Blogs Jan 10, 2014 at 12:44 pm

Obamacare Site Builders To Be Fired

Paul Constant
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Comments

1
I've seen enough evidence on Slog that people don't remember what happened last week, let alone one year ago.
dnt trust me on January 10, 2014 at 12:58 PM Report this
2
But I thought the free market was the solution to all of life's problems?
Urgutha Forka on January 10, 2014 at 12:59 PM Report this
3
Glad I'm not the COR on that one...
mkyorai on January 10, 2014 at 12:59 PM Report this
6
@5
Thanks, that's good news. I've found that being lost is better when with a buddy or two.
dnt trust me on January 10, 2014 at 1:20 PM Report this
7
Most large IT contractors do crap work; Accenture's site for California won't be finding its way into many textbooks as a shining exemplar either.

The asses that still need kicking are those in the White House (including Obama) who ignored David Cutler's May 2010 memo to Larry Summers that they were all on the path to failure. More:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecar…

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamacare-me…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/c…
rob! on January 10, 2014 at 1:23 PM Report this
8
Q: How do we get from zero to a functional website that we want the vast majority of Americans to use?

A) Hire a consulting firm to solicit bids from tech companies with extensive experience building this kind of thing.

B) Hire a firm with good political connections, but zero experience building or deploying large websites, to say nothing of national websites.

Not sure what they expected.
Apocynum on January 10, 2014 at 1:31 PM Report this
9
@6 you're really getting tired of being the pest. You used to post your bullshit in nearly every thread, now you can barely be arsed to post more than about three times a day.

Knew you couldn't keep it up.
Dr_Awesome on January 10, 2014 at 1:31 PM Report this
10
Now when will they fire the people running Washington's site?
fletc3her on January 10, 2014 at 1:34 PM Report this
11
@9
New Years Resolution
dnt trust me on January 10, 2014 at 1:38 PM Report this
12
Hey I know, let's bring in new people who will have to spend the first 12 months just figuring out how this massive thing works at all, let alone be able to do anything productive with the site.
rejemy on January 10, 2014 at 1:39 PM Report this
13
My guess is that the original site builders had strong republican ties and were perhaps helped financially to sabotage it. Or am just being another paranoid liberal asshole?
longwayhome on January 10, 2014 at 2:00 PM Report this
14
Aw but they were doing a heck of a job.
MacCrocodile on January 10, 2014 at 2:25 PM Report this
15
@12: normally I'd agree, but in this case they're pretty much going to have to burn what they have to the ground and start over no matter what. It is hard to explain just how badly CGI screwed the pooch on this one: if it comes out in 15 years that the RNC bribed them to tank the project deliberately it honestly would not surprise me.

(There is currently a "strike team" of senior engineers from google and facebook on-site in DC trying to stabilize the site. They're all my ex-coworkers and their stories are hair-raising.)
Doctor Memory on January 10, 2014 at 2:25 PM Report this
16
Turns out the Feds built a spare website called "EZ App" in parallel with healthcare.gov. EZ App was apparently intended for internal use by the call center for the Federally Facilitated Marketplace (FFM). EZ App was originally targeted to go live on December 2, now I'm hearing it will be made available to some insurers by Jan 25, with general availability by mid-February. It's not clear when - or if - it will be used for online web apps by the public.

CGI Federal got the business for healthcare.gov because the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services didn't have time to go thru the regular procurement process. They had an existing contract with CGI, so they just used that.
Dr. Z on January 10, 2014 at 2:27 PM Report this
17
The GOP will do their best to use this as yet another example of how government is always the problem (settings aside all facts that are contrary to their point in this case). They are after all the party that believes the Internet is a series of tubes.
Knat on January 10, 2014 at 3:12 PM Report this
18
They're all my ex-coworkers and their stories are hair-raising.
Spill, DM. Your secrets are safe with us. XD
rob! on January 10, 2014 at 3:13 PM Report this
19
@13

Yes. But to be fair paranoid, liberal and asshole all sort of mean the same thing.
Seattleblues on January 10, 2014 at 3:18 PM Report this
20
There are issues swirling around that could usher in Mitch McConnell as Senate Majority Leader next year besides Obamacare.
raindrop on January 10, 2014 at 3:19 PM Report this
21
@ 19, you got one word wrong in your little one-sentence tantrum.
Matt from Denver on January 10, 2014 at 3:39 PM Report this
22
@21: There are two sentences in @19. Did you mean to refer to another comment?
Phoebe in Wallingford on January 10, 2014 at 4:14 PM Report this
23
I hope WA can find someone to fix the login process on the state's site. I have to get a new password every time I try to sign on.
Steven Bradford on January 10, 2014 at 5:02 PM Report this
24
@19 Maybe it's Fri. night and you have had your cocktail, but I guess your post went way over my head! You have dialed into the wrong news site to spout your conservative vomit.
longwayhome on January 10, 2014 at 8:22 PM Report this
25
@22: So, Will in Seattle is the resident idiot, sgt_doom is the crackpot, and you're angling for pedant, I take it?
Knat on January 10, 2014 at 11:21 PM Report this
26
@ 22, only one if them is in tantrum form, dear.
Matt from Denver on January 11, 2014 at 3:46 AM Report this
27
@25: Not if I have anything to say about it! GRRR.
venomlash on January 11, 2014 at 8:05 AM Report this
28
The purpose of the Affordable Health Care act was to provide just what it says. The delivery of said program was not a success, and the republicans who have made a monumental case against it are going to base their 2014 and 2016 campaigns against it and try and use this against their Democratic opponents. By election time, Obamacare will be in full swing and running smoothly and the moronc right wing Obama haters will be at a loss to find more fault with him. republicans lose again.
longwayhome on January 11, 2014 at 8:01 PM Report this
29
Well, if nothing else, perhaps this could lead to better understanding of software requirements by the people ordering it. To not have had QC testing on the product for a scale greater than forseable use is pitiful, at best.

Peace
Married in MA on January 13, 2014 at 9:52 AM Report this
30
@18: we're all waiting to find out what they are and aren't allowed to say in public. Our hope is that a few of them will get to write a long public post-mortem on the thing, and I will absolutely spread it far and wide if they do.
Doctor Memory on January 13, 2014 at 11:32 AM Report this
31
Thanks for getting back!
rob! on January 17, 2014 at 3:55 AM Report this

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