>> it was cms. we don't have full knowledge of exactly the full change. >> how lead in the game did they make that change in the system? >> for cgi they asked us to turn that functionality off two weeks before it went life. >> two weeks before going live so they made a dramatic change to the system to weeks before going live. nobody would have done it in the private sector to make a change to the system. let me ask you this because all of you were paid lots of money to do this spigot its report to over $500,000 -- $500 million of taxpayers' money, more than facebook. facebook its 700 million users a day. 700 million people use that every day and it works. in the first five years they didn't spend that much money. did you deliver -- and i will goodell -- did you deliver the product were contracted to build? >> we have. mr. slavitt? >> did you deliver the -- >> yes. >> mr. lau? >> yes. >> there is a saying in computer programming garbage in and garbage out. you're given a bad product to build than it

>> cms.midey you believe that it is unusual for such a large project to experience some problems after it launches, yes or no? >> no. >> despite the initial problems with the website, have consumers still been able to enroll in the health insurance plans yes or no? >> yes. >> do you believe that progress has been made getting the website to run as intended since launched three weeks ago, yes or no? >> yes. >> these questions are for mr. lau of serco. is serco responsible for handling and processing paper applications for health insurance in the marketplace? >> yes, sir. >> with all of the problems with of the web site, many consumers are turning to pay for applications. those serco have the capability to handle larger amount of paper applications than was originally expected, yes or no? >> yes. >> the last question is for all witnesses and we will start with ms. campbell. do you all commit to working with cms and all the stakeholders until the website is fixed and functioning in yes or no? >>

get that cms? who is your point of contact at cms? >> so there are a number of people. >> give me a name. >> henry chow. >> give me another name. >> ms. snyder. >> you got another one? >> peter -- peter oh. >> ok. mr. slavitt. >> here's what we saw -- >> isn't that a beta test? wouldn't that put the different components together and see if the system worked? >> here's what we saw. we didn't see the full kind of integrated end-to-end testing that you are talking about until the couple days leading up to the launch. >> shouldn't we have had that? >> ideally, yes. >> wouldn't any other system, corporate entity rolling out something see if it tested and worked before going out in the field? >> yes. >> mr. slavitt, do you have any names? >> i don't have names. >> will you provide to us? >> we'll follow up. >> so we tested. >> a beta testing, end-to-end, when did it happen? >> the information only comes to us after the application is completed. so we were testing up to the time that the system went live.

how about an ongoing basis. >> cms has it. >> so cms secures their own system is secure? >> with the support. >> so the information that goes through the system, a ghost array data hub, you have designed the system to transport ms.rmation, correct? campbell, your infrastructure is designed to take a piece of information from the hub and get it to the end user, which would be whatever navigator is in front of the screen, correct? you built the infrastructure for that to happen. >> that is correct, a portion of it. >> so in less than two weeks, you're constantly changing code, introducing new code. in any system i have ever seen, two months for security check is not appropriate, let alone a security check. i am more nervous today than when i got here. i am shocked, shocked that on august 30 you get an independent check that says the system is fine and you have introduced new code to that system probably daily, probably in terms of hundreds of thousands of lines, at least tens of thousands of lines of new code which creates new vulnerabilities in thecies tefment you don't ev

we oversee cms and cms is the american people. so when we're talking about contracts here, that's really who we're talking about. we are talking about the american people. cms is not a private company somewhere in the united states. they represent the american people, and we've got get to the bottom of these issues. yes, we need the numbers by 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. mr. lau, on that, how many paper applications have been completed up to this time? >> somewhere between 3 and 4,000. >> 3 and 4,000. okay. to that point, now the president on monday at the rose garden gave a speech, because of the glitches -- i call them gaps. they're bigger than glitches, i believe. glitches are hiccups. these are more than hiccups. he refer to the 1-800 number and urged the american people to call the call center and to go through the hard copy process on or the paper process. to that point, miss campbell, do you know the process, what happens if someone calls the 19-800 number? where do they go? where are they directed? how does the process layout? i k

why would cms told that data from the american public?the thought is those that are critics that it is not very high but they do have 7,000 people applied. that doesn't mean they actually enrolled. the very least they are not getting incorrect information but we're still not sure how many people have enrolled the contractors were asked this to david ask to present this information by 9:00 tomorrow morning they said they have to clear that with cms and they said did not have the number but only to has applied. gerri:. [laughter] it is crazy. 1% of those who went on the web site ultimately could it role and that is astonishing low now we know the number of hits has fallen by 80 percent. i don't know but is it possible interest is waning? >> you do have the first day where people and to seek what it is about. now reporters are slowing down their attempt the joke is the industry should released numbers half a million people signed up but a 90 percent were reporters. [laughter] but that is an issue if people don't come back or are so fed up th

>> it is a body of individuals at cms. lou: 82 just department participated in the stonewall releasing application numbers increase but leaving out the most important, the people of actually enrolled with obamacare all federal contractors today testified the testing of the web site was inadequate and blaming the federal government without naming any names, fox news chief congressional responded with our report. >> federal contractors told lawmakers individual components were tested earlier but the government failed to check out the whole program until days before the launch. >> did not have adequate testing we took those results that were made available. >> contractors working on health care. lou: said -- health care .gov cms told them to go forward watching october 1st. one said he pretended to be a consumer from texas. >> did it work? >> dive log on to create an account and i could do so i just never received a confirmation e-mail. >> did not work. >> also conclude the cms is responsible for the blunder. >> on behalf of

>> it with cms' decision. >> did you ever recommend to cms that it was not ready? >> it was not our position to do so. let me clarify -- cms had the ultimate decision for live or no go, not cgi. we were not in a position. we were there to support our client. it is not a position to tell our client to go live or not not go live. >> who at cms were you sharing those decisions with? >> i did not have a position to make that decision. >> who at cms made the decision to go live? >> is a body of individuals. >> mr. slavitt? >> we had a limited view of the entirety of the project, we were confident in the ability of the data services hub, where we spent the bulk of our efforts. we were confident it would work on october 1, and it has. other than that, all of the concerns that we had, mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would have liked, we expressed those concerns to cms throughout a project. >> so you shared that there were real difficulties? all the risks we saw and all the concerns were all shared with cms. >> what was the response

>> it with cms' decision. >> did you ever recommend to cms that it was not ready? >> it was not our position to do so. let me clarify -- cms had the ultimate decision for live or no go, not cgi. we were not in a position. we were there to support our client. it is not a position to tell our client to go live or not not go live. >> who at cms were you sharing those decisions with? >> i did not have a position to make that decision. >> who at cms made the decision to go live? >> is a body of individuals. >> mr. slavitt? >> we had a limited view of the entirety of the project, we were confident in the ability of the data services hub, where we spent the bulk of our efforts. we were confident it would work on october 1, and it has. other than that, all of the concerns that we had, mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would have liked, we expressed those concerns to cms throughout a project. >> so you shared that there were real difficulties? >> did they ever come back to you in terms of the shortcomings and what needed to be done? an

but we don't know what it is they said to cms. we don't know who they said it to. we don't know what cms' reaction was. >> we know secretary sebelius will answer some questions today, we're told, after she meets with the folks here at this call center in arizona. i want to read a little bit of what editor of the national review said in an opinion piece for politico. he writes, kathleen sebelius is the obama care rollout, what fema director michael brown was to hurricane katrina response. he goes on to note that brown was gone two weeks after the storm where sebelius looks to be in a place for grim duration of the effort to right healthcare.gov. and i want to play what former white house chief of staff bill daly said this morning on "cbs this morning." let's play it. >> some people are calling for her to be fired. to me, that's like firing captain smith on the titanic after it hit the iceberg. it's not going to do much right now. i think they've got to get it fixed. they've got to get it straightened out. then there's a question, obviously, whether there need to be

cms made the decision to gone on october 1. we merely presented them with where we were at at that point. >> that's right. sort of, i believe the technical term, this is a lash-up. you have a situation where you're trying to tie together you all these things and all these pieces. the secretary said herself, secretary sebelius said herself they wanted two more years, they wanted to have five years instead of three years to get this website off the ground. and when you see how they were doing it, which is with all of these contractors tied together, and you have all of this fingerpointing, that people, well, it wasn't me, it was him, and other guy and went the other direction, you see how it could very logically end in such a disaster as this. bill: we'll drop back here in a moment. we want to let our viewers know in case they're just joining us what they missed over the past hour. one of the things they missed, this is the vice president of cgi speaking right now, chris. she is the lead witness the other thing she said we acknow

>> that is decision made by cms. that is a cms call. that is contract not a contract towel call. >> we informed cms more testing was necessary. >> sir we're never been the systems integrate tore and we are not the systems integrator. >> who is charge for the systems integrator? >> cms is in charge end to end. bill: kevin brady, republican on the house ways and means committee. you will be in the hearing room. >> good morning bill. bill: what is your first question? you thought about it overnight. what did you come up with? >> like many americans, we have a lot of questions about the website, what is becoming clear the flaw is not simply the website. the flaw is the law itself. when you try to inject 159 new federal agencies, bureaucracies and commissions between you and your health care this is what happens and, this is the easy part. this was just the coverage. wait until the government starts making decisions on patient care, treatments and reimbursements. bill: you're going to have a lot more hearings on this. >> yeah. bill: more to

>> it with cms' decision. >> did you ever recommend to cms that it was not ready? >> it was not our position to do so. let me clarify -- cms had the ultimate decision for live or no go, not cgi. we were not in a position. we were there to support our client. it is not a position to tell our client to go live or not the live.ot go >> pool at were you sharing -- who atsions with cms were you sharing those decisions with? >> i did not have a position to make that decision. >> who at cms made the decision to go live? >> is a body of individuals. >> mr. slavitt? >> we had a limited view of the weirety of the project, were confident in the ability of the data services hub where we spent the bulk of our efforts. we were confident it would work on october 1, and it has. all than that, we had -- of the concerns that we had, mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would have liked, we expressed those concerns to cms throughout a project. >> so you shared there were real difficulties in the testing with them? >> all of the risks we saw and all

>> it was cms' decision, not our decision one way or the other. >> did you recommend to cm is that perhapsready and they might delay the date. >> it was not our position to do so. >> so you chose not to share those thoughts with them, is that right? >> let me clarify my statement. cms had the ultimate decision for a live or no-go decision, not cgi. we were not in a position. we are there to support our client. it is not our position to tell our client whether they should go live or not go live. >> so who at cms were you sharing that information with or those decisionses? anyone in particular? >> once again, chairman. it was not -- i did not have nor did drshgs gi have an opinion on cms to go live or no-go decision. >> do you know who at cms made the decision to go live? >> good morning. i'm chris jansing and you're watching right now congress holding its first hearing to investigate the botched rollout of the health care law. what you've been seeing is contractors who built the site and they've been answering questions, but as you can see, a lot of politics involved just from the opening s

cms services for performance of the federal exchange.also is important to understand the complexity of the work on the exchange. it's a sophisticated software that clubs a web portal, transaction processor and business analytics to simultaneously help americans determine their eligibility for insurance, apply for subsidies, shop for health plans and enroll in qualified plans. the technology works in real time with sophisticated analytic systems developed by other contractors, large scale depositid depositories. in short, the federal exchange, including the ffm, is not a standard consumer website. but, rather, a sophisticated integrated technology platform that for the first time in history combines the processes of selecting and enrolling in insurance and determining eligibility for government subsidies, all in one place and in real time. since awarded september 30, 2011, cgi federal has worked diligently to develop the ffm by following a rigorous process that is customary for large i.t. projects. the ffm passed eight required technical

>> cms. >> ok. do you believe that it is unusual for such a large project to experience some problems? >> no. >> despite the initial problems can peoplebsite, still be able to enroll in health insurance plans? >> yes. >> do you believe that the progress has been made getting the website to run as intended since it launched three weeks ago? >> yes. >> these questions are for mr. lau of serco. responsible for handling and processing paper applications for health insurance in the marketplace? >> yes, sir. what's with all the problems with the website, many consumers are now turning to paper applications. does serco have the capability to handle a larger amount of taper applications than was originally expected -- a larger amount of paper applications than expected? >> yes. >> do you all commit to working all the, congress, and stakeholders until the website is fixed and a as intended? >> yes. >> yes. >> yes. >> i would appreciate it very much if you would each submit for the record eight summary -- hav

, which oversees the program. >> cms had the ultimate decision for live or no go decision. not cgi. >> all of the concerns that we had which were mostly related to testing and the inability to get as much testing as we would have liked, we expressed all of those concerns and risks to cms throughout the project. >> so the clear message, they were rushed and cms did not test the system end to end before the launch. during the hearing, we also saw republicans air concerns about whether the websites comply with hipaa, the law that protects the privacy of your medical information. congressman joe barton, republican from texas, pointed out a line in the website source code that says when establishing an account quote, you have no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding any communication of any data transmitted or stored on this information system. barton laid into the cgi representative over that. >> are you aware this was in the source code, yes or no? >> yes. >> you were aware. okay. do you think that's hipaa compliant? how can that be? you know it's not hipaa compliant. ad

a contracthave had with cms, but you have to asked is a cm government agency. cmf is the american people. aboute are talking contracts here, that is over talking about. s represents american people. we do need those numbers by 9 a.m. tomorrow. applications have been completed up to this time? >> somewhere between three and 4000. andomewhere between 3000 4000. >> the president gave a speech in the rose garden. gaffes, hethe referred to the one 800 number and urged american people to call the call center and to go through the hard copy process or the paper process. point, ms. campbell, to know that process? what happens number,ne calls the 800 where are they directed and how does our process layout? i know you have to be brief. >> actually, it is a question >> goes to -- >> so you would not have knowledge of this point? >> correct. mr. lau, what that process? >> there?e do they go from what would be the average time, had, and i know you mentioned about 3000 applications being completed up to this point. there are individuals have gone to that site and they're sti

cms is expected to testify on capitol hill next week. kathleen sebelius, the head of hhs, is also expected to testify next week. 32 republicans have now called for her to resign. obama applications we're told are now up to 700,000 so far. wolf? >> let's see what happens. thanks very much, joe johns up on the hill. at the obama care blame game escalates, let's go in depth. michael sharer is joining us. the latest edition of "time" is on the stands right now. you see the forgotten prince on the cover. also joining us, chief political analyst gloria borger. they used to say the buck stops here, referring to the president of the united states. should we be hearing more from him as opposed to others right now? >> at some point, he's going to have to decide where the buck does stop because that hearing today was the buck stops there, not here. i think the president has come out, spoken about this, he said he's angry about it. he has to address it periodically. he has to let the technocrats brief him regularly on it, fix it, see what happens in

it was really up test cms.erri: we hadn't experts tell us last night that cms is in no position to that run this thing. no idea how to build a website of this complexity. did not have the expertise. you think that is right? >> that is right, usually you outsource the management of these contractors. you don't try to do it in-house. it is hard to train people to do this kind of work, and cms was working directly with the white house on the implementation of this website. i think what you see now is lot of effort to try to pass the buck on to the contractors. and the contractors probably will start pushing back. in a system money is probably just the opening salvo. gerri: hang tight. we will bring in our reporter, rich edson, from washington. lots of news tonight, lots of chatter about this idea of delaying the mandate. what do you know? >> sure. when you talk to the administration, their response on this is to say, we still have months of an enrollment. and if we come to that point where you cannot get health in

this document indicates that cms postponed a final security assessment screening but in its place, cms did put in place a number of mitigation measures and it concluded that these measures would mitigate any security risk. question, are you familiar with this document? >> yes, sir. >> is it correct that this document recommends implementing a dedicated security team to monitor, track and ensure the mitigation plan activities are completed? >> yes, it does. >> now, is it correct that this document recommends monitoring and performing weekly testing on all border devices, including internet facing web servers? >> more than recommended, it's under way. >> is it correct that this document recommends conducting daily and weekly scans? >> yes, sir. >> does this document recommend conducting a full sea test on the marketplace in a stable environment? >> yes, sir. >> is it correct that this document recommends migrating the marketplace to cms's virtual data center environment in the first quarter of next year? >> yes, it does. >> my understanding is that an independent security expert is perfo

life safety codes and so we have been and continue to live on borrowed time and at any point, when cmsomes back to do the regulatory investigation, we will not pass, we don't meet the requirements for the physical, constraints of a building. and a brief overview, in terms of the patients who actually receive services at the sfgh location, and this gives you a zip code and break down and district break down. and also it shows miles to sfgh and smiles to laguna honda. and so we recognize, transportation, is an issue, and as part of this process, we are committed to doing anything that we can to bring resources to help to mitigate any transportation barriers that might be presented as a result from the move from san francisco general to laguna. >> can i ask you about this slide, what does it mean when it says ward 17 and com sites? what is the difference between the two? >> the award 17 is the building, the building 100 at sfgh, that is where the current facility is located and community sites represents the number of patients who are followed by the sfgch but they are actually out in the

we at cms have been doing that. cms tends to oversee most programs. because of what i consider the failures in the initial rollout, we thought we needed to bring on additional expertise. we have brought that on in terms who will be accountable to me. i am accountable for this. that is one of the big things. categorydentified two issues. one had to do with system performance and speed. these were actually people who completed applications and did the work. it was just slow. we are an impatient society. we have added capacity and other things to deal with that and improve system performance grid i have some metrics there. the other side are the defects, like the sticking in the application. i hope you have noticed -- we have started to do daily tech updates with the press to try to be more transparent about the problems and how we are fixing them so that you see continuous improvement. >> time has expired. you ought to supplement anything further. >> it would be helpful. >> mr. paulson? >> ms. tavener, thanks for being here. i know you've got a tough jo

on august 1, administrator tavenner told us that cms would -- cms would finish end-to-end testing by the end of august. on september 10, the subcommittee held a hearing in which representatives assured us that their components would be ready on time. when the exchanges opened on october 1, it was a disaster. -- it was nothing less than an unmitigated disaster. we are hearing reports that the administration was warned that the site was not ready for an october 1 launch. "the washington post" reported that as late as september 26, there had been no test to determine whether a consumer could complete the process from beginning to end. secretary sebelius said just this week that almost no testing occurred. these past few weeks of exchange dysfunction, along with stories of hundreds of thousands of americans losing their existing health plans, help underscore why washington should not be running our private health insurance system. the botched rollout is all the more reason that the individual mandate penalty should be delayed. average americans deserve a waiver from obamacare, too. it is

we at cms have been doing that, cms tends i don't oversee most programs. because of what i consider the failures in the initial rollout, we felt we need to bring on additional expertise. i'm accountable for this so i think that is one of the big things. the second thing, we've identified two, what i'll call category issues. one had to do with system performance and speed. these were actually people who could complete applications and do the work and the system was just slow. we're an impatient society. we've added capacity and other things to deal with that and persistent performance. i have some metrics there. but on the other side what i'll call the defects like the sticking in the application, where we're actually going through punch lists and we're starting -- i hope you noticed this to do daily tech blogs, daily tech updates with the press to be more transparent about the problems and how we're fixing them so you see -- >> time has expired. you'll have to complement anything further -- >> will be helpful to have that. >> mr. paulson. >> thank you, tha

cms was the integrating prior to the rollout, correct? >> that's correct. >> you testified you hired an outside company to serve -- >> one of the contractors -- >> who is is that? >> qssi, who built the hub. >> the same company that told our committee last week they were not only the developer of the hub and pipe line but also an independent tester of the system. >> you've acknowledged in your testimony today that inadequate testing played a significant role in this failed launch, aren't you concerned qssi has lost its ability to be an objective independent arbitrator in addressing the problems that plague the system now? they are part of the tester and part of the developer and part of the problem. >> i haven't lost confidence in them. the testing they did is valid ating the pieces of the equipment, what we said, since the launch is we did not do adequate end to end testing, that was not the qssi responsibility. >> in this new roll as integrater, are are you going to be paying them more than they were paid under the original contract? i

this document indicates that cms postponed a final security assessment screening, but in its place, cms did put in place a number of mitigation measures, and it concluded that these measures would mitigate any security risk. question, are you familiar with this document? >> yes, sir. >> is it correct that this document recommends implementing a dedicated security team to monitor, track, and ensure the mitigation plan activities are completed? >> yes, it does. >> now is it correct that this document recommends monitoring and performing weekly testing on all devices, including internet-facing web servers? >> more than recommended, it's under way. >> is it correct this document recommends conducting daily and weekly scans? >> yes, sir. >> does this document recommend conducting a full sea test on the marketplace in a stable environment? >> yes, sir. >> is it correct that this document recommends migrating the marketplace to cms's virtual data center environment in the first quarter of next year? >> yes, it does. >> my understanding is that an independent security expert, the miter corporat

independent, not cms. >> gentleman's time -- >> it needs to be done independently. people -- >> h-- has expired. >> i'll get you the information. but there are three levels of testing. one he

our cms team felt we were ready to go. i told the president that we were ready to go. clearly, i was wrong. we were wrong. we knew that in any big new complicated system, there would be problems. no one ever imagined the volume of issues and problems that we've had. and we must fix it. >> yes, ma'am. credible journalists said you knew you needed six years. >> that quote has been repeated. i can guarantee i would have never stated that because the law was passed in march of 2010. i chose the open enrollment date. i don't know where that quote comes from, but that is not from me. >> the gentleman's time has expired. mr. barrow. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for attending today, i suspect ha deep down most people on this committee accept the concept. we have disagreements about the means used to get to those ends which is why i voted against the affordable care act. it seems every day we're hearing of something new going wrong. i'm many concerned the long-term enrollment problems could be market problems. my students are losing confidence. the way to restore their tr

this was a cms enterprise. it seems from all of the reporting and from what i can gather up until very recently they didn't realize how bad this was going to go out. no one beta tested the site

didn't test, that the tests worked very well both inside and out, or that you turned it all over to cms? anybody want to answer? >> we had independent contractors testing our system. >> do you think it's right that 99% of the people that try to go through the system get rejected, can't even complete the application? is that a system that you're proud of? >> sir, this is a system that we are working every day to make improvements. >> reporter: none of the witnesses today could say for sure when the problems will all be resolved. cgi contractor estimates it would take another two months. the health department won't commit to a timetable but you can be sure members of congress will put to that question, kathleen sebelius when she testifies before the house next week. bertha coombs, "nightly business report", washington. >>> our next guest has suggestions on how to fix those problems. he's dr. zeek emanuel. he's now vice provoe at the university of pennsylvania. i talked with him a short while ago and he began talking about what went wrong with the government's program from get-go. >> the f

the ways and means committee will be chairing with cms. we will be having secretary sebelius on wednesday. i think we learned a lot earlier this week. we have a lot of questions for them to find out who made the decision, why if they knew it wasn't going to work, why wasn't it delayed? the president made the decision back last summer on the business mandate side of things. we had a vote on the individual side. and the deadline stayed in place. we have a real mess on our hands. >> you heard a lot, like you said. do you think it's the government, the contractors? from what you've heard so far, and that's a good deal, who is really -- >> this is was -- this was supposed to be a user-friendly service. the promise was you could keep your health insurance if you wanted it. you are forced into this new program, this new design. it was described by everyone as if you're born -- going to order pizzas or flowers or whatever. it does not work. that's the easy part. signing up ought to be the easy part, anyway. the hard part is when those same folks n

that was cms's job. i think we can all -- >> cms is the company that was handling -- >> cms is the centers for medicare and medicaid. that's the federal government. they were the ones that were supposed to be responsible for testing to make sure that everything ran smoothly. >> did they do the tsting? now revel aings are coming out that the testing of the system from end to end really didn't happen until just two weeks before the roll-out, which is really not enough time to test something this massive. >> of course. yes. the testing did not happen according to what we heard in testimony over the last two days. it did not happen until two weeks beforehand. >> why was that? >> well, if i could answer that question -- first of all, the one thing that's different about the federal website when they first decided to do this is they were going to build it using open source code. right? hss, the health and human services says we want to pay for this one, and then other states if they want to use the federal sys

blamed contractors hired to build the website for the centers for medicare and medicaid services or cmsshe says unfortunately a subset of those contracts for healthcare.gov have not met expectations. >> do you swear that the testimony you are -- >> reporter: but in testimony last week, those contractors said the real problem was with cms, which demanded last-minute changes and did not allow enough time to fully test the website. >> i want to apologize to you that the website has not worked as well as it should. >> reporter: ed head of cms says fixes since the launch have improved the website. >> you're saying the system right now is working? >> it's working, just not at the speed we want and at the success rate we wanted. >> reporter: contractors say they warned the obama administration about the glitches weeks before the launch. members of congress say they want to know when sebelius first learned of the problems and who did she tell. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >> president obama will visit boston today to promote and defend the healthcare reform of program. >>> it is 4:49.

>> it was cms's decision. >> did you ever recommend to cms that perhaps they weren't ready and i might want to delay the day? >> it was not our position to do so. >> so you chose not to share those thoughts with them? >> let me clarify my statement. cms had the ultimate decision for a live or. ♪ decision not cpi. we were not in a position. do we were there to support our clients and it was not our position to tell our clients whether they should go live or not go live. >> who at cms were you sharing that information with or those decisions? >> once again chairman i did not have nor did cgi have an opinion on a decision for cms to make on a live or -- decision. you know who made the decision to go live? it's a body of individuals at cms. >> thank you mr. chairman. we had a limited view of the entirety of the project but i can see that we were confident in the ability of the data services hub which was a complex component where we spent the book of our effort. we were confident that it would work on october 1 and in fact it has. other than that we had -- all of the concerns that we had w

there's supposed to be a briefing in cms. sure they'll give the same stock answer is that they're not releasing this. at the same time, states like washington are releasing this information. and they're having what is probably dramatically higher level enrollments than the feds are. >> if not enough people sign up either because of this or because of sticker shock, it implodes. >> the whole thing collapses. >> the whole thing is based on having a large risk pool. >> and nonaverse selected risk pool. >> exactly. >> and i'll throw in one last point here is the technical delays have led to something a lot of people haven't paid attention to like we haven't so far, but there's been a delay in the spanish language enrollment. if you can only speak spanish, you can't enroll at all online which is a serious problem. >> wow. i still -- i was able to enroll. i was not able to actually pick a plan because -- >> you could get into the website? and you registered? >> yeah -- yeah. it took a while. i had to close a browser, reopen -- >> w

that was made by the cms team. i was aware that they were pairing back some features to not put additional risk on the website. >> who made that decision? >> administrator tavenner made that decision. >> and do you know why that was made? >> yes, sir. because we were anxious to get the website up and running and functional. which we clearly have failed to do to date. although, i would suggest that the website has never crashed. it is functional, but at a very slow speed and very low reliability and has continued to function. having said that, they paired down some of the features feeling that it would be better to load them in later. one was the shop and browse feature. another one was the spanish version of the website and the medicaid transfers. all three of those issues were pair the down in september to not overload the system. >> last week there was testimony that cms was responsible for end testing. and they believe that months of testing would have been preferable to two weeks. do you believe that two weeks

. >> cms has the ultimate decision for live or no go. >> republicans contend the problems with the website are a sign of larger problem with the health care reform law. democrats just want the website fixed but are losing patience. >> joe mansion wants to shelve the deadline for a year. >> there shouldn't be a fine or penalty. this should be a transition year. >> the white house is giving people an extra 6 weeks to enroll without having to pay a penalty. in washington, danielle nottingham, wjz eyewitness news. >> health and human services secretary said her department will hold daily briefings to give updates on the site's progress. >>> hundreds of drivers are using the hard way to respect the move over law. state police have made more than 1,400 stops in just one day as they crack down on violators. drivers are required to move over or slow down for emergency vehicle with their lights on. a state trooper was injured earlier this year after a driver accidentally hit her she walked on the side of the road. >>> several students being sickened at a city school. wjz has learned several of the