CGI Federal’s top executive that was paid millions to construct the ObamaCare website said, “no amount of testing” would have prevented the site’s problems.
Senior Vice President Cheryl Campbell’s prepared a written testimony for The House Committee of Energy and Commerce hearing regarding the insurance-marketplace site.
She starts off her show trying to convince the committee of her due diligence stating: “unequivocally that our (CGI) partnership with CMS for the successful implementation of the FFM to provide a user-friendly experience to apply and shop for, and enroll in, insurance remains a top priority.”
CGI Federal’s dedication of the “very best experts” is not at all comforting. How long will this “successful implementation” take, and will ObamaCare mandate law still penialize those who could not get coverage?
She drones on about her accolades and her fellow-members of CGI for their two grand accomplishments — federalreporting.gov and medicare.gov — but then with a quick slide of hand pinned the system failures on QSSI.
Cheryl Cambell claims CMS is the “quarterback” and “ultimately responsible” for the final project.
Campbell’s remarks seem to challenge new claims by the administration that inadequate testing was part of the issue. The FFM passed 8 required technical reviews prior to going live on October 1.
She contends that CGI Federal delivered the functionality required by CMS to allow qualified individuals the ability to begin enrolling in coverage on October 1. That enrollees were able to complete insurance enrollments since the system went live on October 1.
CGI acknowledged the issues that have arisen in the so-called “exchanges” makes selecting and enrolling in ObamaCare difficult to “navigate for too many individuals.” The ObamaCare website is more than difficult to navigate for all individuals, you have a better chance winning the lottery than enrolling.
Apparently, CGI believes it is the system’s complexity, and it is not unusual to learn of problems that need to be addressed when the software is in a live production environment.
She is flippant about the malfunctions, as though this is just a simple kink, you have a better chance getting into Fort Knox then picking your “healthcare” plan.
In her testimony, she also alleged that the Federal Exchange has continuously improved and that the top priority is to improve consumer experience. Well, when the consumer experience is non-existent there is only one way one can go from here, and that is up.
However, the question is, how far up will they go?
Several contractors will be testifying, and since both sides are thoroughly frustrated, questioning experience will most likely be strenuous for those that are set to testify.
Just from looking at CGI Federal’s VP testimony, I am sure this hearing will be more like a game of “hot potato” with all parties vigilant to not be the one stuck with said potato.
The explanation, posted online in a department blog and accompanying graphic, identified other broad areas of problems and outlined fixes underway, but in most cases are incomplete:
The House Energy and Commerce Committee have quite a line up, contractors consisting of CGI Federal — who are blaming ObamaCare’s website failure — to the lead developer of the website and QSSI, which designed a back-room operation known as the federal data services hub.
Look forward to seeing who in the end gets stuck with this “hot potato.”
