CNN
reports:
It cost the federal government more than $300 million for outside contractors to set up the Obamacare website that has had so much trouble in its first three weeks of operation.
Most of that money has gone to six contractors that together have received more than $200 million in taxpayer funds, with the biggest single contractor receiving $88 million.[...]
The largest contractor is CGI Federal Inc., the U.S. unit of a Canadian firm CGI Group (GIB). It received $88 million through last March 31. Its original $93.7 million contract runs through December, with three one-year option periods still possible.
A company spokeswoman said the terms of the contract prevent it from speaking about the details of its work.
According to WaPo, the firm has a liberal "telework policy." BUT:
The healthcare.gov debacle has taken its toll on the working environment at CGI Federal's 10-story complex in Fairfax, Va., according to a staffer working on a related project who asked not to be named. "There's been a lot of agitation and anger, because CGI really prides itself on having family flexibility," he said[...] Instead, the Obamacare contract has sucked more and more staff off other projects, and people have been working around the clock to first get the site ready for Oct. 1, and then fix it when things started to go wrong. "There's a lot of frustration," the staffer said. "People are getting sick, fainting in conference calls."
I know a fellow who worked on the website in question. His company had the preliminary contracts that laid a lot of the groundwork (writing APIs, stuff like that). My friends firm put in a bid for the actual implementation, lost the contract to CGI, who then outsourced all the work to incompetents.
ReplyDeleteI suspect it would have been better if the website development had been competent. In that world the underlying economics of the healthcare law would become evident in failure. Instead, they are just going to try again because the problem appears to be a mere technical glitch that can be fixed.
This is a distraction. In a year or so the website will work.
ReplyDeleteRight now how about we focus on punishing the Rs who are allowing the program to be implemented?
Government project? Competent? You must be kidding:)
ReplyDeleteA mere technical glitch .... yeah, right !!! Hahaha. I am a techie and I know how difficult it would be to DESIGN the whole system ... and the programming aspects of it, is a giant hydra.
ReplyDeleteEven if this website is improved, it will always be shoddy and inferior to private sector websites like Amazon's, by reason of fundamental economic principles. As Stefan Molyneux put it, its like the difference between the restrooms in a four-star private hotel and the public restrooms in a state-run park. Government facilities are designed and run by people with no stake in the outcome. Government ruins everything it touches. The public schools are a mess regardless of how much money is spent on education. This government website will likewise always be a mess compared to Amazon, Google, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe website is infested with flesh eating bacteria. If you connect your computer to the website your computer will get infected. Obama gave away 10,000 Sunbeam cupcake makers to the first 10,000 visitors. The cupcake makers are not infested with the bacteria. Hillary Clinton said she was able to get a free cupcake maker. Her husband is looking forward to the cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteToo bad they're getting sick. Say, I know!!! They should sign up for Obamacare...
ReplyDelete[Meh]