Saturday, October 26, 2013

Why the Web Site Stumbled

 The basic problem faced by the Affordable Care Act Web site has been that new federal software, produced by the lowest bidder, is usually third rate and in need of fixing. According a column by Clay Johnson and Harper Reed in the NY Times, 94% of "large federal information technology projects over the past 10 years were unsuccessful." Then most of them got fixed.

Also from the Times: "In 2011, the British government formed a new unit of its Cabinet Office called the Government Digital Service. It’s a team of internal technologists whose job it is to either build the right technology, or find the right vendors for every need across the government. It gives the government a technical brain. It has saved the country millions, and improved the way the government delivers services online."

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