my favorite comment:

Zitat

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We have to pass the bill to see what's in it... and we have to deploy the software to see if it will work.

It just keeps getting better and better.

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I noticed that the development is being done by one global company and support by another one. That transition oughta be interesting.

Software, Design Defects Cripple Health-Care Website
Government Acknowledges It Needs to Fix Design and Software Problems

By
CHRISTOPHER WEAVER, SHIRA OVIDE, and LOUISE RADNOFSKY


Six days into the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the new health-care law, the federal government acknowledged for the first time Sunday it needed to fix design and software problems that have kept customers from applying online for coverage.

The Obama administration said last week that an unanticipated surge of Web traffic caused most of the problems and was a sign of high demand by people seeking to buy coverage under the new law.

But federal officials said Sunday the online marketplace needed design changes, as well as more server capacity to improve efficiency on the federally run exchange that serves 36 states.

"We can do better and we are working around the clock to do so," said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services. The government is making software and hardware changes to smooth the process of creating accounts needed to gain access to the marketplace, federal officials said.

The website is troubled by coding problems and flaws in the architecture of the system, according to insurance-industry advisers, technical experts and people close to the development of the marketplace.

Among the technical problems thwarting consumers, according to some of those people, is the system to confirm the identities of enrollees. Troubles in the system are causing crashes as users try to create accounts, the first step before they can apply for coverage.
. . . .
Experian PLC, an information-services firm, holds a federal subcontract to support that system. The company declined to comment.

Information technology experts who examined the healthcare.gov website at the request of The Wall Street Journal said the site appeared to be built on a sloppy software foundation. Such a hastily constructed website may not have been able to withstand the online demand last week, they said.

Engineers at Web-hosting company Media Temple Inc. found a glut of stray software code that served no purpose they could identify. They also said basic Web-efficiency techniques weren't used, such as saving parts of the website that change infrequently so they can be loaded more quickly. [/b]Those factors clog the website's plumbing, Media Temple said.
. . . .
That system was developed by CGI Group Inc., the main contractor developing the federal exchange.CGI declined to comment.[/b]
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424...eTabs%3Darticle