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>For the record, earlier claims/predictions that the website was a no-bid deal and that it cost over $600M, are false.

Candidly John, I didn't feel like continuing it - because of recent personal blasting/personal attacks by you and Nick Mason.

There was only one bid/proposal evaluated at the federal level. CGI achieved a status of "ID/IQ" towards the end of the Bush administration, which stands for "Indefinite Delivery and Indefinite Quantity.” It's been informally described as a loophole that allows the feds to circumvent the normal process and award contracts without public notice.

(If you'll take note, I've been critical of the Bush administration and have jumped in when people criticize Obama for things that actually started under Bush. But in this context, my criticism of the current administration is that, for all the lip service to openness and for all the bad-mouthing of prior administrations for lobbyists, back-room deals, etc.....this administration has shown to be just like any other one, if not worse).

I have looked and have not seen any information about an RFP or open competitive bid I also know some retired government people who were high ranking civilian managers involved in I.T. procurement who aren't aware of a single piece of information to believe it was done as any standard competitive bid. If there is such information, I'll stand corrected. But the feds only reviewed one bid. And last night I learned something else - take this for what it's worth - CGI owns a company called SOS, which is involved in the PRISM application tied to the NSA. I don't think it's unreasonable to view that as another potential data point in the explanation of how this vendor got the work.

Several newspapers have asked for any public solicitation notices - their request was denied, and they were told to make a Freedom of Information request. That could take over a year (or longer, as some have found) to fulfill, if it is at all.

I'm not saying the process would have been pristine had the entire thing gone out to open bid - it's even possible the results could have been WORSE. But I am not going to drop the context that this current administration has acted in the same ways as the past administrations that the current one criticizes.

And truthfully, given the news reports from CNN over the last 2 days, I'd actually say the CGI issue is small compared with what's going on now.