blackwater/Xe, a source tells CNN. The order is effective Tuesday, the source said, but Triple Canopy's "in-country performance" won't begin until May 7. Triple Canopy will take over the expiring contract of Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe last month. The State Department decided in January not to renew Blackwater/Xe's contract when it expires in May. That followed a refusal by the Iraqi government to renew the firm's operating license because of a September 2007 shooting incident in which the Iraqi government says security guards -- then employed by Blackwater -- fired upon and killed 17 Iraqi civilians.
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Triple Canopy awarded contract, State Department source tells CNN
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Blackwater recently changed name to Xe; its Iraq security contract expiring
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Iraqi government protested September 2007 shooting incident involving Blackwater
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Virginia-based Triple Canopy won't be operating in Iraq until May 7, source says
Five former @placeholder security guards pleaded not guilty in January to charges of voluntary manslaughter and other serious crimes stemming from their involvement in the September 16, 2007, incident in a Baghdad square.