$35M more to no-go health website firm.

• Author: LeBlanc, Steve
• Position: News

Byline: Steve LeBlanc

BOSTON -- Massachusetts health care officials said Friday they'll pay the lead contractor on the state's hobbled health insurance website an additional $35 million to close out the contract.

That means the CGI Group, which has already been paid about $17 million, will end up receiving $52 million of an $89 million contract.

Health care officials said the $35 million will compensate CGI Group and subcontractors for meeting certain milestones since November, when they were last paid.

Officials said the agreement signed with CGI on Friday also allows the Massachusetts attorney general to recover up to $12 million, based on an ongoing false claims investigation.

Gov. Deval Patrick called the deal ''a pragmatic way to wind up a frustrating relationship.''

Payments for the most critical portions of the services will only be made if officials are satisfied with what CGI delivers, said Maydad Cohen, special assistant to the governor.

Massachusetts announced in March that it was dropping CGI after the state's updated health care website ran into serious troubles.

Cohen said since then the top priority has been negotiating ''a careful, thoughtful transition so as to not jeopardize the project's future and set us further behind.''

Health care officials said CGI will continue to provide ''critical transition services'' over the next several months.

Cohen said...