Canadian firm hired to build troubled Obamacare exchanges

washingtonexaminer.com...

In the article:

GCI Federal is a subsidiary of Montreal-based CGI Group. With offices in Fairfax, Va., the subsidiary has been a darling of the Obama administration, which since 2009 has bestowed it with $1.4 billion in federal contracts, according to USAspending.gov.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded GCI $55.7 million to launch Healthcare.gov, its central Obamacare health exchange website. Over the full five years of the contract, GCI could receive as much as $93.7 million.

Insane! I've been a web developer and designer for over 15 years. This website healthcare.gov is a responsive design, which re-sizes with the browser window; perfect for desktop to mobile visitors. It's a good website, but you know what?

I've worked with several fortune 500 companies, with millions of visitors on their website.

My company could have built it for under $50,000 and probably maintained it for under $40,000/per year.

It would run better on the back end than it does now.

Due to the volume of visitors during the first year, $10,000 should cover the web hosting with absolutely no problems like they are currently experience.

Talk about SERIOUS government waste, this is pathetic folks. Over 5 years, the real cost should hover around $250,000 or lower. The first year would be the most expensive, and in truth the site could be maintained by one-two designer/developers probably part time.

I know far more complicated websites, that are maintained on a part time basis by 1 developer. The key is finding a developer who also does design (graphics, jquery, css, html). They are relatively hard to find, but they are out there. I am one of them.

There is NO EXCUSE for us spending 55-94 MILLION dollars on a freakin website! Then to outsource it to a Canadian company is insult to injury, just another spit in our face from this administration.

Just another shining example of our government wasting our money.
And yet people wonder why we are so far in debt?

It doesn't matter to the government though, I'm sure somebody important is friends with or related to an owner of that company, so the money will continue to flow.

reply to post by xstealth


You know what they always say, if you want something done right, hire a Canadian. Or whatever.

since CGI got the contract we can assume that they were the lowest bidder which would mean that any american companies that bid on the contract had higher bids.
so who`s really screwing the tax payers, the government or american companies who won`t even touch a government contract for less 100 times what the normal cost is.

i often wonder if the people at the government agencies who put contracts out for bid, do they even really know what a fair price is? They seem to be out of touch with the real world.

Tardacus
since CGI got the contract we can assume that they were the lowest bidder which would mean that any american companies that bid on the contract had higher bids.
so who`s really screwing the tax payers, the government or american companies who won`t even touch a government contract for less 100 times what the normal cost is.

i often wonder if the people at the government agencies who put contracts out for bid, do they even really know what a fair price is? They seem to be out of touch with the real world.

edit on 4-10-2013 by Tardacus because: (no reason given)

Common sense would tell you it goes to the lowest bidder, but that's not likely in this case.

It probably went to the most politically connected company, who probably made campaign contributions and gave the biggest kickbacks.

reply to post by xstealth

Utterly unsurprising , this is further proof of the inescapable inevitability of corruption and nepotism that permeates all government programs.

reply to post by xstealth

ve worked with several fortune 500 companies, with millions of visitors on their website.

My company could have built it for under $50,000 and probably maintained it for under $40,000/per year.

First off, anything government related (regardless of country) is ridiculously priced. I have worked on government based projects in the past in unrelated industries and the margins placed on products by the time they get to the government purchasers have almost %300 mark-up in some cases.

However, I would ask, could there be some unforeseen costs associated with a nation wide service catering to hundreds of millions of people?

Does the added security, traffic, money involved and importance of this service incur this type of expense? I could see how it might, especially after some nice mark-ups.

There is NO EXCUSE for us spending 55-94 MILLION dollars on a freakin website! Then to outsource it to a Canadian company is insult to injury, just another spit in our face from this administration.

You mad at Canada buddy? Better us than Mexico. Besides, all the money will probably filter back into the US anyway based on how our economic relation is.

Again to reiterate, you are looking at a nation wide essential service to provide the health care needs of hundreds of millions. You need to figure it will cost something.

Dont get me wrong, I am by no means a fan of this bastardized health care system the US administration is trying to implement.

Everyone realizes that the federal government has rules and regulations when it comes to how it bids out contracts, right?

If there is so much waste, then the procurement policies/procedures and regulations on the bidding process need to be changed. They don't just go, "hey, I think I'll go with your company just because".

Hmm, Quebec based web designer for Health Care, this is surprising knowing that Quebec is the only province that does not recognize other provinces health coverage. If you get sick while visiting Quebec you must pay upfront and submit your bill to your own province when you get back to it. So I guess of all the Canadian provinces Quebec works most like the US than the rest of us.

reply to post by xstealth


Are you saying Canadians are dictating American policy. Awesome, good to know.

I will be taking requests...

reply to post by xstealth


I think you hit precisely why I'm so against this whole thing. If I really believed the hype and written material, it sounds like a wonderful and lovely thing on paper. I've just seen one too many wonderful and lovely paper plans used as toilet paper as it hits the fan.

If I thought they could do this without going 5x's over cost on everything (Which, helpfully, they'll have us paying directly for now), 5x's over time estimate (thought stories about appointments in Canada were bad? hahaha..just wait..err.. literally) and with all the compassion of Nurse Ratchet on a real bad day? Heck.... I might even see something in that thing to support.

Too bad the track record of the Government run ..anything.. says it's about 0 chance of happening like the paper plan says. Oh.. We're doomed..

I will guess that the internal name being used by the developers is 'pork barrel'.

" Montreal-based CGI Group" is it on the Stock-Exchange?,,cause if it is,, mmmm penny stocks,,

It's not only the US government that rediculously spends on projects. I remember our company recieving a contract to build the pipes and groundwork for a new hospital. It would have cost 2 million at most to do the work but instead they spent about 20 million. Of course the owners knew the people in charge ergo why the spent so much.

It's funny how they having a debt crises yet they are spending so much on a website! Just a stupid website! Talk about waste of money at the expense of tax payers.

-BmwSauber

reply to post by xstealth


Follow the money.
Who and how are the software deveopers involved with?

This is a money laundering operation but for whom?

It's Canadian? Now we know why it's so bad...!!