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The government has ended its £750m contract with a consortium led by Raytheon, the US defence group, to put in place an electronic system to check travellers leaving and entering Britain.

The Home Office said that it had “no confidence” in the Massachusetts-based company because the programme was running at least 12 months behind schedule.

Raytheon won the contract in 2007 and so far the government has spent £188m on it. The Home Office said that it would seek another company to deliver the system “as a matter of urgency”. It was meant to be operational by 2014.

The e-Borders system is supposed to vet travellers entering or leaving the country by checking their details against police, security and immigration watch lists.

A Home Office spokesman said that Raytheon had failed to deliver the target of having the technology in place to check 90% of all passengers this year. “They’re nowhere near that. The government decided enough is enough,” he said.

The Home Office said in a statement: “The home secretary has no confidence in Raytheon, which since July 2009 has been in breach of contract. With critical parts of the programme already running at least 12 months late, we have taken the decision to terminate the e-Borders contract with [the consortium].

“The government is determined to get value for money from its major contracts and requires the highest standard of performance from its suppliers. We will now be seeking alternative providers [for] this project as a matter of urgency.”

Raytheon’s UK representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Other members of the consortium include Serco, Accenture, Detica and QinetiQ. A spokesman for Serco, which was responsible for the infrastructure and service management of e-Borders, stressed that the company had fulfilled its part of the contract: “It’s important to make clear that Serco delivered all of its commitments under its sub-contract.”

Serco hoped to be part of future arrangements, the spokesman said.

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