Politics

Failed Obamacare website-maker scored $6 billion Homeland Security contract weeks before flop went live

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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The company that botched the Obamacare website landed a five-year, $6 billion contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) less than a month before the Obamacare site disastrously went live.

CGI Federal announced the $6 billion contract “to provide cyber security continuous diagnostic and mitigation tools, as well as Continuous Monitoring as a Service” for DHS on Sept. 3, by which point Obama administration officials already knew that major problems were going on with CGI’s Obamacare enrollment site for Kathleen Sebelius’ Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Janet Napolitano was in her final days as secretary of Homeland Security at the time the deal was announced.

“In a time when cyber attacks are a true social and economic threat, government agencies need to be assured that their security posture is not just continuously monitored but adapting to ever-changing risks,” CGI Federal president Donna Ryan said in a statement at the time.

CGI’s Obamacare website was widely criticized for being susceptible to security breaches including cyberattacks.

CGI Federal is the U.S. arm of the Canadian company CGI Group, and was formed in 2009 to bring CGI into the federal contracting business. The company employs Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate, and 2010 White House Christmas guest Toni Townes-Whitley as a top executive.

The Daily Caller reported that CGI Federal earned six more contracts with HHS’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversaw the failed Obamacare site, after the widely-mocked site went live on Oct. 1.

CGI also runs the Army’s much-maligned Human Terrain System, a failed program that sends academics into war zones to help soldiers understand local populations. The Army spent $58 million on the program in 2013, down from $114 million in 2011.

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