The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has tapped the Harris Corporation to build a piece of the Nationwide Health Information Network.

The communications and technology company, based in Melbourne, Fla., will develop an open-source "gateway" solution for the government. The company did not reveal the financial terms of the contract.

The gateway will enable federal healthcare agencies and healthcare providers to more quickly and easily share patient information, Harris executives said.

Initially, the gateway will connect government healthcare providers in the Department of Defense, Veterans Administration, Social Security Administration and Indian Health Service to provide access to and exchange of vital patient medical records.

The second phase of the gateway deployment will move the core components into the public domain, essentially creating a World Wide Web for healthcare information exchange among providers of all specialties and sizes.

The gateway will integrate and re-use technology based on the Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid used by the National Cancer Institute and the Bi-directional Health Information Exchange that provides for medical information exchange between the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration.

Harris teamed with Agilex, Inc. and ScenPro, Inc., both recognized experts on technologies used in these programs.