It seems as if the Obama administration is intent on doing everything it can to ensure that the HealthCare.gov debacle remains in the past, with no more mess-ups to threaten any progress that has been made. According to an unnamed source, the administration has decided to drop CGI Federal, the company behind the site, the Washington Post reports.
CGI Federal is the main IT contractor responsible for building the online health insurance marketplace that all but crumbled upon launching last year. Instead, federal officials are poised to sign a yearlong contract worth approximately $90 million with another company, Accenture.
According to the Post, Accenture is one of the world’s biggest consulting firms, with plenty of experience on the state level—it built California's current health insurance exchange—but the company has not tackled anything significant on the federal level.
For the most part, the transition is being kept under the radar.
"We are in discussions with potential clients all the time, but it is not appropriate to discuss with the media contracts we may or may not be discussing," Accenture spokeswoman Joanne Veto told the Post in a brief phone interview.
"We continually evaluate our needs and remain focused on ensuring consumers have access to affordable, quality coverage," a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spokesman, Aaron Albright, said.
According to the Post, the switch shows that the administration harbors some ongoing concern over the performance of the site, even with recent improvements and the increase in use of the marketplace to sign up for health coverage.
Read more at the Washington Post.