US Weighs Tech Fixes After Health-Site Woes

The Obama Administration is considering loosening hiring rules for technology specialists and creating a new federal unit dedicated to big tech projects, officials said. The steps, some of which President Barack Obama could announce this quarter, are designed to address the lack of concentrated talent in civilian federal agencies to manage large technology projects -- a shortcoming exposed by October's disastrous launch of the federal health-insurance site.

The Administration is still crafting a plan, but several proposals are getting close study. One of those ideas is reversing the innovation-fellows program to have government technology specialists rotate through private-sector companies. Another idea under consideration, officials said, is expanding federal direct hiring authority so agencies can better compete for software developers and other specialists.