through management of a shared service called the enterprise identity management system. and the office of ch communications. to facilitate the functions of the marketplace, cms contracted with qssi to develop the hub and cgi to develop the federally facilitated marketplace. the hub facilitates information a consumer provides. with nflgs maintained by other sources such as ssa and irs. in addition to the hub, css contracted to build the federally facilitated marketplace system which consumers used for private qualified health plans and for programs like med cicaid and advanced tax credits.

we underestimated the volume of users to access the site at one time. we immediately addressed the issue and continued to work on performance and create a better experience. health care is made up of two major subdivisions. one is called learned and continues to educate consumers. while the premium estimation

tool can only sort consumers on its first launch, its functionality will be to better fit consumer shopping profiles. this is different from the application because determination for assurance affordability programs, mecaid and chip, are specific to the characteristics of an applicant in his or her household and ask only be communicated after an application is completed. i know that consumers have been frustrated in these initial weeks after the sites loan. while the hub is working as intended, after the launch of the online application, numerous problems surfaced which have prevented some consumers moving through the account application, eligibility in a smooth and seamless manner. some of the problems have been

resolved and the site is functioning much better. users can continue through the enrollment processes. we are now able to process 17,000 registrations per hour with no errors. we recon figured various systems to improve site's responsiveness, and, in particular, the viewing and f t filtering of health department plans. we've also made software configuration changes. we are encouraged that the hub is working as intended and that the framework for an eligibility system and enrollment is in place.

>> i know this isn't questioning time, but if you can tell us 17,000 are signing up per hour, why is a subpoena from ways and means not saying? >> good morning, chairman, ranking member and members of this committeement my name is frank bateman and i am the deputy assistant secretary for the u.s. department of health and human services. i'm pleased to join you here today. the department of health and human services is the united states government principle agency for protecting the health of all americans, especially for those least able to help themselves. at the department level, the office of the chief information officer, serves this objective by leading the development and

implementation of a technology framework. hhs is committed to the effective and efficient management of our information resources in support of our public health mission. human services program and the u.s. health system. the hhs, ocio, is responsible for developing the department's policy framework for it, including such areas as enterprise architecturarchitects management, accessibility and privacy. for example, a healthy framwork management after 22002, omw directors and the national institute of standards and guidance on security and privacy. all of which will embody the technology portfolio.

>> in support of the programs administered by hhs. the department's portfolio also su poorts everything from common and commodity it, things like human resources, e-mail and accounting systems, to the mission systems that enable research at the national institutes of health to the regulation of drugs and the treatment of patients at the indian health services network of clinics. >> the administration for health, research and quality, the centers for disease control and prevention, the centers for medicare and medicaid services, known as cms, the food and drug

administration, the health resources and services administration. the indian health service. the national institutes of health and the substance abuse and mental health services administration. the vast majority of the it's resources are dedicated drerktly to the appropriations made to our prams and operating divisions and our gover nans structure reflects that reality. program level it decisions are governed and reviewed by our operating divisions. each of hhs's operating divisions has its own chief operating officer and an it management structure. and management of the development of healthcare.gov was comparable to management 06 similar it initiatives

throughout the department's operating divisions. indeed, prior to it initiatives that we're all familiar with. including medicare care.gov led and developed by cms who serves as the business owner and developer of healthcare.gov for the federally facilitated marketplace. since i joined the department about 18 months ago, we have been working to restructure and update our it govern nans into what the department buys and builds across all of our operating divisions. we are now in the process of putting into place three committees from across the department to improve our purchasing and management of it resources. these steering committees take a functional view of our it portfolio.

we have created one to oversee health and human service systems. a second to oversee scientific research systems and a third for administrative and managemented systems. this structure will improve department-wide oversight of it purchases and projects. the secretary has been a strong advocate for transparency into the department's it portfolio. and this new government structure is designed to achieve that out come. for example, we're now in the process of establishing a vendor management office to improve the department's negotiating position with technology vendors and to make use of enterprise-wide license ak wi zigszs. we're always looking for ways to consolidate investment systems or acquisitions to meet the

department's broad it portfolio folio needs more effectively and economically. in the fy '14 budget process, hss identified $2350 million in redictions within our it port follow, attributable to savings in various it areas. mr. bateman, we know how great a job you're doing. would you please wrap up? >> yes. i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. >> thank you. mr. park. >> good morning, members of the committee. thauj for inviting me to testify today on the administration's on going effort to deliver on the prosays of the affordable care act. as u.s. chief technology officer housed at the office of science and technology policy, i serve as an advisor of the white house on a broad range of technology priorities ranging on how e v innovation can grow the economy

to spur innovation to how the power of technology can be harnessed to improve health care, disaster relief, fight human trafficking and more. in this work, i try to bring the sensibleties of the tech entrepreneur that i've been for most of my professional live. as you know, october 1st was the launch of the new healthcare.gov where people without health insurance can go to get affordable coverage. unfortunately, the experience on healthcare.gov has been highly frustrating for many americans. needs problems are unacceptable. we know there is real interest from the american public in having easy access to the new affordable choices in the hemt insurance marketplace.

and since the beginning of october, i have shifted into working full time on the team that is working around the clock to fix health care.gov and bring it to the place it should be. the team is making progress. the web site is getting better each week as we work to improve its performance, its stant and it's functionality. as a result, more and more individuals are logging in and applying for coverage. we have much work still to do but are making progress at a growing rate. i'll be happy to try to answer any questions you may have and the ro gresz the team is making. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> good morning, chairman isa, ranking member cummings and the opportunity to tef to improve the management of technology and its relationship to the implementation of the affordable care act. as the chief information officer of the united states, i serve as

administrator of the office of electronic government and information technology. a statutorily created office. my primary duties are guidance and policy, overseeing development of the president's $82 billion it budget. to collectively address and resolve complex kros government issues. the results of my office have followed needs themes. realizing over $1 billion in savings since 2012 with our portfolio stat program. and facilitating and convening agencies to work on policy such as our work on opening government data, closing and optimizing our data centers, pro moting a new wave of cloud commuting.

my involvement in the implementation of the aca reflects from my role as director of the cio. i work through the technical details of the cross agency itch lemtation work of the aca, primarily yielding the cross agency service hub feature of the overall system. as the committee is well aware, before joining the administration, i worked in the private sector for nearly 20 yoers. >> as you can imagine, connecting multiple legacy it systems across multiple agencies

of the federal government is a complex task. however, this is no excuse for the problems in laumpnching hei healthcare.gov. since october 1st, i'm acting in the effort to assist in the centers for medicare and medicaid services in fixing this system. giving my experience in the private sector, i act as a customer advocate helping to improve opportunities while we fix the web site. outcomes from this work include updates, the home page and listing alternative ways to apply for health insurance. recently, i'm involved in the technical aspects of the site including monitoring, progress and advising the team. we share the deep concern of this kplit tee regarding the current state of healthcare.gov.

thank you again for the opportunity to appear before the committee today. >> thank you. i now ask unanimous consent that pages 151 and 152 chose to ener transcribed interview placed on the record. objection so ordered. i now ask that the redaktsed document of cji federal, which we'll call exhibit 1 be placed in the record. and i'll now ask that the cms document entitled health insurance markt place entitled pre-flight checklist be placed on the record. >> i just want to reserve so i could just see the documents. that's a committee document that both sides have.

without objection, so ordered. mr. chow, i i'm going to ask the clerk to give you those documents. and i'm going to give you a very brief -- before i start, a very brief understanding of what i'm going to come back to you on in just a few minutes. but you've made testimony on pages 151 and 152 of your transcribed interview in a sequence of events that were related to the minority's questioning of you as to whether or not the anonymous shop or function worked on october first. the other document is related to that checklist. and we want to make sure you

have that before i ask you any further questions under oath. and while he's reading that, start the clock, please, mr. park, you're here today and taken away from dwroyour other duties because of a serious concern about what you knew and what the administration may have had you say. and i want to give you an open opportunity to clarify that. after the october launch, and i'll paraphrase, you bagsically said that the proob wiblem with web site was there were 250,000 simultaneous users. it simply slowed it down and brought it to its knees. with the opening statements of others and what you now know,would you like to please give us the number of yuzers you believe could have been handled through the portal only day one?

>> thank you, mr. chairman, for the question. it's the nature of this kind of situation. >> now, mr. park, i want to treat you with respect, but i i've got very few minutes. you gave a number. that number was erroneous. it couldn't handle 60,000 simultaneous users. documents that will be placed on the record, the system crashed with 1100 and the goal was to get to 10,000. would you like to tell us for the record what number the american people could simultaneously be working on day one before the system began to time out. >> the information at the time, right foi, if you asked he right now, what the system is

currently capable of handling, if thing i'd be consideramforta handling, about 20-25,000 kwurnt users. >> so it's fair to say, on day one, on october 1st, at the launch, some amount perhaps greater than 1100, which was experienced on september poth and closer to the goal on september 30th, they could get to 10,000 simultaneous. but on day one, the site was capable of handling somewhere more than 1100 perhaps, but less than 10,000 simultaneous users or 250,000 that simultaneously tried to use the site. is that correct? >> so there may be a matter of confusion here with which cms may be better positioned to clarify.

the problem is there was a front door. i think for, and i come out of the it world, i come out of the tech world. but the american people can understand that you're only as strong as your weakest link. if you have a bottleneck that causes people trying to get through the site to shut -- to not be able to do it, to time-out, that bottleneck is what determines it. and since on day one, only six people got to the end, i think that for the american people, understanding that whatever the capacity is today, the capacity was insufficient on day one. isn't that correct the. >> so, sir, just in the interest of providing the most accurate testimony -- >> i only want to know, on day one, was the capacity sufficient? >> i can't speak to the numbers that you are talking about. but clearly, on day one,

clearly, on day one, the system was overwhelmed by volume. >> mr. park, you're going back to something i hoped you wouldn't do. the volume on day one was got in excess of what was expected? was it? the volume was what you would expect if everyone es anoth's g the site to see what it's all about. >> i don't have those specifics, but these volumes, if you go to irs on e-filing with people filing taxes in the 11th hour, this is the same problem that irs deals with on an annual basis. what you need to do is plan for your performance. mr. chao, i'll come back to you. you testified under oath on

pages 151 and 152, on the minority's questions, basically, and i'll paraphrase because of time, this site did not work. now, we've seen a document with cms on it dated in the last day september 25th that said it passed that test. is it that you did not know saying that it failed? first off, chairman, working with your staff for eight, nine hours, as well as the minority staff going through this transcribed interview, i've not had a chance to look at this. this is the first time i'd seen the results of that day. >> look, your job is to know what's in the site.

the cms report testified that it was anonymous. you testified it wasn't. are you prepared to say that under oath, that the anonymous shopper was turned off by your knowledge, not your guess, not your hypothetical. but are you prepared to say it was turned off because it failed to test? and that's -- that would be your knowledge based on what you knew. >> my words were not that it was turned on or off. i think that's actually technically incorrect. i said it was not made available because it failed testing. so you hand me this page 151, 152 which i have not reviewed just for correctness and accuracy. and i suppose you're handing me this other document -- >> mr. chao, what we're doing is saying that cms documents show that the anonymous shopper test positive. you testified under oath and i'm sorry you may not remember, but when the minority asked you what is normally nice questions,

zefl-serving questions, help you rehabilitate yourself questions, they're on your side. you said effectively, you gave a reason in its opening statement, that the anonymous shopper was turned off for reasons other than political. we believe the easy front door -- i want to know what it's going to cost, was not on. and, in fact, if it was on, mr. park has said, you know, this had different components. the american people could have gotten on and shopped. this is in the context of my knowledge, under oath, that it did not pass testing. i had domtss that show it did not pass testing. >> mr. chao, my time is expired. but when hms and chs deliver documents showing that it hasn't passed, we can have you back. right now, the document is

provided to us by the vendor show that it did pass on a cms document. that document is placed in the record. if anyone else would like to understand, you said it failed test. in administration and absence of transparency has refused to give us the document. but the document that we have today which says cms all over says it passed test. you said under oath it failed. our problem is the people we work for won't give us the document so that we understand that. with that, i recognize the ranking member to try to rehabilitate your testimony. >> mr. chairman, i -- let me be clear that we have staff wo work

just as hard as yours. it's not about self-serving. it's just about getting the truth. i would not insult your staff. >> i wasn't insulting your staff. >> i take it as an insult. it's got about zefl serving. maybe you can get him to show us the document. >> it shows us something that you did not disclose just now that will be brought out to show that your statements are inaccurate. now, mr. parks -- >> will the gentleman yield? >> of course. another member will bring it up. >> no, no, no. no.

again, we will show you the document. there's some things that you have blacked out that you have not disclosed. and we'll show you those in a few minutes. mr. park, although we have not met before today, i understand that you have an understanding, an outstanding reputation in the it community. i did not know this previously, but the co-founder of your former company is jonathan bush. of athena health. who is the cousin of former president journal bush, is that right? >> yes, sir. >> i have a quote here that mr. bush, the cousin of former president, gave to a reporter a few weeks ago. and he says this about you. and i quote. todd is uniquely thoughtful, dedicated and precise. he's a manic problem solver.

blind to partisan ship. if there's anybody who can fix the problems with exchanges, it's todd. mr. bush also said you were working so hard to improve the web site that you, and i quote, spent the first week of october sleeping on the floor of his office as he tried to get hemtcare.gov off the mat. is that right? >> yes, sir. >> well, your reputation certainly proceeds you. unfortunately, however, last week, chairman isa appeared on fox news and accused you and other plit dal appointees of engaging in a pattern of interference and false statements related to this site. end of quote. that's a serious attack against your integrity. i don't want to get into

anyone's intent or motives here. this is not unusual for me. i realize that we are all on this earth for a short wile. and that our reputations is all we've got. and since those statements were made about you, i would like to dpif you an opportunity to respond. thank you, sir. thank you for the opportunity. and, again, i don't take any of this personally. it's a fast-moving sitweight with a lot going on. what i would just say is this. it was the case, absolutely. that that volume is a key issue. it's still an issue the way we've greatly expanded, expanding our ability for the site to accommodate volume. my best understanding at the time, it's the nature of