See below – looks awful fishy. It’s what they are not saying that is suspicious….
Fact Check: Did the company that built the health website get preferential treatment?
Posted: November 8, 2013 - 4:57pm
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By Carole Fader
Times-Union readers want to know:
An email says that CGI Federal, the company that build the website for the Affordable Care Act enrollment, is Canadian, that a top official with the company was a classmate of future first lady Michelle Obama, the company was the only one considered by the government to design the website and that CGI has donated millions of dollars to the Obama re-election campaign. Is this true?
Here’s what our research about this viral email revealed:
It’s Canadian: CGI Federal is a subsidiary of the Canadian firm CGI Group, which was founded in Quebec City in 1976 by two 26-year-olds, Serge Godin and Andre Imbeau, according to the company’s website. CGI stands for “Conseillers en Gestion et Informatique,” which roughly translates to “Information Systems and Management Consultants.” CGI Group has offices in 40 countries, including 66 branches in the U.S., the website states.
Princeton influence? Toni Townes-Whitley, senior vice president of CGI Federal, is a 1985 graduate of Princeton, according to a Princeton alumni magazine. Obama is also a 1985 graduate. There are numerous references to the “pals” in such conservative websites as the Daily Caller, which states that “while at Princeton, Michelle Obama and Townes-Whitley were both active in the Organization of Black Unity and the Third World Center. They both now belong to the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.” Not one of those websites say that the two were close friends, or that their “friendship” impacted the selection of CGI.
Townes-Whitley met with administration officials four times in 2013, according to White House visitor logs, which show she was alone but which do not specify a reason for the meetings. Her and her husband also attended a White House Christmas party in 2010 and had a photo taken with the Obamas. OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political contributions, shows that Townes-Whitley donated a total of $1,500 to Barack Obama in 2011 and 2012.
Michelle Obama and Townes-Whitley obviously have met, but there’s no evidence that they had an extremely close friendship.
The lone company? An Oct. 17 Reuters piece quoted by TruthOrFiction.com states that the contract originally had 31 bidders. The article said, “The work on Healthcare.gov grew out of a contract for open-ended technology services first issued in 2007 with a place-holder value of $1,000. There were 31 bidders. An extension, awarded in September 2011 specifically to build Healthcare.gov, drew four bidders, the documents show, including CGI Federal.”
A recent story by Bloomberg News said the race to get the exchange website up by Oct. 1 spurred the Obama administration to use an expedited bidding system that limited its choice of a builder to just four companies, including CGI. The other bidders haven’t been publicly identified. No red flags were raised by any of those bidders, the story stated.
CGI had two years to create the website, which cut as much as nine months from the time usually required to build such a site, said Rod Benson, a former procurement director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees the website.
“I am sure there are companies that looked at this specific opportunity and said, ‘you know, I’ve got other things in the pipeline,’ ” said Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, a McLean, Va., consulting firm.
How CGI was selected has not been divulged, but there are congressional committees looking into it. A total of 13.5 percent of CGI’s work is for the government, so there is history there. CGI had earlier worked for CMS on the medicare.gov website among other projects, the Bloomberg News article pointed out.
Obama donor: The viral email claims that CGI Federal donated $47 million to Barack Obama’s campaign. A check of OpenSecrets.org, which tracks political contributions, shows that CGI donated $128,000 to federal candidates; 52 percent of those recipients were Republicans. OpenSecrets.org also shows that CGI President George Schindler donated $1,000 to the Obama re-election campaign on Aug. 13, 2012, as well as $1,000 to Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran on March 29, 2011, and $1,000 to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on July 5, 2011. Schindler also gave $2,300 to Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign on Dec. 18, 2007. You can check this yourself at OpenSecrets.org at Donor Lookup under Politicians & Elections.
As various government officials testify about healthcare.gov before House and Senate panels, more information about how CGI was chosen might be revealed.
