CGI-Federal and the Controversies Around the Company that Built the Obamacare Website
Summary of eRumor:
There are forwarded emails that have gone viral on the Internet alleging that CGI-Federal, the company that was hired by the U.S. Government to build the website for the Affordable Healthcare Act enrollment, is Canadian.
There are other allegations that say the senior vice president of the company, Toni Townes-Whitley was a classmate at Princeton with the future First Lady, Michelle Obama and that CGI has donated millions of dollars to the Obama reelection campaign.
The Truth:
There are various reports about CGI Federal, the company that developed the website for enrollment for the Affordable Healthcare Act, also known as Obamacare.
Lets look at them one at a time:
CGI Federal is a Canadian Company – Truth!
CGI Federal is a U.S. subsidiary of CGI Group, which is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. CGI Group has offices 40 countries around the world including 66 branches in the U.S. This according to the company’s website.
CGI Federal Senior Vice President Toni Townes-Whitley attended Princeton in 1985 with Michelle Obama- Reported to be True!
“First Lady Michelle Obama’s Princeton classmate is a top executive at the company that earned the contract to build the failed Obamacare website.” This according to an October 25, 2013 article by that Daily Caller, which said, “Townes-Whitley and her Princeton classmate Michelle Obama are both members of the Association of Black Princeton Alumni.”
Townes-Whitley is Senior Vice-President of Civilian Agency Programs according to the CGI Group website.
CGI Federal was the only company considered by the U.S. Government to design the health insurance exchange website-Disputed!
We found mixed reports on this one.
According to an October 17, 2013 article by Reuters there were 31 bidders for the contract. 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.”
Another report said that CGI Federal got the order without going through the bid process. This according to an October 13, 2013 article by the Washington Examiner. The article said, “CGI was one of 16 companies that had been qualified by HHS during President George W. Bush’s second term to deliver, without public competition, a variety of hardware, software and communication products and services.”
On October 28, 2013 commentators on the Fox News network repeatedly said CGI got the order without bidding, on both the Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity programs.
CGI Federal was paid $678 million to build the enrollment website at Healthcare.gov-Fiction!
The October 17, 2013 article by Reuters said, “As U.S. officials warned that the technology behind Obamacare might not be ready to launch on October 1, the administration was pouring tens of millions of dollars more than it had planned into the federal website meant to enroll Americans in the biggest new social program since the 1960s.” At the time of this report the “potential total value” of the website is close to $292 million.
CGI “donated” $47 Million to Obama’s campaign- Fiction!
According to the Open Secrets site, “a research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy,” CGI donated $128,000 to federal candidates and 52% of the recipients were Republicans.
We also found that CGI President George Schindler donated $1000 to the Obama reelection campaign, according to an October 17, 2013 article by the Daily Caller. The article also said that Schindler donated $1000 for the election campaign for Mitt Romney, $1000 to Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran in March 2011 and donated $2,300 to the John McCain Presidential campaign.
At the time of our investigation there is a Congressional Inquiry on CGI Group and we will be linking their findings on this page when they become available.
Posted 10/28/13
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