The Obamacare Debacle: It's Everyone Else's Fault

In congressional hearings trying to get to the bottom of the obamacare web snafu CGI Federal makes one thing clear. It's not their fault. Huh? Didn't these guys design and create it? Maybe so but taking a cue from the administrations long held strategic plan, when called out on something they simply blame someone else.

The Obamacare Debacle: It's Everyone Else's Fault

As the Congressional hearing, to apportion blame for the farce that Obamacare has already become, gathers steam the overwhelming theme from the four witnesses is "it's not our fault," and as much as the Congressmen dive deeply into the process, the more it is clear that the left hand had no idea what the right hand was doing in yet another government-funded SNAFU.

The entire discussion can be summed up by CGI's comments that "our portion of the application worked as designed." Indeed, all of the contractors point the finger back at the government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid as responsible for "end to end testing," and ultimately the #fail.

It's the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid fault? These geniuses build a giant multi part web application but don't test the complete app and then blame someone else. Unbelievable.

Via WSJ, According to prepared testimony, CGI Federal, the lead contractor for HealthCare.gov, will say the federal agency in charge of the project was "the ultimate responsible party for the end-to-end performance of the overall" health exchange.

In summation, it seems that the following sums it up all too poerfectly... “If there was a silver bullet to answer that question, I would give it to you,” says CGI’s Campbell. “It’s the end-to-end aspect that is a challenge.”

In other words, whoever was running the overall project was asleep at the wheel.

That would be HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's famous Henry Chao, the HHS official in charge of technology for the Affordable Care Act.

They had 3 years to make a relatively straight forward cross referencing website hooking into a database. The problem was first off getting more than one company involved in its coding (much less, what was it, hundreds?).

I imagine a lot of firings are in order for this terrible rollout of their website. Bugs will happen here and there, but this seems like it was started on a week before launch.

Fix the damn website already.

reply to post by Bassago


It is the GOVERNMENT's FAULT. They are the customer. They give the company specifications and they are the ones responsible for determining if the product meets spec AND is functional. PERIOD.

And yeah as a QC type I have interacted with the US government. You do EXACTLY as you are told or your butt is in a sling.

crimvelvet
reply to post by Bassago

 

It is the GOVERNMENT's FAULT. They are the customer. They give the company specifications and they are the ones responsible for determining if the product meets spec AND is functional. PERIOD.

Good point but if they hire someone to build a submarine and when it's done they get a canoe the contractors bear some responsibility, no?

I just assumed it was the Tea Party's fault. Isn't everything their fault?

VictorVonDoom
I just assumed it was the Tea Party's fault. Isn't everything their fault?

The Tea Party can't get credit for this one,,,

reply to post by Bassago


Yes it is their fault but.....whomever made the canoe is out the cost. Do we as taxpayers get back the $620+ MILLION and counting?

ABNARTY
reply to post by Bassago

 

Yes it is their fault but.....whomever made the canoe is out the cost. Do we as taxpayers get back the $620+ MILLION and counting?

Oh yeah, sure we get a refund... checks in the mail.

Unfortunately the government never seems to accept any part of their responsibility and neither do the contractors. Just look at Blackwater and Halliburton.

Oh wait, there was one contractor who called the gov out on it's "mistakes," that would be...

Edward Snowden!

reply to post by Bassago

Good point but if they hire someone to build a submarine and when it's done they get a canoe the contractors bear some responsibility, no?

Not if the guy in the government who wrote the specs used a canoe as a template. And then kept changing his mind on top of it.

I am afraid my dealings with various government employees has not left me with a very high opinion of their brains or integrity.

Yep, 3 years and plenty of money. The greatest minds and intentions right? They hire a Canadian company whom outsources to India, max out the profit margin, cut the actual costs, and expect great results. This is like modern construction, You hire a load of non english speaking illegals, Installing substandard chinese components,furniture etc,etc, hire the lowest bidder and expect great results???? This ACA nightmare is just getting started and it is already a complete failure, and it couldnt happen to a more anti american administration.... whats next out of these bozos???

teslahowitzer
Yep, 3 years and plenty of money. The greatest minds and intentions right? They hire a Canadian company whom outsources to India, max out the profit margin, cut the actual costs, and expect great results. This is like modern construction, You hire a load of non english speaking illegals, Installing substandard chinese components,furniture etc,etc, hire the lowest bidder and expect great results???? This ACA nightmare is just getting started and it is already a complete failure, and it couldnt happen to a more anti american administration.... whats next out of these bozos???

What next you ask,,, how about some star wars Java script or some kind of data files with weird names and a google maps location.

A dummy JavaScript file still live on the healthcare.gov website features characters from Star Wars and Transformers.

The file includes the names "Han Solo," "Chewbacca Wookie," and "Leia Organa" as well as "Optimus Smith" and "Prime Smith."

The file also features coding to upload a "Permanent Resident Card" PDF file for Marvel comic book character Wanda Maximoff a.k.a. Scarlet Witch) and data for Steve Rogers (a.k.a. Captain America.)

Another part of the code features "Maleficent Insurance" featuring a plan name of "Really Bad."

An address within the code points to a "Laserwash" car wash in Harker Heights, Texas.

You need to read the article to get a full understanding.
washingtonexaminer.com...

reply to post by crimvelvet


From personal experience, the fact that you hire some company to do something does not mean you get what you want, even if you are clear on description. That is how it is in nearly every field in majority of cases, especially bigger projects. I personally have never seen the first version being perfect.

The company hired is solely responsible for the bugs. I doubt anyone in the government was directly involved with coding the web site, they just paid for the company to do the job. Just a public procurement.

This might seem like an easy website, although you also have to consider the security issues. That is where I believe the bugs are at. All of the databases must always be up-to-date, while being extremely secure, as these contain personal information. The security levels must be over-the-top while the site must be handle large traffic.

There is nothing abnormal in the site not function well. I personally come from far smaller country, although they have one of the strongest government e-systems in the world. You can access basically any database for your information to nearly every government database using your smart card. Despite being 200 times smaller country, at first access to these databases was not very easy and these had issues, largely due to focus on making it secure. It took months to get every one of these functioning well.

well i guess someone can post the vid of some Sen. on CNN/Fox?,,,blaming,, the Nerds,,yup,, used the word,, Nerds.


ya it was the Nerds fault.,,,

finally Phone Tech,,is off the hook,, for a "CHANGE u CAN HAVE",,,remember who had the bestest data base during the elections,,no probs ther,, eh Nerds,,,

ahhh how quick they "stab in the back".,,hexigonally speaking that is.