This is not the press any vendor wants. On Thursday, Oregon governor John Kitzhaber asked the state attorney general to take legal action against Oracle(s orcl) which he blames for the embarrassing roll-out (or non-rollout) of the state's health exchange site.
This is just the latest spat in a long-festering saga. The site launched October 1, but pretty much fell on its face, becoming the butt of jokes on late-night TV well beyond Oregon. Oracle has blamed the state for not using its consultants to build the site -- the state acted as its own general contractor. Kitzhaber also asked the U.S. Department of Health and Services to penalize the company, according to OregonLive.
Oregon hired First Data(s fdc) to figure how things went so bad. That company found Oracle's performance "lacking" in a February report which went on to say: "[Oracle's] inability to adhere to industry standards and professional software and project management tenets warrant further review"
The state has paid $130 million for work on the site is withholding another $25.6 million/
In a statement to KTVZ, Oracle said the state mismanaged the project by "consistently failing to deliver requirements in a timely manner and failing to staff the project with skilled personnel."
One thing is clear in all this mess: The episode is bad news for the state, for Oracle and possibly for healthcare reform in general.