Sebelius reveals details of plan to fix HealthCare.gov site

In recent days, the Obama administration has promised a “tech surge” to fix systemic problems afflicting the online portal to the federal health insurance marketplace since the Oct. 1 rollout. But White House officials provided few specifics about what the plan to bolster the HealthCare.gov website would look like.

On Tuesday, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius provided the first details. Former Office of Management and Budget acting director Jeffrey Zients has been brought on board to provide advice to HHS officials working to fix the problems. In September, Zients was named director of the National Economic Council, but he won't fill that post until 2014.

“Jeff has led some of the country's top management firms, providing private-sector companies around the world with best practices in management, strategy and operations,” Sebelius wrote in a blog post on the HHS website. “Working alongside our team and using his rich expertise and management acumen, Jeff will provide short-term advice, assessments and recommendations.”

Sebelius also announced that the agency has secured additional personnel from CGI Federal, the lead contractor responsible for constructing the Internet marketplace, to work on fixes. She was less forthcoming about who else was called on to help.

“We've also brought in additional experts and specialists drawn from within government, our contractors and industry, including veterans of top Silicon Valley companies,” Sebelius wrote. “These reinforcements include a handful of Presidential Innovation Fellows. This new infusion of talent will bring a powerful array of subject matter expertise and skills, including extensive experience scaling major IT systems.”

Sebelius has been under fire from Republican legislators over the disastrous rollout of the federal exchange. She is slated to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Oct. 30.

Follow Paul Demko on Twitter: @MHpdemko