Obamacare site designer CGI of Montreal loses contract

Theadministration of U.S. President Barack Obama has decided to drop Montreal-based CGI Group as the main IT contractor for the problem-plagued Obamacare health insurance site.

The Washington Post reportsthe government will soon sign a 12-month contract with a different company Dublin-based technology and consulting company Accenture.

The $93-million US contract with the U.S. unit ofCGIis to expire in February.

CGI confirmed it will finish out its work on the site, but the contract will not be renewed.As lead in designing the system, its contract could have been renewed for one or two years.

CGIshares took a hit on the news, dropping 2.8 per cent to $34.25 in Toronto trading.

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CGI executives testified before a White House committee about problems with the site, where users tried for days without success to sign up for the health insurance plan.

The company has been involved in trying to fix problems with access to the site, but federal officials have determined it has not been effective enough.

"We are working with our contract partners to make a mutually agreed upon transition to ensure that HealthCare.gov continues to operate smoothly for consumers," aspokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Servicessaid in a statement.

Obama has seen his popularity slide over the persistent site glitches.

While the worst problems with the site occurred in the early weeks after the October 2013 launch, the U.S. administration said more than two million American had successfully signed up for health insurance by December.

But there are still problems with registering people in state programs and computing exact amounts to be sent to insurers, as well as tabulating premiums for individual families.

In November,CGI CEO Michael Roach told analysts that clients were not bothered by the companys connection to the Obamacare debacle.

"This is not a simple website, but rather a very complexintegrated technology platform that, for the first time, combinesthe process of selecting, enrolling in insurance, and determininginsurance eligibility for government subsidies all in one place andin real time," he said.