27 Aug Penny Wise and Really Pound Foolish

It is not  news that the State of Maryland has fired its prime contractor for the health registry that it was building instead of using the federal registry (healthcare.gov).  What is news is how much this has cost the taxpayers of Maryland.

According to the board of the Maryland Health Exchange, Maryland had spent $125.5 million to build and operate its exchange.  They estimated it would cost $66 million to fix the existing problems and it still would not be what they wanted.  The board then decided to retain the prime contractor who has successfully provided the exchange for Connectiuct for a mere $40-50 million.

The board had retained an IV&V contractor whose expertise was in process assessment  rather than having expertise in IV&V.  In its defense, the IV&V contractor was told to focus on process.  I do not know if the new prime contractor will retain the same IV&V contractor.  For the sake of the Maryland taxpayers, I hope they retain an IV&V contractor who does more than process assessments.

They need an IV&V contractor who understands that IV&V is much more than process assessment. The contractor needs to provide engineering and supporting documentation assessment.  The IV&V contractor needs to provide objective evidence that going to the next phase is an appropriate decision.

Perhaps the right IV&V contractor would cost the state 10% -15 %of development cost , this would have been $12.5-$19.0 million.  And perhaps their recommendations would have been heeded and not ignored and the Maryland taxpayers would not be spending an unnecessary $31-$37 million dollars.  We could be the right IV&V contractor for you.

Contact The IV&V Group® to learn how we can help you save money.