GOP demands HealthCare.gov contract details

Republican lawmakers are demanding details about the technology contracts behind HealthCare.gov after federal investigators described new problems with oversight of the work.

Five leading GOP committee members hit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with a battery of questions Thursday about how the agency handled its 62 contracts and orders for the ObamaCare sign-up website.

{mosads}HealthCare.gov is notorious for the overwhelming technical glitches that plagued its first three months and nearly imperiled the ObamaCare enrollment effort.

The GOP lawmakers, led by Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), said the site’s rollout should serve as a lesson for future government projects.

“We hope that CMS will … address the problems that caused HealthCare.gov to crash on launch, and improve the procurement process to ensure that contracts are issued and maintained in accordance with government wide standards,” the group wrote to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.

The letter asked CMS to detail what was purchased under each contract; what quality assurance systems were used to monitor the work; and why contractors were paid for incomplete projects or projects that had not yet begun. 

The letter came from Hatch, Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Senate Government Affairs Committee ranking member Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.).