Source HC1 | GAO-13-601 | June 19, 2013 | https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-13-601.pdf The following are verbatim excerpts. Page numbers are the report's printed page numbers. Status describes the reporting date, not a September completion certificate. [Highlights, page preceding printed page 1] "CMS completed many activities necessary to establish FFEs by October 1, 2013, although many remain to be completed and some were behind schedule." "While CMS has met project schedules, several critical tasks, such as final testing with federal and state partners, remain to be completed." "have been delayed by about 2 months, which has delayed training and other activities." "Whether these efforts will assure the timely and smooth implementation of the exchanges by October 2013 cannot yet be determined." "In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of Health and Human Services emphasized the progress it has made in establishing exchanges, and expressed its confidence that exchanges will be open and functioning in every state by October 1, 2013." [Printed page 21, Eligibility and Enrollment] "CMS expects to complete development and testing of the information technology systems necessary for FFEs to determine eligibility for enrollment into a QHP and to enroll individuals by October 1, 2013, when enrollment is scheduled to begin for the 2014 plan year." [Printed pages 22–24, Data Hub] "According to program officials, CMS established milestones for completing the development of required data hub functionality by July 2013, and for full implementation and operational readiness by September 2013." "CMS began conducting both internal and external testing for the data hub in October 2012, as planned." "Service Level Agreements (SLA) between CMS and the states, which define characteristics of the system once it is operational, such as transaction response time and days and hours of availability, are planned to be completed in July 2013;" "SLAs between CMS and its federal partner agencies that provide verification data are expected to be completed in July 2013; and" "Completion of external testing with all federal partner agencies and all states is to be completed by the beginning of September 2013." [Printed pages 24–25, Plan Management] "Once received, CMS, with the assistance of its contractor, expects to evaluate and certify health plans as QHPs by July 31, 2013." "CMS then expects to finalize the QHP information and load it into the exchange website by September 15, 2013." [Printed page 26, Consumer Assistance] "However, the announcement was delayed until April 9, 2013, and CMS officials indicated that there would be one round of awards, with an anticipated award date of August 15, 2013." [Printed page 29, Table 2, source: CMS] "CMS awarded the contract for operation of the call center on April 15, 2013, with the call center to begin operations by June 2013." "CMS planned to relaunch the healthcare.gov website in June 2013 to provide a greater focus on exchange enrollment." "CMS plans that the system used by the FFE in states not assisting with consumer assistance activities will be available by the October 2013 initial enrollment date." [Printed page 32, CMS obligations through March 31, 2013] "For one contract, with CGI Federal, CMS obligated about $88 million for activities to support establishment of the FFEs, such as information technology and technical assistance." [Printed page 33, Table 4] "CGI Federal Inc" | "FFE information technology and healthcare.gov" | "$87,997,938"