Obamacare finger

CGI Federal, the main contractor for Obamacare's troubled Healthcare.gov website, blamed early problems on another contractor's software, according to written testimony posted to a congressional website on Wednesday.

'Unfortunately, the (front-door software) created a bottleneck that prevented the vast majority of users from accessing' the federal health-insurance marketplaces, CGI senior vice president Cheryl Campbell said in testimony submitted to the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

The other contractor in question, United Health Group unit Quality Software Services Inc (QSSI), told the same oversight panel that its front-door software that allows users to create accounts was initially overwhelmed by an unexpectedly high volume of visitors.

Andrew Slavitt, executive vice president with QSSI's parent, said the software is now 'keeping pace with demand' and has had 'error rates close to zero' since Oct. 8.

Campbell said in her testimony that the Obama administration's federal marketplace passed eight technical reviews before going live on Oct. 1.

But she added that as Healthcare.gov's front end problems dissipate and more users access the site, an 'increased number of transactions ... have caused system performance issues such as slow response times or data assurance issues.'

QSSI said one reason for the high volume that led to early bottlenecks was a 'late decision' requiring consumers to register before browsing for insurance products.