Last Thursday, representatives from four of the main contractors working on various aspects of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act testified at a Congressional hearing. The contractors were hired by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that is responsible for administering the Obamacare insurance exchanges. The testimony revealed a disturbing lack of coordination and communication between CMS and the contractors throughout the development period for the website, as well as related tasks.

As if on cue, late Friday afternoon CMS announced the cancellation of a conference originally scheduled for November 4 entitled “Contracting with CMS Conference”.  The conference was announced on September 16 with the following flyer: