Troubled Obamacare website wasn't tested until a week before launch

Washington Examiner ^ | Oct. 17, 2013 | Richard Pollock

[libstripper]

Federal officials did not permit testing of the Obamacare healthcare.gov website or issue final system requirements until four to six days before its Oct. 1 launch, according to an individual with direct knowledge of the project.

The individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the troubled Obamacare website project as suffering from top-level management disarray, changing systems requirements and recurring delays.

The root cause of the problems was a pivotal decision by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services officials to act as systems integrator, the central coordinator for the entire program. Usually this role is reserved for the prime information technology contractor.

As a result, full testing of the site was delayed until four to six days before the fateful Oct. 1 launch of the health care exchanges, the individual said.

[libstripper]

Richard Pollock is doing a terrific job of exposing the ObamaCare CF (acronym for a naughty term) website. He's reporting that HHS became the systems integrator because his private "Deep Throat" told him, not because of any official information he's acquired. Indeed, as one reads further into the article, it turns out that no one, definitely including CMS, the putative prime contractor, is willing to say who or what is the system integrator. All of this sounds suspiciously like most of this regime's other scandals, such as Fast and Furious, the IRS scandal, and Bengazi, where it's been impossible to determine who was actually responsible for what happened. Indeed, it's such a common feature of all of the regime's CFs, that it looks like the Mahdi decreed that's how it's to be, an impeachable, illegal act in itself.

[CivilWarBrewing]

So, when does Sebelius get her promotion? Any positions available in Susan Rice’s building? WTF was Sebelius doing the past 3 years, other than illegally campaigning for 0bama in her official capacity?

[Oldexpat]

The House needs to call for hearings and an investigation into this mess.
Anything to keep it in the news and give vent to the frustrations.

[Oldexpat]

The system is full of faults. We can only hope that the need to verify income will further muck it up. Right now the IRS cannot verify income..and issues refunds to non-existent tax payers and fraudulent returns..so how will HHS have better info?

[JediJones]

[JediJones]

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

IMAGINE ... a Website where the bureaucrats overreached their level of competency ..
one can only imagine how this same bureaucracy will handle the health care of the Nation.
sorta like the imposter-in-chief

[Springfield Reformer]

Wow. Nobody does that. It’s epic, if true. Late-changing requirements I understand. Not testing till virtually the last second? Gasp! Maybe some fly-by-night lone wolf outfit. But not even the worst contractors, in my experience, would do that, or if they were politically blocked they would kick up a storm in advance to distance themselves from the coming catastrophe. Reputation is money. Incomprehensible. There are parts of the system you can’t even write until you’ve done *some* testing on supporting components. This doesn’t smell right.

[libstripper]

The House needs to call for hearings and an investigation into this mess. Anything to keep it in the news and give vent to the frustrations.

Exactly what Boner doesn't want to do.

[nascarnation]

Imagine the MSM reaction if Medicare part D rolled out like this during the Bush admin....

[libstripper]

This is the third or fourth article by Pollock that I’ve posted. He seems to have really good sources and genuinely to know what he’s writing about. Might even be ObamaCare’s Woodward and Bernstein, all in one body.

[Cruz_West_Paul2016]

the health-care exchange will suffer the same demize as MC Hammer by December.

[Donnafrflorida]

we test for one to three weeks in each level of tesing. development integration system and findlly certification. at each level time must be given for problem analysis and resolutions(fix)

[FatherofFive]

No testing until a week before rollout. Un-believeable.

This is what happens when you have no experience at anything, but think you are smarter than anyone else.

[randita]

This doesn’t smell right.

That's what I'm thinking. They couldn't have done a more incompetent job if they tried. Which makes you wonder - was it designed to fail? And if so, why?

Was the end game to make it so impossible to purchase insurance that private health care providers would go under? And once private insurers are out of the picture, all that's left is single payer?

[PoloSec]

A week, two weeks...at this point “What Difference Does It Make”

[ReaganÜberAlles]

I worked for Census 2010 during it’s earliest stages. Testing was done nationwide many, many months in advance.

Obamacare is a joke.

[steve86]

I was saying two weeks ago that HHS was doing what high-level IT professional project managers should have been. It was just a hunch but turned out to be true.

[Delta Dawn]

Considering that ACA will be accessed from every state in the Union and that every adult American is a potential user, the testing software should have had its own Design & Dev track.

If this is true about the actual testing that took place, it speaks of rank amateurism or a level of arrogance of record proportions.

Again, if this is true about the testing, there are no quick fixes. It will probably take 1 - 2 years to create a workable web application and the people who created this mess will not be the ones to actually fix it.

Welcome to IT.

[Hoodat]

This is what happens when you have no experience at anything, but think you are smarter than anyone else.

DING DING DING !!! WE HAVE A WINNER !!!