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West Virginia Data ERP Being Created by Beleaguered ACA Vendor

The company largely responsible for creating Healthcare.gov is also implementing a massive computer system in West Virginia.

The company largely responsible for creating the heavily criticized website used to enroll in the new national health care system is also in charge of implementing a massive data-computer system in West Virginia.

Canadian company CGI Federal is bearing the brunt of the national ire over the bungled rollout of Healthcare.gov, the website created for buying insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also called "Obamacare."

Abundant glitches on the site have led to customer frustration, political posturing and an apology from the president.

CGI Federal, with branches in the U.S. and Montreal, is one of 55 companies contracted to help roll out the exchange. It's in charge of the largest portion of the work: As of June, it had received $88 million out of the $394 million spent federally by the government on the project, according to the Washington Post.

The administration announced it's working on the website with CGI and other contractors and said the issues with the website should not overshadow the tenets of the health care law.

At the same time, CGI is slated to receive more than $110 million from West Virginia to help implement the new Enterprise Resource Planning system.

The ERP, also known as WVOASIS, system will gradually house all of the state's data on accounts, personnel and assets while eliminating many other outdated software programs currently used to track the information, according to Daily Mail archives.

WVOASIS -- short for Our Advanced Solution With Integrated Systems -- is a massive program: It's scheduled to take the place of 118 other state systems, according to Daily Mail archives.
Despite the size of the project and recent negative publicity for CGI, state Auditor Glen Gainer is confident the company can handle the WVOASIS project.

"It really doesn't cause alarm to me. I know the system they're developing," Gainer said in an interview earlier this month with the Daily Mail.

Gainer's department is one of the state agencies overseeing the implementation of the new system.

The health care website is the first of its kind, Gainer argued. One of the reasons the state wanted CGI to develop its new data-management system is that it's done similar projects in other states.
"The system that they're implementing here is one that they've already employed in 16 to 20 states," Gainer said.

"It's a tried and true system."

CGI has provided enterprise resource planning services to "nearly 190 state and local organizations" according to its website.

The lengthy rollout process is underway and going well, Gainer said. State budget officials started using the WVOASIS program for agency funding reports late this summer, and other facets of the system will be rolled out soon, Gainer said.

The program did encounter a social media problem earlier in the year.

In June, state officials worked to remove questionable posts from the official WVOASIS Twitter account. Tweets like "Bumper stickers are how we tell people we only had $1.50 to spend on a belief system" and "I've been putting vodka in my fruit smoothies. Also, no fruit," appeared on the account before being deleted.

The account still has less than 50 followers. Although a spokeswoman couldn't confirm the account was hacked, seemingly identical posts appeared on unrelated Twitter accounts.
The WVOASIS is expected to be completely up and running by the fall of 2014.

(c) 2013 McClatchy News Service.