(Politico)If the Obamacare enrollment website seems like a tangled mess, just wait for the lawsuits.The potential for a morass of litigation over who's responsible for the problems that have plagued the rollout of President Barack Obama's signature health care law is significant, government procurement experts say.With scores of federal employees and 55 contractors reportedly involved in setting up the Obamacare federal exchanges, it may take years to sort out exactly what happened - let alone for the feds to recover any of the hundreds of millions of dollars already paid out on the project. The debacle could lead to years of claims and counterclaims over a law that has already had its day at the Supreme Court."The government, to recover damages, will have to prove which contractor or contractors are responsible for any defects," said Harv Lester, who litigated numerous contracting disputes during a 20-year career in the Justice Department's Civil Division. "If problems arose because the government wasn't able to coordinate its contractors' work properly, the burden is the government's to bear - the government has to pay for it."At the moment, the administration is avoiding talking in public about the potential for lawsuits or attempts to seek refunds from the contractors.White House press secretary Jay Carney referred all questions about the contracts for and costs of the project to the Department of Health and Human Services. An HHS spokeswoman, in turn, referred the questions to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A spokeswoman there had no answers Tuesday about the costs of the project, the terms of the contracts or any efforts to limit payments for design of nonfunctioning parts of the website.The rollout has become not just a huge embarrassment for the administration, but perhaps a real liability to the President's legacy.CGI Federal, the company behind the dysfunctional HealthCare.gov website, revealed it was paid $290 million in taxpayer funds. That's why many government procurement experts are predicting lawsuits as details emerge.GOP lawmakers threaten subpoena over ObamaCare rollout informationWho is likely to get sued and how do these things typically play out in court?Talk to any expert on government contracts and spending to localize.Doña Storey is a client who has been studying the legal issues involved. Feel free to contact her directly.Doña StoreyExpert on Government Contracts(cell) 757-621-9294dona.storey@govtips.bizwww.donastorey.comDoña is also available for Skype interviews.Next up after website glitches: The lawsuits