Hannah Hoffman

Statesman Journal

Who is at fault for the Cover Oregon website that never fully worked? Was it the state of Oregon for failing to manage its own project? Or was it Oracle, the company hired to create the website?

Both sides have now sued each other, and both say the other should bear responsibility. Both used the lawsuits as an opportunity to hurl scathing accusations at each other. To read one and then the other is to read two very different accounts of what happened behind the scenes as the state's most high-profile project in years fell apart.

Below are direct quotes from the two lawsuits that illustrate how far apart Oracle and Oregon are in their understanding of what really happened.

Whose fault is it the website didn't work?

ORACLE SAYS: "The government bureaucracies and Cover Oregon worked poorly together. They did not agree on work priorities, they competed with one another for resources and in decision-making, and they failed to provide authoritative direction to all of the contractors working on the project. Communications among the different entities were 'ineffective and at times contentious,' according to a report commissioned by Oregon's governor. ...As a result, one organization would make decisions without taking account of implications of that decision for the work being performed for the other organization; the result was often duplication of effort and rework. That dysfunction endured throughout the project."

OREGON SAYS: "Not only were Oracle's claims lies, Oracle's work was abysmal. One developer experienced in Oracle products called Oracle's programming 'atrocious.' He added that 'they broke every single best practice that Oracle themselves have defined. It is one of the worst assessments I have performed..." The same developer wrote to Oracle, 'You are Oracle people, working on an Oracle hardware platform, with Oracle technology products, on an Oracle solution...Oracle should be delivering these environments and products as a solution, like they actually understood the products and owned the solution which has not been the case by a long shot.' According to an independent quality assessment conducted in October 2013, Oracle's 'processes do not meet industry standards...'

RELATED: Oregon AG: "Oracle sold the State of Oregon a lie."

Who broke the contract?

ORACLE SAYS:"Plaintiff Oracle America, Inc. ("Oracle ") brings this Complaint against Defendant Oregon Health Insurance Exchange Corporation, doing business as Cover Oregon ("Cover Oregon"), for breach of contract and quantum meruit based on Cover Oregon's continued use of software developed by Oracle despite Cover Oregon's failure to pay approximately $23 million for services Oracle rendered...In the end, though, Cover Oregon reneged on its promises."

OREGON SAYS: "In effect, Oracle used its purported superior expertise, coupled with lies and pressing deadlines, to trap the State and Cover Oregon in a deadly spiral: at each juncture Oracle charged more and Oregon got less. Oracle has never offered to return a penny of $240,280,008 it fraudulently obtained or to pay for any of the millions its failures cost the State."

Who said, 'No systems integrator'?

ORACLE SAYS: "Rather than engage the services of an experienced system integrator — in effect, a general contractor to manage the massive project—Oregon decided to manage the project by itself, despite having little or no experience with projects of such novelty, complexity or scale. That decision was akin to an individual with no construction experience undertaking to manage the processes of designing and building a massive multi-use downtown skyscraper without an architect or general contractor, instead engaging and managing dozens of separate subcontractors with different specialties to build different parts of the project."

OREGON SAYS: "As soon as the first contract was signed, Oracle took control of both Projects. DHS and OHA initially planned to hire an independent 'Systems Integrator' to manage the Projects and implement the "Oracle Solution." Oracle was dead set against the State hiring an independent Systems Integrator."

Who swept problems under the rug?

ORACLE SAYS: "One of those contractors — Maximus, Inc. — was hired for the express purpose of enabling OHA, and later Cover Oregon, 'to understand known and probable risks, and establish priorities for mitigation/remediation strategies.' Maximus dutifully reported on the risks, but OHA and Cover Oregon seemed largely to ignore the contents of those reports."

OREGON SAYS: "Oracle employees assured Cover Oregon that the centerpiece of the HIX-IT Project — a website portal for individual Oregonians to review, compare, and purchase health insurance — would be ready to launch on schedule. By late September, however, when Oracle was unable to demonstrate a working website, Cover Oregon realized that Oracle's assurances were worthless."

Who is blaming whom?

ORACLE SAYS: "While flogging Oracle publicly, Cover Oregon continued privately to ask for Oracle's help. (Indeed, it continues to this day to seek Oracle's technical help with the project). Oracle gave that help for many months, in spite of the public excoriation, because it was committed to helping Cover Oregon complete the project and because Cover Oregon repeatedly promised to pay Oracle for its services."

OREGON SAYS: "Oracle has never offered to return a penny of $240,280,008 it fraudulently obtained or to pay for any of the millions its failures cost the State. On the contrary, on August 8, 2014, Oracle filed a lawsuit riddled with false and irrelevant allegations against Cover Oregon, claiming that Cover Oregon owes Oracle an additional $23,000,000 for the 'Oracle Solution' that never worked."

hhoffman@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6719 or follow at twitter.com/HannahKHoffman

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Click here to read the lawsuit filed in state court by Oregon's Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and click here to read the lawsuit filed in federal court by Oracle.