Michelle Obama's Gal Pal Joined CGI In May, 2010 - CGI Was Awarded The Contract in September, 2011

I had not seen the chain of events highlighted at any other blog, and I thought it was important to establish an answer to the question.

Michelle Obama's college friend, Toni Townes-Whitley, was hired by CGI in May 2010.

From the CGI website: 

Toni Townes-Whitley joined CGI in May 2010. She is a Senior Vice-President currently leading the Civilian Agency Programs (CAP) Business Unit for the Federal Group. CAP serves 22 Federal Civilian agencies with 1,850+ members geographically dispersed across the U.S. and 34 countries internationally. The CAP Unit offers a broad portfolio of solutions, including cloud, ERP, application and infrastructure outsourcing, and consulting services.

Toni Townes-Whitley joined the CGI Federal management team in May 2010, and has been responsible for the successful delivery of services to 22 Civilian Agencies within the U.S. Federal Government. As the Business Unit Manager for Civilian Agency Programs (CAP), Ms. Townes-Whitley is responsible for sales, client relationships, P&L and member management for CAP’s 1,850+ members across the U.S. and 34 countries internationally. CAP is the largest Federal Business Unit and has a broad portfolio of cloud, Momentum/ERP, consulting and outsourcing solutions. 

The contract was awarded to CGI, by CMS, which is an operating division within the Dept. of Health and Human Services, in September, 2011:

An HHS source told The Daily Caller that the agency received four proposals out of 16 pre-qualified bidders. 

The source would not say which companies were pre-qualified, nor which companies submitted proposals. 

Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president for CGI Federal, testified before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in September that CMS chose CGI Federal in Sept. 2011. 

“On September 30, 2011, CMS conducted a competitive procurement and selected CGI Federal to design and develop the FFM,” said Campbell. 

The FFM, or Federally Facilitated Marketplace, is the technical term for the Obamacare exchange.

Furthermore, the CGI website states that Toni Townes-Whitley's position with CGI is Senior Vice President, but this interview with Ms. Townes-Whitley, makes the claim that she is "the head of CGI Federal" (you'll find the relevant portion of the interview at 46:25).

The CGI website explains her position thusly:

She is a Senior Vice-President currently leading the Civilian Agency Programs (CAP) Business Unit for the Federal Group. CAP serves 22 Federal Civilian agencies with 1,850+ members geographically dispersed across the U.S. and 34 countries internationally.  

The CAP Unit offers a broad portfolio of solutions, including cloud, ERP, application and infrastructure outsourcing, and consulting services. Toni Townes-Whitley joined the CGI Federal management team in May 2010, and has been responsible for the successful delivery of services to 22 Civilian Agencies within the U.S. Federal Government. 

As the Business Unit Manager for Civilian Agency Programs (CAP), Ms. Townes-Whitley is responsible for sales, client relationships, P&L and member management for CAP’s 1,850+ members across the U.S. and 34 countries internationally. 

CAP is the largest Federal Business Unit and has a broad portfolio of cloud, Momentum/ERP, consulting and outsourcing solutions.

In other words, Ms. Townes-Whitley was hired by CGI (which is a Canadian-based company) to head up the company's government-business division. She is in charge of sales and client relationships with government entities.

One would imagine there could be no more important relationship for Ms. Townes-Whitley than her relationship with the wife of the President of the United States of America.