The technology firm hired to build Vermont’s new health insurance exchange is fighting back against claims that it deceived state officials last year.
Allegations surfaced in a Newsweek story earlier this month that CGI oversold the quality of its product by faking a live connection between the exchange and a federal data hub. The allegation came from an unnamed tipster who claimed to have direct knowledge of the faked demonstration.
Linda Odorisio, vice-president of communications for CGI, says the connection shown in the demonstration was real.
“CGI confirms that the demonstration conducted on July 26, 2013 included a live interface with the federal data services hub, with the real time sending and receiving of data,” Odorisio said in a prepared statement Wednesday night.
Odorisio's comments came hours after the minority leaders of the Vermont House and Senate asked a federal prosecutor to launch an investigation into allegations of fraud related to the state’s new online insurance exchange.
In a letter Wednesday to U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont Tristram Coffin, Sen. Joe Benning and Rep. Don Turner say allegations of a “fraudulent software demonstration” by an anonymous “whistleblower” demand a federal probe.
Top officials in the Shumlin administration have repeatedly refuted the claims.
The supposed whistleblower claims that on July 26, 2013, executives at CGI willfully deceived state officials by faking a “live interface” with the federal data hub. The allegedly fake demonstration, according to the unnamed whistleblower, was designed to provide false confidence to state officials about the readiness of the insurance website.
Commissioner of Vermont Health Access Mark Larson produced a document last week that he says proves the existence of a connection with the federal data hub around the time the July 26 demonstration occurred.
Turner and Benning, however, say the troubled rollout of Vermont Health Connect, as the exchange is called, combined with “evidence suggesting the company in charge of designing the system may have duped Vermont officials,” warrant an investigation.
“We think it’s time for a neutral independent evaluator to look into whether or not promises were made that were not lived up to and that those promises may have prevented the state from figuring out whether it had a workable item or product,” said Benning, leader of the minority caucus in the Vermont Senate.
In their letter to Coffin, Benning and Turner included a copy of the whistleblower's letter to them charging, among other things, that the July demonstration was faked.
It’s the boldest move yet from the Republican opposition in the Statehouse. And their letter to U.S. Attorney Tristram Coffin Wednesday stems from a Newsweek story published earlier this month. The story raised allegations of fraud by CGI, the technology firm hired to build the state’s online insurance exchange.
The allegations in the Newsweek article come from a single unnamed tipster, who claims CGI executives willfully deceived state officials last July by faking a demonstration between Vermont Health Connect and the federal data hub.
Mark Larson is the commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, and he says the Newsweek story is bogus. Larson has since provided documents that he says exonerate the state from claims by the anonymous whistleblower.
But Benning, who is a lawyer, says he thinks the evidence at hand warrants formal inquiry. Benning says he also received an anonymous letter alleging a fake demonstration by CGI last July. He says he doesn’t know if it’s from the same person that spoke with Newsweek.
“Is the evidence weak? All that I can say is, I know the national press has looked into this and has raised the question. Couple that with the fact that we still don’t have a working product, and it raises enough for me as a criminal defense attorney to at least say there’s probable cause for an investigation,” Benning says.
Larson says that the state’s connection with the federal data is entirely functional, and has been since last year.
Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott didn’t sign on to the letter to the U.S. Attorney, but Benning says that Scott was involved in deliberations about whether or not to request the investigation.
U.S. Attorney Coffin confirmed Wednesday evening that he received the letter, but said he couldn't comment on whether his office has launched an investigation.
Updated at 5:25 with comments from Sen. Benning and U.S. Attorney Coffin.
Updated 6:45 pm with comments from CGI.
