Harris wins disputed VA integrated health record contract

The Veterans Affairs Department said it awarded a contract vital to the development of an integrated VA-Defense Department electronic health record system to Harris Corp., following the abrupt termination of a deal with ASM Research in March.

VA spokeswoman Josephine Schuda said the value of the award to Harris is $80.3 million, or $22.3 million less than the $102.6 million award to ASM Research. The department stopped working with ASM because one or more of the company's subcontractors had inside, nonpublic information about the procurement when it was put out for bid, industry sources told Nextgov.

Harris will develop a middle layer of software, known as an enterprise service bus, for the integrated electronic health record. VA's chief information officer called this software the "heart of the iEHR" in a Federal Times article last month.

The VA-Defense Interagency Program Office will use the software Harris develops. Barclay Butler, selected by Defense officials as director of that office on Feb. 27, served as vice president for health care solutions in the government division of Harris for more than three years prior to his federal appointment.