In order to know who is at fault, one would have to see the contracts and what was promised. If the design of the website was constantly changed, then you really can't blame the contractor for being behind schedule and over budget.

I'm sure the details will come out.

One off the contractors jobs is to look at the changeorders and accurately predict how long they will take to complete. If the client hands you a changeorder that will push you beyond your deadline, it's the contractors obligation to renegotiate the deadline before accepting the changeorder. I've seen active contracts terminated over this sort of thing many times. Clients will ask you to deliver the moon to them by tomorrow afternoon if you let them. If you promise it to them and can't deliver, you don't get to blame the client later for having an unreasonable request. It's the duty of the contractor to look at the request and say "We can't deliver that on your timeline."

The fact that it didn't happen is indicative of poor project management skills on the contractors part.

If the government said the deadline is firm, and these features are firm, then the contractor just has to do the best they can. I don't do IT work, but I've worked on jobs with tight deadlines, some that were just about impossible. I've told clients before that the odds of being ready at the date specified were 50% or less. Sometimes we made the deadline, sometimes we didn't.

If the government refused to move the deadline, and didn't want to change the features, and they were told that it would cut back on time for testing, then that is on them if they wouldn't budge.

Ultimately nobody really knows what went on, so it is just speculation.

An accurate phrase that will grow legs.

I do welcome Obama's honesty.

The 4 individual contractors are saying they did their job, but the interaction between the various parts weren't end-to-end tested until the last 2 weeks of September. Who did they say was responsible for not testing before then? HHS.

So at this point, they're claiming they did their part. In fact, they're claiming they were pushed to continue even when they knew (and we're letting HHS know) there were issues.

It'll all play out over the next few weeks. But this is HHS's baby, and it better get this site up and running with zero flaws really quick, that is if they don't want life to end as they know it.