Wa. Post: Obamacare Website's Lead Contractor Employs Execs from Troubled IT Outfit

The lead contractor on the problem-riddled Obamacare website is filled with executives from a company that mishandled at least 20 other government IT projects, the Washington Post reported, including a flawed attempt to automate retirement benefits for millions of federal employees.

(Image source: Bloomberg News)

The Post's report notes documents and interviews that demonstrate CGI Federal, the main Obamacare website developer, began doing government work a decade ago when its parent company bought American Management Systems, which had just come off several problem-filled projects.

After CGI moved into AMS’ building outside Washington, D.C., however, it kept aboard the core of AMS employees, whom the Post noted now hold high-level positions with CGI Federal.

Still a top CGI official said this week that the firm is “extremely proud” of buying AMS, the Post noted; Lorne Gorber, CGI’s senior vice president for global communications, told the Post that CGI knew about AMS “trip-ups,” but CGI transformed AMS culture since the acquisition.

“Anyone at CGI who came from AMS would not be able to find any similarities in how they work today to how they worked a decade ago,’’ Gorber told the Post, adding that CGI’s overall government contracting work remains high quality and that the company “delivers 95 percent of its projects on time and on budget.’’

You can read the entire Washington Post article here.

Here's an earlier report from Bloomberg News on $422 million CGI was awarded for the project:

(H/T: Washington Post)

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