Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Accenture, the second-largesttechnology-consulting company, will take over construction ofHealthCare.gov.

The U.S. government has awarded Accenture’s Federal Servicesunit a one-year contract, with an initial payment of $45 million,the Dublin-based company said in a statement yesterday. Accenturewill succeed Montreal-based CGI Group Inc., which drew criticismfor the website’s early stumbles.

While the site has improved, healthcare.gov’s first two monthswere marred by delays, error messages and garbled data that boggeddown insurance sign-ups in the 36 U.S. states served by the federalsystem. Accenture led construction of California’sbetter-performing state exchange.

“Accenture will bring deep healthcare industry insight as wellas proven experience building large-scale, public-facing websitesto continue improving healthcare.gov,” David Moskovitz, chiefexecutive officer at Accenture Federal Services, said in thestatement.

The government-run insurance exchanges offer health plans andaccess to subsidies created by the 2010 Patient Protection andAffordable Care Act. CGI’s role in managing healthcare.gov had beenreduced following the botched rollout, with a unit of UnitedHealthGroup Inc. brought in to oversee emergency repairs. Most Americanshave until March 31 to select a health plan for 2014 coverage.

Accenture rose less than 1 percent to $83.20 in New York tradingon Jan. 10, the day The Washington Post reported the company wouldreplace CGI. Its shares have gained 19 percent for the 12 monthsthrough last week. CGI fell 2.9 percent, to $31.58 on Jan. 10.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chose Accenturefrom more than a dozen firms, according to the company’s statement.The contract’s final value will be based on “mutually agreed-uponwork plans,” the company said.

Accenture will help the federal system prepare for its secondopen enrollment period in October 2014, including “24/7 support ofthe marketplace application, eligibility and enrollment functions,generation and transmission of enrollment forms, and featuresrelated to special enrollment periods,” according to the statement.Accenture also will develop new features for future phases of theprogram.

With assistance from Alex Wayne in Washington.

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