The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) this week said its decision to switch web developers for HealthCare.gov without competitive bidding was done because the "entire healthcare reform program is jeopardized" by the site's malfunctioning.
In a 10-page document it released called "Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition," CMS said HealthCare.gov "urgently requires" fixes to its "financial management platform" Thus it abruptly pulled the back-end development from CGI Federal (which also was chosen without bidding) to Accenture Federal Services, giving the latter a $90-million contract.
In its first three months of operation, the HealthCare.gov "platform" lost 15,000 applications, which never arrived at carriers to issue health insurance policies.
Accenture built the website for Covered California, that state's health insurance marketplace, and it has thus far functioned fully and efficiently, according to CMS.