Implementation of Federal Prize Authority: 

Progress Report

A Report from the

Office of Science and Technology Policy

In Response to the Requirements of the

America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010

March 2012
2

ABOUT THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY

The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) advises the President on the effects 

of science and technology on domestic and international affairs. The office serves as a 

source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with 

respect to major policies, plans, and programs of the Federal government. OSTP leads 

an interagency effort to develop and implement sound science and technology policies 

and budgets. The office works with the private sector to ensure Federal investments in 

science and technology contribute to economic prosperity, environmental quality, and 

national security. For more information, visit http://www.ostp.gov. 

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION

This document is a work of the U.S. Government and is in the public domain (see 17 

U.S.C. 105). 

DEPARTMENT, AGENCY, OFFICE, AND DIVISION ABBREVIATIONS

BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics (part of DOL)

CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (part of HHS)

DCCPS NCI Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (part of HHS)

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOL Department of Labor

GSA General Services Administration

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCI National Cancer Institute (part of HHS)

NIH National Institutes of Health (part of HHS)

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OES Occupational Employment Statistics (part of BLS/DOL)

ONC Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information 

Technology (part of HHS)

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration (part of DOL)

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

VA Department of Veterans Affairs

WHD Wage and Hour Division (part of DOL)
3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY............................................................................................................... 4

INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 6

1. BENEFITS OF PRIZES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR ........................................................................... 7

2. SCALING SUCCESS........................................................................................................... 11

3. EARLY INDICATORS ......................................................................................................... 14

CONCLUSION......................................................................................................................... 22

APPENDIX 1: AGENCY PROGRAMS CONDUCTED UNDER THE AMERICA COMPETES REAUTHORIZATION 

ACT OF 2010........................................................................................................................ 23
4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed into the law the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act, granting all agencies broad authority to conduct prize competitions 

to spur innovation, solve tough problems, and advance their core missions.

Prizes have a good track record of spurring innovation in the private and philanthropic 

sectors. Early adopters in the public sector have already begun to reap the rewards of 

well-designed prizes integrated into a broader innovation strategy. Section 1 provides 

tangible examples of how prizes have enabled the National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Department of 

Energy (DOE) to:

• Establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or 

approach is most likely to succeed;

• Benefit from novel approaches without bearing high levels of risk;

• Reach beyond the “usual suspects” to increase the number of minds tackling 

a problem;

• Bring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear; 

• Increase cost-effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars; and

• Pay only for success.

The successes of these three agencies underscore what can be expected from all Federal 

agencies as they develop the expertise and capacity to use prizes strategically and 

systematically to advance their core missions.

Over the past three years, the Obama Administration has taken important steps to make 

prizes a standard tool in every agency’s toolbox. The September 2009 Strategy for 

American Innovation recognized the potential for prizes and challenges to mobilize 

America’s ingenuity to solve some of our Nation’s most pressing challenges. In March 

2010, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a formal policy framework to 

guide agency leaders in using prizes to advance their core missions. In September 2010, 

the Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and 

citizen solvers can find public-sector prizes. As a result, Challenge.gov now features 

more than 150 prizes from 40 agencies.

The prize authority in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act supports this effort, 

as described in Section 2. By giving agencies a clear legal path, the legislation makes it 

dramatically easier for agencies to use prizes. By significantly expanding the authority of 

all Federal agencies to conduct prize competitions, the legislation enables agencies to 

pursue more ambitious prizes with robust incentives.

Over the past year, the Administration has laid the policy and legal groundwork to take 

maximum advantage of the new prize authority in the years to come. Policy and legal 
5

staff in OSTP and OMB jointly developed a Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions

memorandum, issued in August 2011, which provided informal guidance to help 

streamline implementation of the new, government-wide authority. Agencies, such as 

the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), have begun to establish strategies 

and policies to further accelerate widespread use of the new prize authority granted to 

them through COMPETES. As the groundwork is put in place for agencies to take full 

advantage of the authorities provided to them under COMPETES, many agencies have 

continued to administer numerous prizes and challenges developed under other preexisting authorities including agency-specific authorities and procurement authority 

such as that provided by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), adding additional 

lessons learned and best practices regarding the use of prizes and challenges.

In addition, as called for in Section 24(n) of the Act, the General Services Administration 

(GSA) launched in July 2011 a new contract vehicle to dramatically decrease the amount 

of time required for agencies to tap the private-sector expertise that is so critical to 

early success. Finally, the Administration created a new government-wide Center of 

Excellence led by NASA to provide agencies guidance on the full life cycle of prizes: from 

prize design, through implementation, to post-prize evaluation.

Even as the Administration laid the foundation for widespread use of COMPETES, the 

Act began to unleash significant new activity in national priority areas such as health, 

veterans’ services, and employment. In fiscal year 2011 (FY2011), HHS, the Department 

of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Department of 

Agriculture (USDA) each launched prizes under COMPETES that would not have been 

possible without this legislation. For example, under the new prize authority in 

COMPETES, HHS launched the Investing in Innovation (i2) initiative, a new $5 million 

program to spur health IT innovations through prizes, challenges, and other mechanisms 

to improve the health care of all Americans. This early look at the first eight months of 

implementation of the new prize authority indicates the ways the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act will help agencies across the Federal government reap the benefits 

of high-impact prizes. 
6

INTRODUCTION

From the 1714 Longitude Prize that stimulated the development of the world’s first 

practical method to determine a ship’s longitude, to the Orteig Prize that inspired 

Charles Lindbergh to fly nonstop from New York to Paris, to the recent Oil Cleanup X 

Challenge1 awarded to a company from Illinois that demonstrated more than four times 

the previous best tested recovery rate for cleaning up oil from the ocean’s surface, 

prizes have a long record of spurring innovation. In the 21st century, unprecedented 

levels of connectivity have given rise to a renaissance for prize competitions. A 2009 

McKinsey report found that philanthropic and private sector investment in prizes has 

increased significantly in recent years, including $250 million in new prize money 

between 2000 and 2007.2 Some of these new prizes included the GoldCorp Challenge3, 

the Ansari X Prize4

, the Netflix Prize5, and the Heritage Health Prize Competition6. 

Inspired by the success of philanthropic and private sector prizes, the Obama 

Administration has taken important steps to accelerate public sector adoption of these 

innovative tools. The Strategy for American Innovation recognized the potential for

prizes and challenges to mobilize America’s ingenuity to solve some of our Nation’s 

most pressing challenges.7 In March 2010, OMB issued a memorandum that provided a 

policy framework to guide agency leaders in using prizes to advance their core 

missions.

8 In September 2010, the Administration launched Challenge.gov, a one-stop 

shop where entrepreneurs and citizen solvers can find and engage with public-sector 

prizes. 

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed Public Law 111-358, the America 

COMPETES Reauthorization Act. Section 105 of this Act added section 24 (Prize 

Competitions) to the Stevenson-Wydler Technology Innovation Act of 1980, to provide 

all agencies broad authority to conduct prize competitions in order to spur innovation, 

solve tough problems, and advance their core missions. By giving agencies a simple and 

clear legal path, the Act supports the Administration’s effort to make prizes a standard 

tool in every Federal agency’s toolbox.

 1 http://www.iprizecleanoceans.org/ 2 McKinsey & Company, “And the Winner Is...”; Capturing the promise of philanthropic prizes, 

2009, http://www.mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/SocialInnovation/And_the_winner_is.pdf

3 Fast Company, http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/59/mcewen.html 4 http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize 5 http://www.netflixprize.com/

6 http://www.heritagehealthprize.com/c/hhp

7 http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovation/strategy

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/innovationstrategy-prizes.pdf 8 http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-11.pdf
7

The Act also requires OSTP to annually submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science and Technology of the 

House of Representatives a report on the activities carried out under the new prize 

authority during the preceding fiscal year. 

This report covers FY2011. As the legislation was not enacted until January 4, 2011, the 

Administration’s work in FY2011 focused on laying a foundation to maximize the impact 

of the Act in the years to come. The potential for future impact is best illustrated by the 

benefits documented by agencies that – due to their specific history and authorities –

built up their capacity to strategically identify, design, and implement prize competitions 

prior to FY2011. This scope of this report includes an overview of every prize conducted 

under the COMPETES authority and only selectively covers prizes conducted under 

other authorities. Specifically, this report does not detail the various prizes and 

challenges conducted in FY2011 under other authorities available to agencies beyond 

the authority provided to agencies within COMPETES. This report documents the 

benefits the Federal government has already reaped from prizes, the steps the 

Administration has taken to establish a foundation for use of the prize authority in the 

America COMPETES Act, and early indicators from FY2011 of how the Act will increase 

the number of agencies that use prizes to achieve their missions more efficiently and 

effectively.

1. BENEFITS OF PRIZES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

The unique benefits of prizes have been well documented in the private and 

philanthropic sectors.9 Early adopters in the public sector have already begun to reap 

the rewards of well-designed prizes. Specifically, prizes have enabled the Federal 

government to:

• Establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or approach 

is most likely to succeed. Contracts and grants are awarded based on proposals 

for future work, forcing agencies to assess merit based on past performance and 

credentials. With a strict focus on targeted results and outcome-based 

competition that is open-ended with respect to approaches, prizes empower 

new, untapped talent to deliver unexpected solutions to tough problems. As the 

solution is delivered prior to payment, the government can benefit from novel 

approaches without bearing high levels of risk. For example, the Progressive 

Insurance Automotive X Prize10, sponsored in part by DOE, offered $10 million in 

 9 See e.g., McKinsey & Company, “And the Winner Is...”; Capturing the promise of philanthropic 

prizes, 2009, http://www.mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/SocialInnovation/And_the_winner_is.pdf 10 http://www.progressiveautoxprize.org/
8

prizes to the teams that build production-capable, super fuel-efficient vehicles 

that exceed 100 MPG or the energy equivalent. As the prize did not dictate a 

single approach, it incentivized 111 teams from around the globe to develop a 

new generation of technologies in the field. For example, the Virginia team that 

won one of the three prizes used a fuel-injected internal combustion engine, but 

focused on building a super light car that boasts the lowest drag coefficient of 

any car ever tested in the GM wind tunnel. In contrast, another winner from 

North Carolina built an electric car powered by a best-in-class lithium-ion battery 

and 91.5% efficient battery charger. The winning approaches were identified 

through objective evaluation using clear performance metrics. The prize’s 

sponsors and the industry at large benefited from a gold mine of publicly 

available technical data collected from test track and laboratory conditions on 

the competing technologies under rigorous conditions.

• Reach beyond the “usual suspects” to increase the number of minds tackling a 

problem. As Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy once famously said, “No 

matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” 

Prizes are one tool to tap the top talent and best ideas wherever they lie, 

sourcing breakthroughs from a broad pool of both known and unknown sources 

of innovation in a given industry.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) recently tested “Joy’s Law” on a 

problem that had vexed military security forces and civilian police for years: how 

to safely stop uncooperative fleeing vehicles without causing permanent damage 

to the vehicle or harm any of the occupants. All pre-existing solutions - such as 

“tire shredder” strips or the wheel-entangling SQUID - needed to be 

prepositioned, which has led to police officer deaths while getting the device in 

place or from drivers swerving around them. With help from the Wright Brothers 

Institute and InnoCentive, AFRL opened this challenge to the world. As a result, 

AFRL was able to multiply the number of people thinking about this problem 

over 100-fold and received a workable solution within a 60-day period. A retired 

66-year-old mechanical engineer from Lima, Peru, submitted the winning 

solution – a remote-controlled, electric-powered vehicle that can accelerate up 

to 130 mph within 3 seconds, position itself under a fleeing car, and then 

automatically trigger a restrained airbag to lift the car and slide it to a stop. The 

design not only overcomes the previous restrictions of having to preposition the 

system, but it is also very affordable and almost universally applicable across a 

broad range of scenarios. AFRL awarded the winner $25,000 for the rights to use 

his idea and has assigned a team and allocated funding to build and test a 

prototype based on the detailed design.

The AFRL case study echoes the experience of many other prize sponsors, 

including NASA. For example, the Space Life Sciences Directorate of NASA’s 

Johnson Space Flight Center launched a challenge for a predictive algorithm to 
9

help protect America’s astronauts from radiation exposure in space.11 Over 500 

problem solvers from 53 countries answered NASA’s call. Expecting no solutions 

for a long-intractable problem, NASA received a solution that exceeded its

requirements from a retired radio-frequency engineer in rural New Hampshire, 

Bruce Cragin. Cragin’s winning approach forecast solar proton events 8 hours in 

advance with 85% accuracy, a result NASA dubbed “outstanding.” In a survey of 

the nearly 3,000 solvers that competed in seven NASA prizes, 81% reported that 

they had never before responded to a government request for proposals, let 

alone worked with NASA,

12 evidence of the expanded talent pool that prizes can 

attract.

• Bring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear. Empirical research conducted at 

the Harvard Business School has found that breakthrough solutions are most 

likely to come from outside the scientific discipline or at the intersection of two 

fields of study.13 

One powerful example of this phenomenon is the Mapping Dark Matter 

Competition. NASA, the European Space Agency, the Royal Astronomical 

Society, and Kaggle teamed up to launch a data-mining competition14 tackling a 

problem that physicists have been working on for decades: mapping “dark 

matter.” In less than a week, Martin O’Leary, a PhD student in glaciology, had 

crafted an algorithm that outperformed the state-of-the-art algorithms most 

commonly used in astronomy for mapping dark matter. O’Leary applied 

techniques used in his field such as detecting edges in glacier fronts from 

satellite images.15 Ultimately, 73 teams submitted a total of 760 entries as they 

vied for first place. The winners – a cosmology professor and grad student team 

from the University of California, Irvine – submitted 16 times, continuously 

improving their statistical model with feedback from a live leaderboard to 

emerge on top.16 Beyond O’Leary, fierce competition continued to emerge from 

unexpected places, including from a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School 

and a signature verification expert at Qatar University whose research brings 

quantitative modeling techniques to the understanding of flowing Arabic 

script.17 The participants invested significant time and thought motivated by a 

 11 https://www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9059496 12 http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/572344main_InnoCentive_NASA_PublicReport_2011-0422.pdf

13 Jeppesen, Lars Bo, and Karim R. Lakhani. "Marginality and Problem-Solving Effectiveness in 

Broadcast Search." Organization Science 21 (September - October 2010): 1016-1033. 14 http://www.kaggle.com/c/mdm 15 http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/06/27/competition-shines-light-dark-matter

16 http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/09/28/zot-uc-irvine-team-proves-stellar-atmapping-dark-matter/ 17 http://host.kaggle.com/casestudies/mdm
10

very modest prize: an expense paid trip to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 

California to present their ideas to NASA scientists.

• Increase cost-effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars. Prize

competitions can boost public sector efficiency.

First, prizes have been shown to stimulate private sector investment many times 

greater than the cash value of the prize. In the Orteig Prize won by Charles 

Lindbergh in 1927, nine teams spent a cumulative $400,000 to win the $25,000 

prize purse. More recently, the Ansari X PRIZE was won in 2004 by Burt Rutan 

and SpaceShipOne, after the 26 competing teams spent more than $100 million 

to win the prize. As teams compete not just for the cash purse, but also for the 

associated validation, prestige, publicity, and intrinsic satisfaction that results 

from solving important problems, prizes often incentivize significant investment

leveraging the impact of the prize purse.

For example, harking back to the 20th century prizes that help spark a private 

aviation industry, the recent Green Flight Challenge18 called upon aviation 

innovators to build and demonstrate a super-fuel efficient full-scale aircraft. A 

total cash prize purse of $1.65 million attracted 14 teams, which collectively 

invested more than $6 million. In a historic achievement that some have referred 

to as a “Lindbergh moment,” the two winning teams exceeded the performance 

requirements by nearly a factor of two, flying more than 200 miles on the energy 

equivalent of just half a gallon of gas, all while averaging 100 mph with two 

people on board. 

As the third-place competitor failed to meet the ambitious performance 

requirements, NASA awarded just $1.47 million of the $1.65 million prize purse –

thereby illustrating the second way in which prizes increase cost-effectiveness in 

budget-constrained times: they only pay for results. In contrast to grant-driven 

efforts, no award is made until a competitor meets each and every criteria set 

out by the prize sponsor. As a result, prizes shift risk from the government to the 

competitors.

NASA further leveraged taxpayer dollars by partnering with the CAFE

Foundation, which invested over $1 million in rigorous evaluation and publicity –

extending the impact of the prize. The high-profile demonstration of safe, lowemission technologies may spark a new electric airplane industry.

Still, one could argue even a fourfold return underestimates the value of the 

Green Flight Challenge, for NASA could not have achieved such ambitious goals 

 18 http://cafefoundation.org/v2/gfc_main.php
11

for $1.47 million unless it were able to accurately pick the team and technology 

most likely to succeed. As NASA explains, “Other approaches would have 

required selection and funding based on proposals and would have provided no 

assurance that payment would result in successful demonstrations. Limited 

program funds could not have been leveraged to investigate as broad a 

spectrum of possible solutions.”19

Prizes and challenges for open innovation offer the benefits described through these 

case studies, as well as numerous other advantages, such as the ability of prizes to 

inspire risk-taking by offering a level playing field through credible rules and robust 

judging mechanisms; to give entrepreneurs and innovators license to pursue an 

endorsed stretch goal that otherwise would have been considered overly audacious; 

and to define clear target metrics and validation protocols that themselves become 

defining tools for the subject industry or field. 

Of course, prizes are not the right tool for every problem. However, these select case 

studies underscore that prizes can be a powerful mechanism if used strategically and 

systematically within an agency and when aligned with a broader strategy for spurring 

innovation and change.

For historical reasons, NASA, DOD, and DOE began using prizes much earlier and have –

over time – increased awareness of the tool, developed expertise, and established 

infrastructure to enable implementation. Therefore, these agencies are best positioned 

to demonstrate results from the use of prizes and challenges. Examples and case studies 

from prizes and challenges run by these agencies highlight what can be expected from 

all Federal agencies as they begin using prizes for open innovation – and COMPETES 

plays a critical role in unleashing that potential. 

2. SCALING SUCCESS 

Over the past three years, the Obama Administration has taken important steps that will 

help scale the successful use of prizes and challenges by NASA, DOD, and DOE across the 

entire Executive Branch. 

The prize authority in the America COMPETES Act plays a critical role in the 

Administration’s work to make prizes a standard tool in every agency’s toolbox. By 

granting clear, broad authority to all Federal agencies, COMPETES has – in just its first 

months of implementation alone – inspired new activity by agencies that had not 

 19 Report on Prize Competitions Conducted in Fiscal Year 2011, submitted by Mason A. Peck, 

Ph.D., NASA Chief Technologist, to Dr. John P. Holdren, Director, OSTP, January 17, 2012
12

conducted prizes before, in national priority areas including health, veterans’ services, 

and employment (see Section 3 for more details). 

Early implementation in FY2011 is just the tip of the iceberg, as the Administration has 

laid the policy and legal groundwork to take maximum advantage of the new authority 

in the years to come:

• Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions: Policy and legal staff in OSTP and 

OMB jointly developed a Fact Sheet and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

memorandum, which was issued in August 2011.20

The Fact Sheet offered policy and programmatic staff a concise summary of the 

legislation’s authorities and requirements and provided informal guidance to 

agencies in their implementation of the prize authority found in this legislation. 

To streamline and accelerate implementation of the new, government-wide 

authority, the FAQ addressed the questions most frequently raised by agency

personnel, including general counsels, and thereby helped empower agencies to 

take full advantage of the authorities in COMPETES, including the authority to 

conduct prizes up to $50 million with existing appropriations; to accept private 

sector funds for the design, administration, or prize purse of a competition; to 

partner with non-profits and tap the expertise of for-profits for successful 

implementation; and to co-sponsor with another agency.

• Agency Implementation Guidance: Following on the August 2011 Fact Sheet and 

FAQs, and through OSTP’s support, agencies have begun to establish strategies 

and policies to further accelerate widespread use of the new prize authority 

granted to them under COMPETES.

HHS has been at the forefront of agency implementation efforts. On October 12, 

2011, Secretary Sebelius issued a memorandum notifying the Department of the 

new prize authority provided under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, 

outlining the strategy to optimize the use of prize competitions, and calling on 

the heads of operating and staff divisions to forecast their future use of prize 

competitions to stimulate innovation in advancing the agency’s mission. The 

memorandum also highlighted the implementation framework established to 

accelerate the use of well-designed prizes.21 For example, Secretary Sebelius 

delegated the authority to conduct prize competitions to the Heads of all 

Operating and Staff Divisions. The Department also developed judging guidelines 

 20 Prize Authority in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act: 

http://www.cio.gov/documents/Prize%20Authority%20in%20the%20America%20COMPETES%2

0Reauthorization%20Act.pdf

21 http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/challenges/
13

(as required by Section 24(k)(3)) governing principles (outlining responsibilities 

for prize managers), a financial management policy for prize competitions, and a 

vehicle to share best practices across the Department. The full set of policy 

statements, guidance, and resources are available online at 

http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/challenges/.

Other agencies are now engaging actively in similar internal review and planning 

related to their new prize and challenge authorities granted under COMPETES. 

• General Services Administration Assistance: Section 24(n) of the America 

COMPETES Reauthorization Act calls on the GSA to “develop a contract vehicle to 

provide agencies relevant products and services, including technical assistance in 

structuring and conducting prize competitions to take maximum benefit of the 

marketplace as they identify and pursue prize competitions to further the policy 

objectives of the Federal Government.”

In response, GSA launched Schedule 541 4G, “Challenges and Competitions

Services”22 in July of 2011, thereby dramatically decreasing the amount of time 

required for agencies to tap the private sector expertise that is so critical to early 

success. To date, twelve contractors have joined sub-schedule 541 4G, offering 

agencies options for technical assistance, prize platforms, and communities of 

individuals and teams interested in entering prize competitions. GSA continues 

to educate private-sector vendors and agencies about the new schedule and its 

benefits.

• Government-wide Center of Excellence: Finally, the Administration launched a 

government-wide Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation led by NASA 

to provide agencies guidance on all aspects of implementing prize competitions, 

from problem definition to design of effective monetary and non-monetary 

incentives, to post-submission evaluation of solutions.

From the Centennial Challenges Program, to the NASA Open Innovation Pavilion,

to the NASA Tournament Lab, NASA leads the public sector in the breadth and 

depth of experience and experimentation with prizes and challenges. Now, with 

the support of OSTP, NASA will leverage that expertise to help other agencies 

follow in its footsteps. For select agency pilots, the Center will leverage existing 

NASA open innovation infrastructure to provide a full suite of services, from 

prize design through implementation to post-prize evaluation. This end-to-end 

service will allow agencies to rapidly experiment with these new methods before 

 22http://www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov/ElibMain/sinDetails.do?scheduleNumber=541&specialItemNu

mber=541+4G&executeQuery=YES
14

standing up their own capabilities. In addition, it will capture and communicate 

best practices, case studies, and successful methodologies.

Note that as agencies prepare to take full advantage of the clear and broad authorities 

provided to them under COMPETES, numerous public sector prizes and challenges have 

been administered in FY2011 under other pre-existing authorities including agencyspecific authorities, procurement authority such as that provided by the Federal 

Acquisition Regulation (FAR); authority to award grants, participate in cooperative 

agreements, or both; and authority related to “necessary expense” doctrine, among 

others. These prizes and challenges add additional lessons learned and best practices to 

the growing community of practice engaged in public sector prizes and challenges. 

In fiscal year 2012 (FY2012), as agencies complete their internal policies and strategies 

related to the implementation of programs under COMPETES, as more resources for 

development, implementation, and promotion of challenges become available to 

agencies through GSA, and as the Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation 

engages in initial pilot programs, the use of the prize authorities granted to agencies by 

COMPETES will continue to increase, resulting in highly leveraged innovation programs 

for grand challenges and high priority agency initiatives. Section 3 and the Appendix of 

this report will focus on the initial prizes and challenges developed under the specific 

prize authority provided by COMPETES. 

3. EARLY INDICATORS

While the Administration and agencies were establishing the policy and legal framework 

for implementation of the new prize authority under COMPETES, some agencies were 

able to identify, design, and implement initial prize competitions under the new 

authority between January and September 2011. These early competitions provide early 

indicators for how COMPETES will help agencies across the Federal government to reap 

the benefits discussed earlier and to promote positive innovation and breakthroughs in 

national priority areas such as health, veterans’ services, and employment. A summary 

of the highlights of early activity under COMPETES is provided here.23

Department of Health and Human Services

In HHS’s FY2011 report on use of COMPETES submitted to OSTP, HHS Chief Technology 

Officer Todd Park and HHS Assistant Secretary for Administration E.J. Holland concluded 

that “[v]arious HHS agencies found prize competitions to be beneficial for advancing the 

mission of the agency and the primary objective of the challenge. Examples of positive 

outcomes include a healthier [university] campus environment, an influential software 

 23 See the Appendix for a detailed account of all FY2011 activities under COMPETES.
15

application, improved communication and awareness, and improved recognition of 

innovation efforts.”24

Investing in Innovation (i2) 

The most ambitious project launched by any agency under the new prize authority in 

the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act in FY2011 is the HHS Investing in Innovation 

(i2) initiative, a new $5 million program to spur innovations in Health Information 

Technology (Health IT). 

Led by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), 

the core of i2 is a series of prize competitions – up to 15 each year – to accelerate 

innovation and adoption of Health IT for improved clinical outcomes and efficient care 

delivery. 

Under i2 (and COMPETES), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) partnered with ONC to 

launch the “Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to 

Impact” competition in July 2011.25

With the proliferation of health-related data (e.g., HealthData.gov, Healthindicators.gov) 

and the ongoing evolution of cyberinfrastructure and HealthIT, the potential to inform 

and engage health providers and consumers throughout the spectrum of cancer control 

has been significantly expanded. The rapid evolution of electronic medical record (EMR) 

systems, medical devices, and mobile technologies for health (mHealth) has resulted in 

an urgent need to expand the development of HealthIT tools and applications that are 

compatible with these emerging platforms and healthcare delivery systems. Innovations 

are needed to disseminate the growing behavioral and communication science evidence 

base for cancer. 

The “Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to Impact” 

competition challenged software development teams to use public data to build an 

application that can integrate with existing Health IT platforms that addresses 

challenges faced by consumers, clinicians, or researchers on the continuum of cancer 

control. Teams were encouraged to create apps to promote healthy behaviors for 

cancer prevention (e.g., nutrition, physical activity, or smoking cessation), aid early 

 24 Report on Prize Competitions Conducted in Fiscal Year 2011, submitted by Todd Park, HHS 

Chief Technology Officer, to Dr. John P. Holdren, Director, Office of Science and Technology 

Policy, January 17, 2012

25 http://challenge.gov/ONC/208-using-public-data-for-cancer-prevention-and-control-frominnovation-to-impact
16

detection and screening, inform decision-making, or increase patient adherence to

treatment plans. 

The competition had two phases. Phase I submissions were submitted in August 2011, 

and were evaluated on their use of cancer-related data, as well as potential for impact, 

innovation, and usability. At a major Health IT conference in September 2011, four semifinalists received $10,000 to continue to refine their submissions as they raced toward 

the grand prize. At the end of Phase II, two $20,000 prizes were awarded to the two top 

teams at an international system sciences conference in January 2012, focused on 

linking application developers with experts in the health science, commercial, and 

venture capital arenas for advice on commercialization, integration with existing 

platforms, and public health impact. 

Both winners were novel in their approach. Ask Dory!

26, submitted by Chintan Patel, 

PhD, Sharib Khan, MD, and Aamir Hussain, is a sleek, consumer-friendly, web-based 

portal that provides curated information about clinical trials for cancer and other 

diseases. Ask Dory! improves on the existing clinicaltrials.gov in at least two significant 

ways. First, Ask Dory! asks the user personalized questions and then deploys an 

innovative entropy-based algorithm for rapid and accurate answers. Second, Ask Dory! 

allows users to immediately connect with trial administrators by web-phone or email.

To create Ask Dory!, the winning team leveraged its software development and 

computational expertise to develop a cancer-specific consumer information portal that 

builds on their existing clinical information database and decision algorithms. By 

offering cash prizes, recognition and publicity for the winners, the NCI/ONC challenge 

incentivized this small team to marshal their limited resources to address the challenge 

of cancer control.

The second $20,000 prize was awarded to My Cancer Genome27, an application that 

leverages the NCI Physician Data Query (PDQ) dataset to provide – for the first time –

tailored decision support for treatment options based on tumor gene mutations.

The team lead for My Cancer Genome, Dr. Mia Levy, was able to bring a rare 

combination of expertise in clinical oncology, genomic medicine, and bioinformatics to 

bear on the NCI/ONC challenge. Dr. Levy serves as a clinical faculty member at 

Vanderbilt. Yet, she previously failed to secure traditional National Institutes of Health 

(NIH) funding for the My Cancer Genome application because of its focus on the 

translation and application of existing scientific evidence for clinical impact. The 

challenge provided a rapid mechanism for her team to gain publicity and support for 

 26 http://dory.trialx.com/ask/ 27 http://www.mycancergenome.org/
17

further development of an important, emerging area of cancer treatment decision 

support.

In sum, the “Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to 

Impact” challenge spurred the development of innovative, evidence-based consumer 

Health IT applications with potential for commercialization using a significantly lower 

investment of public funds compared to traditional peer-review funding mechanisms. In 

addition, the challenge incentivized teams to leverage previously under-exploited 

resources – public data – for potential public benefit. 

In addition, the extensive media outreach to non-traditional stakeholders has led to a 

significant increase in inquiries from computer scientists, software engineers, and 

technology entrepreneurs that are eager to bring their skills to bear in partnership with 

medical research to address the difficult challenge of cancer prevention and control 

through NCI’s existing R01/R21/R01 grant funding mechanisms. 

Finally, by increasing innovation in cancer control through use of public data, these prize 

competitions also help advance the NCI Division of Cancer Control and Population 

Sciences (DCCPS) core mission to communicate and disseminate information towards 

the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment and control of cancer to the 

general public. 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Flu App Challenge

The CDC Flu App Challenge28 offered $35,000 in prizes for the best applications, data 

visualization tools, or games that used CDC flu data to improve communication about 

critical information about the flu and its impact.

With a wealth of flu data, CDC sought innovative ways to increase its reach to new 

audiences in order to raise awareness about influenza and its symptoms, promote 

positive health behavior changes for flu prevention, and educate consumers on ways to 

treat the flu.

By opening the challenge to this new set of developers and designers, CDC received 

numerous submissions that showcased creative applications of flu data from entities 

that normally do engage with government procurements. Entrants into the challenge 

included small businesses, universities, consulting firms, professional graphical artists, 

computer programmers, educators, doctors and public health professionals, students 

teams, and design firms with wide geographic representation across the US. 

 28 http://fluapp.challenge.gov
18

Entries in CDC’s Flu App Challenge, even those that did not win, offered creative 

approaches to improving influenza message dissemination and audience engagement. 

In many instances, CDC was already aware of the core technology but had yet to utilize 

it to advance CDC’s mission due to resource and budget constraints, security 

requirements, or other barriers. The challenge enabled CDC to take real applications of 

those technologies for a spin. In doing so, it invigorated existing CDC efforts, provided 

promising new innovations to explore further, and helped CDC technologists eliminate 

ineffective or inappropriate possibilities. 

For example, one entry combined CDC’s new content syndication application 

programming interface (API) with older interactive phone systems and text-to-voice 

technology to bring CDC health messages to those who still do not have access to the 

Internet. Another combined a popular location-based social networking service with 

CDC data on flu incubation and infection periods to empower users to encourage friends 

to get vaccinated after realizing they might have been infectious the last time they met.

Other entries used the social graphs in popular social networking sites to encourage 

vaccination, give notice of infection, investigate possible paths for the spread of 

infection among friends, and even win sympathy when infected. 

The winning entry, Flu-Ville!, used current flu activity reports, prevention messages, and 

other CDC health information to create an interactive game. Games are highly popular 

and allow CDC to reach audiences that might have interest in gaming, but not public 

health or influenza. Research on the impact and effectiveness of games in driving 

positive health behaviors is still nascent and the challenge gave CDC a low-cost way to 

engage game developers in applying online gaming principles to solving some of public 

health’s most pervasive and persistent challenges. 

The technology and the solutions shown in the CDC Flu App Challenge are not

necessarily influenza-specific and can be adapted to meet other health information 

dissemination needs, whether the topic be other infectious diseases, emergency 

information or chronic disease management. Elements of the winners are being 

considered and redesigned for use in other products, such as ways to incorporate 

location-based tailored information in mobile applications, improved services for 

existing systems, and the increased use of peer-to-peer communication of CDC health 

messages.
19

Department of Veterans Affairs

Blue Button® for All Americans Prize Contest29

To help veterans have access to their heath information regardless of where they get 

their care, the VA sponsored the Blue Button® for All Americans Prize Contest. The prize 

was announced in July 2011 under the new prize authority in the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act. This challenge asked HealthIT software developers to include a 

Blue Button data download function in personal health records (PHR) systems and then 

arrange to install the PHR on patient-facing websites of 25,000 doctors across America. 

The Blue Button is a tool that gives patients access to their personal health data via an 

electronic file that is easy to read by both people and computers. This data file includes 

things like emergency contact information and immunizations, as well as medication 

history, laboratory results, and appointments.

The winner of the $50,000 prize – McKesson Corporation’s Relay Health division – added 

Blue Button download functions to its existing PHR system which is used by 

approximately 200,000 doctors and 2,000 hospitals. McKesson donated the cash prize 

to the Wounded Warrior Project after being declared the winner of the challenge in 

October 2011. 

Veterans who receive medical care through VA health care facilities can download their 

personal health data through the My HealtheVet patient portal using the Blue Button® 

software function.30 VA delivers care to approximately six million veterans; many of 

these and most of the 24 million veterans in the United States receive their care from 

providers outside the VA health care system. VA believes that all veterans – and not just 

veterans who receive their care from VA – should be able to download their health data 

using the Blue Button. 

The goal of the challenge was to enable veterans to be able to download their health 

data regardless of where they get their care. The primary objective of the challenge was 

to achieve installation of Blue Button-enabled PHRs in a large number (>25,000) of nonVA doctor’s offices across America. 

A prize competition was assessed as the most efficient and economical way of 

encouraging PHR developers to include Blue Button functions in their software and 

arrange to install that software on patient portals of thousands of doctors across the 

country. This particular outcome was especially well suited for a prize: it could be 

executed quickly, achieved inexpensively, and judged objectively. Moreover, due to the 

 29 http://bluebutton.challenge.gov/ 30 https://www.myhealth.va.gov/index.html
20

fragmented and competitive market of PHR software development, a cooperative 

agreement would have been difficult. Instead, VA chose to leverage these factors by 

giving developers a new opportunity to compete. 

While typical contract and grant making development cycles span several months 

before soliciting proposals, this challenge took only six weeks to develop and launch. VA 

was able to declare a winner of the challenge approximately four months after the 

announcement date: this time included about four weeks of evaluation of the winner’s 

entry. VA estimates that performance periods under a contract or grant would have 

been at least three times as long.

Had the winner merely installed a Blue Button-enabled PHR in the patient portals of 

25,000 doctors – the minimum necessary – the $50,000 prize would equate to a cost of 

two dollars per doctor. Because the winner added the Blue Button function to the PHRs 

used by the approximately 200,000 doctors in its system, the prize amount cost the 

taxpayers about 25 cents per doctor. The winner’s user base had substantially more 

than the 25,000 minimum doctors required, and in addition represented very significant 

share of the overall doctor and hospital markets: almost a third of America’s practicing 

doctors and slightly more than a third of the country’s registered hospitals.31 

In addition, during the pendency of the challenge, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 

launched a website, http://bluebuttondata.org/, to promote the use of Blue Button 

technologies in health care. Aetna, Inc. and United Health Group, each among the five 

largest health benefit plans in the country, announced during the challenge period that 

they would add Blue Button capabilities to their patient portals. Aetna’s Blue Button 

implementation occurred in the fourth quarter, 2011; United Health Group’s Blue 

Button functions are scheduled to go live in the first quarter, 2012. Walgreen’s, one of 

the Nation’s largest pharmacy chains, announced it would add Blue Button functions to 

its online patient portals and store-based kiosks. While the challenge was open, 

Humetrix, Inc., a medium-size California HealthIT developer, announced a mobile Blue 

Button application to allow patients to securely transmit their health information 

directly to the tablet computers of their doctors. Other software developers, including 

Iatrix, Inc. (a hospital software company in Massachusetts) and a number of small 

companies, added Blue Button capabilities to their software. The challenge was at least 

in part a catalyst for the adoption of Blue Button technologies in a wide cross-section of 

the HIT market. The challenge validated Blue Button technology as part of the routine 

way in which doctors across America and their patients – including veterans – share 

health information. 

 31 Report on Prize Competitions Conducted in Fiscal Year 2011, submitted by James M. Speros, 

Special Assistant to Chief Technology Officer, Office of the Secretary, VA to OSTP, January 19, 

2012
21

Department of Labor

Occupational Employment Statistics Challenge32

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects a wealth of information, including 

Occupational Employment Statistics (OES), but these data can be overwhelming if not 

presented in a fashion tailored to specific user needs. 

To address this issue, DOL adopted an innovative strategy to engage third party 

developers in making the data user-friendly. First, DOL published an API and SDK online. 

Then, the Department offered $34,500 in prizes for software developers, innovators, 

and entrepreneurs to create interactive tools based on BLS data that could help 

Americans plan their education or job training strategies, negotiate pay and benefits 

with employers, find places to update their skill sets, and make informed decisions 

about potential career changes.

The grand prize winner of the Occupational Employment Statistics Challenge, Where are 

the Jobs?,33 allows users to retrieve average salaries of occupations and occupation 

groups by State and/or region and has a comparison function that allows users to find 

where job types or industries are centered and the best compensated. It helps workers 

make better choices about where to get training and education, apply for positions or, if 

necessary, move to find good jobs. Where are the Jobs? was just one of many highquality applications submitted, many of which incorporated access to mainstream 

applications like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. 

DOL is in the process of evaluating additional success factors including data on 

application usage, feedback from users, usage of DOL data, and influence over 

consumer choices based on enforcement activities.

In summary, these challenges conducted by HHS, VA, and DOL show the potential of 

prizes and challenges implemented under the authorities provided by COMPETES to 

impact high-priority areas such as health, veterans’ services, and employment. These 

highlighted programs as well as a full list of prize and challenges completed under 

COMPETES are detailed in Appendix 1. 

 32 http://challenge.gov/Labor/202-occupational-employment-statistics-challenge

33 http://challenge.gov/challenges/202/submissions/4595-where-are-the-jobs
22

CONCLUSION

Prizes have an impressive track record of spurring innovation in the private and 

philanthropic sectors. Early adopters in the public sector, such as NASA, DOD, and DOE,

have already begun to reap the rewards of well-designed prizes integrated into a 

broader innovation strategy. The successes of these public sector prizes show what can 

be expected from all Federal agencies as they develop the expertise and capacity to use 

prizes strategically and systematically to advance their core mission.

The prize authority in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act is a critical step 

toward making prizes a standard tool in every agency’s toolbox. By giving agencies a 

clear legal path, the legislation makes it easier for agencies to use prizes. By expanding 

the authority of all Federal agencies to conduct prize competitions, the legislation 

enables agencies to pursue more ambitious prizes with robust incentives.

Over the past year, the Administration has laid the policy and legal groundwork to take 

maximum advantage of the new prize authority in the years to come, with GSA 

launching a new contract vehicle to decrease the amount of time required for agencies 

to tap private sector expertise and with the launch of the new government-wide Center 

of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation. Agencies have begun to establish specific 

strategies and policies to further accelerate widespread use of the new prize authority 

granted to them through COMPETES. 

Even as the Administration laid the foundation for widespread use of COMPETES, the 

Act began to unleash significant new activity in national priority areas such as health, 

veterans’ services, and employment. This early look at the first eight months of 

implementation of the new prize authority indicates the ways the America COMPETES 

Reauthorization Act will help agencies across the Federal government to reap the 

benefits of high-impact prizes for open innovation in the years to come.
23

APPENDIX 1: AGENCY PROGRAMS CONDUCTED UNDER THE AMERICA COMPETES

REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2010

The scope of this Appendix provides a summary of all prizes and challenges conducted in 

FY2011 under the prize authority provided to agencies in COMPETES and does not 

include any of the multiple prize competitions conducted under other authorities in 

FY2011 or prior. 

LIST OF CHALLENGES

1. Department of Agriculture

1.1. MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge

2. Department of Defense

2.1. Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief - Challenge

3. Department of Health and Human Services

3.1. Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to Impact

3.2. CDC Flu App Challenge

4. Department of Labor 

4.1. InformACTION App Challenge

4.2. Occupational Employment Statistics Challenge

5. Department of Veterans Affairs

5.1. Blue Button® for All Americans Prize Contest

DETAILED CHALLENGE REPORTS

1. Department of Agriculture 

1.1. MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge

Sponsoring Agency:

Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, USDA

Overview:

Building on the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” initiative, the USDA MyPlate Fruits and 

Veggies Video Challenge invited the general public to create short videos 

(approximately 30 seconds) showing how to add fruits and vegetables to meals 
24

and snacks without spending a lot of money. The challenge’s goal was to 

encourage sharing between peers about the key messages of the MyPlate34

initiative. The public was encouraged to create videos that were inspiring and 

instructive. The videos gave actionable tips that others can use to improve their 

diets.

Videos were submitted in the following categories:

• Tips for kids 

• Tips when eating at home

• Tips when eating away from home

The goal of the challenge was raise awareness of the new MyPlate food icon, 

which was launched by First Lady Michelle Obama and USDA Secretary Tom 

Vilsack, in June 2011, to encourage healthy eating habits. The MyPlate icon is 

supported by Dietary Guidelines for Americans35 messages and the Challenge 

features the selected message “Make Half Your Plate Fruit and Vegetables.” In 

June 2011, USDA released the Consumer Message Calendar36 which provides an 

opportunity for Federal agencies, programs, industry, and partners to support 

the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPlate with consistent and 

coordinated messaging. Make Half Your Plate Fruits and Vegetables is the first 

message included in the calendar and is the overarching consumer message for 

the MyPlate Communications Plan. The video challenge also directs consumers 

and professionals to ChooseMyPlate.gov, a comprehensive resource that offers 

a wealth of information to help consumers meet their specific nutritional and 

physical activity needs. Resources include the new SuperTracker diet and 

physical activity assessment tool and nutrition education information for a wide 

variety of professional and consumer audiences. 

Website: 

http://fruitsandveggies.challenge.gov/

Problem Statement:

While most Americans realize that eating fruits and vegetables is important to a 

healthy diet, under-consumption continues to be a problem. Efforts have been 

underway nationally for nearly 20 years to promote fruits and vegetables 

through supermarkets, on packaging, and in local communities. Efforts have 

strengthened over the last five years to assure that fruits and vegetables are 

 34 http://www.choosemyplate.gov

35 http://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/

36

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/DietaryGuidelines/2010/DGCommunicationsMessageC

alendar.pdf
25

available where people eat. A combination of both fruit and vegetable 

availability and messaging is critical to increase America’s consumption of fruits 

and vegetables.

37 This challenge was designed to encourage the general public 

to share information between peers regarding the benefits of consuming fruits 

and vegetables. 

Proposed Goal: 

The goal of the MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge was to drive 

innovation and grass-roots, peer-to-peer marketing impact in the following 

ways:

• Generate creative videos that help inspire individuals and families to 

adopt healthier eating habits by consuming more fruits and vegetables 

cost effectively

• Counter the perception that eating enough fruits and vegetables is too 

expensive

• Highlight MyPlate and promote recommendations from the Dietary 

Guidelines for Americans

• Recruit consumers and partners to engage with ChooseMyPlate.gov and 

be empowered by its wealth of science-based, user-friendly tools and 

resources to personalize the Dietary Guidelines

Why a Prize as Preferred Method: 

By engaging with a diverse pool of participants (4,700 individuals registered on 

the Challenge website and over 140 submissions were received), this challenge 

enabled USDA to encourage the general public to share positive messages about 

the benefits of consuming fruits and vegetables with their peers. 

One of the entrants in the challenge, a student at Rider University studying 

Radio/Television Communication, shared the following that demonstrates the 

desired impact of using a prize competition to drive grass-roots distribution of 

the MyPlate messaging: “I actually got a lot of my peers to view the video and 

they were very moved by the effort and message displayed in it. As young adults 

we do not always think about eating healthy or even encouraging the younger 

generation to eat healthy foods. However, many of my fellow students have 

younger siblings that do not understand the importance of good eating habits, 

but I’ve been told that the ideas in my video were a great help. Family members 

with children have also told me that getting the children involved in the 

shopping process was an excellent idea.”

38 

 37 State of the Plate: 2010 Study on America’s Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables, 2010

38 Excerpt from statements on the USDA Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge submitted by Dr. 

Robert C. Post, Deputy Director, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, USDA to OSTP, 

January 27, 2012. 
26

Desired Participants for Competition: 

The agency opened the competition to the general public with greater interest in 

families and schools. The submissions for the challenge included a wide array of 

individuals including dietitians, kids, schools, communities and families, each of 

whom shared the MyPlate messaging with their peers in unique, targeted ways. 

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

The agency used press releases, social media, and contractors to spread the 

word about the challenge. Working with media groups, listservs, and blogs was 

very effective in reaching a wide range of audiences and provided a diverse pool 

of submissions for the challenge. The entrants in the competition were able to 

share their submissions with their own peers and networks to further the impact 

of the competition. 

Incentives:

The MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge awarded $9,000 in total prizes 

to nine teams or individuals who placed 1st, 2nd, or Popular Choice in each 

category. First place winners received $1,500; 2nd place winners received 

$1,000; and Popular Choice winners received $500. Winners are featured on 

ChooseMyPlate.gov and partner websites. Given the emphasis on sharing highimpact key messages with peers, prizes were awarded based on the quality of 

the video concept, the creativity and quality of the video, and the potential of 

the video to inspire others to eat more fruits and vegetables on a budget. 

Evaluation:

Judging was based on the following criteria. Staff judges used the following 

information to rate each category and determine award for the challenge.

Creating a standard judging form allowed the judges to more objectively assess 

each video.

Criteria Elements Scoring Scale

Quality of the Idea Is the video creative and original? 0 5 10

Quality of the Idea Does the video endorse any business, 

product, restaurants, industry names, 

logos, or trademarks?

0 5 10

Implementation of 

the Idea

Are the audio and visual elements 

clear? 0 5 10

Implementation of 

the Idea

Does the video include the message 

“Make Half Your Plate Fruits and 

Vegetables.”

0 5 10

 
27

Criteria Elements Scoring Scale

Implementation of 

the Idea

Does the video direct people to 

ChooseMyPlate.gov?

0 5 10

Potential Impact on 

Healthy Eating 

Habits

Is the video instructive and easy-tofollow? 0 5 10

Potential Impact on 

Healthy Eating 

Habits

Does the video include a cost-effective 

idea? 0 5 10

Nutrition Does the video discuss/show fruits and 

vegetables?

0 5 10

Nutrition Does the video provide information 

consistent with the Dietary Guidelines?

0 5 10

Nutrition

Are the foods shown in the video fried, 

in heavy sauces, include added sugars 

or solid fats?

0 5 10

Partnerships: 

The USDA/CNPP Nutrition Communicators Network39 provides an opportunity 

for different communities and organizations to join together to promote 

the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPlate. The agency did not use the 

Partnership to complete the prize award. However, USDA’s partners highlighted 

the Challenge in their blogs, on Twitter, and print outreach, and were invited to 

look for ways to use the videos in their education and promotion efforts. USDA 

partners have agreed to post the videos on their websites to provide more 

visibility for the Dietary Guidelines message. 

Resources:

The agency used the following resources to fund the MyPlate Fruits and Veggies 

Video Challenge:

• Contract expenditure: $72,000. The agency contracted with 

Ketchum, a public relations firm to administer the challenge.

• Staff salary expenditure: $25,000. Agency staff included those 

associated with management, nutrition, web development, library 

services and finance.

• Agency expenditure: $9,000. The total cash prize award for the 

Challenge.

 39

http://65.216.150.253/partnerships/downloads/NutritionCommicatorsNetwork/PartnershipPro

gramPromotion.pdf
28

No private funds were used for this competition, all funding came from the 

agency’s existing resources.

Results:

The MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge is likely to increase the long 

term availability of consumer-friendly nutrition promotion tools available to the 

public. The Challenge drew attention to the consumer message ”Make Half Your 

Plate Fruits and Vegetables” by encouraging the general public and youth to 

share the message in a creative, custom, and targeted way and expands the 

many ways in which programs, partners, schools, and communities promote the 

Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Beyond the promotion and distribution 

achieved during the competition itself, the videos can be used as part of 

subsequent efforts to promote MyPlate, fruit and vegetable consumption, 

healthy eating, and wellness among private and public organizations. The videos 

will continue to be available through YouTube to extend their accessibility to the 

public. The Center of Nutrition Policy and Promotion creates resources to help 

professionals, educators and intermediaries extend the reach of nutrition 

information and education. The MyPlate Fruits and Veggies Video Challenge 

meets the mission of the Center and provides long-term resources for those 

wishing to engage audiences in creative and practical ways.

2. Department of Defense

2.1. Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief - Challenge

Sponsoring Agency:

The National Defense University, Center for Technology and National Security 

Policy, Department of Defense

Overview:

Design a Kit to Provide Power, Potable Water, and Communications & Win 

$10,000

Website: 

http://hadr.challenge.gov/

Problem Statement:

In March 2010, a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) was initiated 

by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to deliver a capability that can 

support the immediate needs of first responders to a crisis event by providing 

essential services and the capability to quickly assess and survey a crisis area and 

communicate with regional and national level leaders to coordinate the national 

response. 
29

The project developed an integrated kit that provides:

• Reliable power from primarily renewable sources to power system 

components 

• Potable water from local sources 

• Local and global communications to transmit & receive voice, data, and 

images 

• Local situational awareness and information sharing 

The kit satisfies all operational requirements as defined by DOD, and delivers 

more capability than is required by other user organizations. In order for some 

user organization to make use of the JCTD kit, some further modifications will be 

required to reduce size, weight, and cost. 

Proposed Goal: 

Interested individuals and organizations were invited to design a kit for use in 

Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) situations. The kit had to be 

suitable for initial HA/DR response activities by US government departments and 

agencies, as well as by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and foreign 

governments. The kit and all its components had to meet export control 

restrictions and if possible had to cost no more than US$50,000 and weigh no 

more than 500 lbs. 

Why a Prize as Preferred Method: 

Prior to the HADR-Challenge, the Pre-positioned Expeditionary Assistance Kit 

(PEAK) project had issued a formal Request for Proposals (RFP) and, as expected, 

all the responses came from commercial entities/vendors. The HADR-Challenge 

used a prize competition so that submissions could be received from interested 

individuals and organizations (such as colleges), and not just from commercial 

entities or vendors. The Challenge opened the field to include an unlimited 

range of ideas that were not restrained by commercial viability.

Desired Participants for Competition: 

Submissions were received from individuals, colleges, and companies. 

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

The Challenge was advertised on the Challenge.gov website and on the Sharing 

to Accelerate Research: Transformative Innovation for Development and 

Emergency Support (STAR-TIDES) website.40 The HADR-C management team 

 40 http://star-tides.net/
30

was aware of many interested companies through the PEAK project, and all were 

advised via phone and email in advance of the Challenge being launched. Only 

eight submissions were received, which indicated the method of solicitation may 

not have been particularly effective.

Incentives:

A cash prize of $10,000 was awarded to the winning submission. The funds were 

provided by the TIDES program at the National Defense University.

Evaluation:

All interested competitors were required to submit an HADR-Challenge 

Submission Packet via the DOD’s Challenge.gov platform no later than 15 August 

2011. All submissions and competitors were to address the HADR Challenge 

Design Parameters and adhere to eligibility requirements outlined in the 

announcement. The HADR-Challenge ran from 6 July 2011 through 15 August 

2011. 

A team of assessors was used. The team developed a scoring matrix that was 

aligned with the technical specifications, and it was made available to all 

competitors at the same time as the competition requirements were issued. 

Every assessor reviewed every submission and recorded his or her results in the 

scoring matrix. The assessment team then met to review the results and to 

reach consensus on a single set of scores that provided a direct comparison of all 

submissions. The result provided a clear finishing order for awarding the prize, 

as well as a useful summary of the strengths and weaknesses of each submission 

for use in providing feedback to the competitors.

Announcement of the Challenge winner was made on 31 August 2011. 

Partnerships: 

The HADR-Challenge team had an informal relationship with the PEAK project. 

The project contributed subject matter expertise to guide the design and 

specifications of the Challenge. In return, the project received information on a 

broader range of concepts and technical solutions than had been received from 

the formal RFP process.

Resources:

All prize funds were provided by the TIDES program. Personnel from the PEAK 

project, as well as the TIDES program, contributed their time to organizing the 

Challenge. No separate accounting of labor contributions was required because 

all activities were directly linked to information gathering for the PEAK and TIDES 

initiatives.
31

Results:

The HADR-Challenge competition received eight submissions. Some of the 

entries contained some innovative ideas, but these ideas will require further 

modification to meet the overall needs of the project. Almost all were based on 

an aggregation of commercially available technologies. The more innovative of 

those technologies have been included in the TIDES database, and will also be 

considered as alternative modules for the PEAK project. The TIDES database is 

intended to disseminate information on technologies that are relevant to 

humanitarian assistance and disaster relief situations. The PEAK project is 

intended to make innovative technologies available in deployable disaster relief 

kits, so both initiatives benefitted from participation in the HADR-Challenge.

3. Department of Health and Human Services

3.1. Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and Control: From Innovation to 

Impact

Sponsoring Agency:

NIH/NCI and ONC

Overview:

The NCI innovation challenge titled “Using Public Data for Cancer Prevention and 

Control: From Innovation to Impact” was launched in July, 2011 in conjunction 

with ONC. This highly innovative effort was presented as part of the ONC's 

Investing in Innovations ("i2") Initiative, and was managed by the Health 2.0 

Developer Challenge program. Teams were asked to develop an application that 

has the potential to integrate with existing health information technology 

platforms and addresses targets at one or more points on the cancer control 

continuum, using public data that are relevant to cancer prevention and control. 

The competition launched officially in July 2011. Teams were required to address 

challenges faced by consumers, clinicians, or researchers on the continuum of 

cancer control. Suggested targets include promoting healthy behaviors (e.g., 

nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation), early detection and screening, 

informed decision-making, and adherence to treatment plans. 

Website: 

http://challenge.gov/ONC/208-using-public-data-for-cancer-prevention-andcontrol-from-innovation-to-impact

Problem Statement:

Entrants were asked to develop software applications (apps) that utilize the wide 

array of health-related data made available by NCI and other Federal agencies 

for innovative consumer health apps; these apps should potentially integrate 
32

with existing technology platforms and address targets comprising DCCPS 

priority areas on the continuum of cancer prevention and control.

41 Entrants 

were required to address challenges faced by consumers, clinicians, or 

researchers such as behavior risk reduction for prevention and survivorship (e.g., 

nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation), early detection and screening, 

informed decision-making, and adherence to treatment regimens.

Proposed Goal: 

Solve a health problem(s)

Why a Prize as Preferred Method: 

With the proliferation of health-related data (e.g., HealthData.gov, 

Healthindicators.gov) and the ongoing evolution of cyberinfrastructure and 

HealthIT, the potential to inform and engage health providers and consumers 

throughout the spectrum of cancer control has been significantly expanded. The 

rapid evolution of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, medical devices, and 

mobile technologies for health (mHealth) has resulted in an urgent need to 

expand the development of HealthIT tools and applications that are compatible 

with these emerging platforms and healthcare delivery systems. Innovations are 

needed to disseminate the growing behavioral and communication science 

evidence base for cancer. This competition has resulted in the development of 

innovative, evidence-based consumer HealthIT applications with potential for 

commercialization using a significantly lower investment of public funds 

compared to traditional peer-review funding mechanisms. Through engaging 

with stakeholders beyond the health and behavioral science communities, the 

NCI’s prize competition has also dramatically increased NCI’s strategic outreach 

to computer scientists, engineers, informaticians, software developers, and 

technology entrepreneurs who understand the cyberinfrastructure and 

technologies for connecting data sources for accelerating discovery, and who are 

motivated to address the difficult challenge of cancer prevention and control. By 

increasing innovation in cancer control through use of public data, this prize 

competition also helps advance the NCI DCCPS core mission to communicate and 

disseminate information towards the prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and 

treatment and control of cancer to the general public. 

Desired Participants for Competition: 

Academia, Private entities, Public entities

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

a) Marketing methods for competition and participants: Federal Register 

Notice, NCI's Informatics for Consumer Health platform (web, Twitter, 

 41 http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/od/index.html
33

LinkedIn), Federal, academic and scientific listservs, and the Health 2.0 

organization's PR apparatus (press release, Twitter, webinars, conference 

sessions, etc.)

b) Evaluation method: Assessment of email, web, Twitter, LinkedIn metrics,

and ongoing engagement with Health 2.0 organization’s PR staff.

c) Lessons learned from outreach: Partnering and engaging with the right 

partners is essential. For this software application challenge, HHS

leveraged the respective social networks of Federal partners (NCI/NIH 

and ONC), Academic advisory board (Claremont Graduate University, 

University of Hawaii, Northwestern, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute), 

and Silicon Valley HIT entrepreneurs (the Health 2.0 organization) for 

targeted outreach to health and behavioral scientists, computer 

scientists, engineers, informaticians, software developers, and 

technology entrepreneurs.

Incentives:

a. Non-monetary: Publicized registered teams on challenge web page, 

highlighting 4 semi-finalists and two winning teams in challenge-related 

communications (web, presentations, press releases, Twitter & LinkedIn 

group updates). Four semi-finalists were invited to Health 2.0 Fall 

conference in San Francisco, CA, to “engage with leaders in government, 

venture capital, and technology for support in translating their 

innovations into commercially successful apps with potential public 

health impact.” Two winners were invited to present their apps in an 

award ceremony during a special symposium at the Hawaii International 

Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) conference in Maui, Hawaii, on 

January 4, 2012. The HICSS symposium focused on linking application 

developers with experts in the health science, commercial, and venture 

capital arenas for advice on commercialization, integration with existing 

platforms, and public health impact. Travel expenses to San Francisco and 

Hawaii were not be separately reimbursed but were intended to be paid 

for from the Phase I and II awards, respectively.

b. Monetary: Four teams received $10,000 each in Phase I, and two winning 

teams received $20,000 each at the end of Phase II (to be awarded in 

FY2012).

c. Description of funding source and allocation: ONC Investing in 

Innovations (i2) Initiative.42

Evaluation:

Evaluation process was managed by the challenge contractor, Health 2.0, with 

oversight from NCI and ONC. Also, technical evaluators & judges were not 

 42 http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/06/20110608a.html
34

selected from NCI or ONC departments that originated the challenge to help 

increase potential objectivity of evaluation process.

This was a two-phase challenge. Phase I submissions were submitted in August 

2011, and were evaluated on their use of cancer-related data, as well as 

potential for impact, innovation, and usability. 

Partnerships: 

Partnering and engaging with the right partners is essential and will depend on 

the overall goals of the prize competition and the target audience. With NCI’s 

challenge focusing on the development of innovative applications for cancer 

control that have the potential to be integrated onto existing and emerging 

technology platforms including EHRs, partnering with ONC was advantageous 

because of NCI's agency leadership of the Federal health IT strategic plan and 

shared priorities for innovation in HIT. NCI also worked with an advisory group 

of academic scientists from the Claremont Graduate University (Kay Center for EHealth Research), University of Hawaii Business School, Northwestern University 

(SONIC Lab), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Tetherless World 

Consortium), who have an intimate understanding of science, technology, data, 

health communication, and the research enterprise. NCI's relationship with the 

challenge administrator, Health 2.0, was also essential for engaging with 

software developers and entrepreneurs.

Resources:

The prize competition was run under ONC’s Investing in Innovation (i2) contract 

with Capital Consulting Corporation (Health 2.0 is the subcontractor). Funds for 

the two-year i2 contract drew from HITECH appropriations. The estimated cost 

for this two-stage challenge (Stage 1 was completed in FY2011) is approximately 

$80,000. In conjunction with this prize competition, ONC personnel worked with 

the NCI manager to determine competition parameters such as the timeline and 

award amounts, identify technical review panelists, promote the competition to 

ONC stakeholders and developer networks, and develop outreach materials.

Results:

Note that in FY2011, only Stage 1, in which four semi-finalists were each 

awarded $10,000, was completed. The semi-finalists were given additional time 

to upgrade and submit their applications for evaluation. The prize competition 

concluded with the announcement of the winners on January 1, 2012. Complete 

results are included in this report. 

Both winners of the NCI/ONC challenge were novel in their approach to the 

problem space. Winner 1, Ask Dory! from Applied Informatics, is a web-based 

portal providing information about clinical trials for cancer and other diseases to 

benefit consumers and clinical trials researchers. It significantly improves on 
35

clinicaltrials.gov in two ways – with an innovative entropy-based algorithm for 

rapid and accurate answers and with a consumer-friendly interface that allows 

users to immediately connect with trial administrators by web-phone or email.

Applied Informatics is a start-up firm that responded to the NCI/ONC challenge 

by using their software development and computational expertise to develop a 

cancer-specific consumer information portal that builds on their existing clinical 

information database and decision algorithms to benefit consumers and clinical 

trials researchers. With the potential for cash prizes and more significantly, the 

recognition and publicity that winners would receive, the challenge incentivized 

this small developer to marshal their limited resources to address the challenge 

of cancer control.

Winner 2, Dr. Mia Levy, the team lead for My Cancer Genome, was able to bring 

a rare combination of expertise in clinical oncology, genomic medicine, and 

bioinformatics to bear on the NCI/ONC challenge. As a clinical faculty member at 

Vanderbilt, Dr. Levy was not able to obtain NIH grant or contract funding for 

their application because of its focus on the translation and application of 

scientific evidence for clinical impact. The challenge provided a rapid mechanism 

for her team to gain publicity and support for further development of an 

important, emerging area of cancer treatment decision support with an 

application that can be integrated with EHR systems.

My Cancer Genome is the first application to provide tailored decision support 

for treatment options based on tumor gene mutations, an important and 

emerging area of scientific inquiry. Utilizing the NCI PDQ dataset, this 

application is integrated with Vanderbilt’s EHR system and can also be accessed 

as a stand-alone service on the web.

The extensive media outreach by NCI, ONC, and Health 2.0 (the challenge 

contractor) with stakeholders outside the scientific community has led to a 

significant increase in inquiries from developers, engineers, and technology 

entrepreneurs to find suitable partners in medical research to address the 

difficult challenge of cancer prevention and control through NCIs’ existing 

R01/R21/R01 grant funding mechanisms. 

The innovation challenge effort has also led to utilization of public data 

resources such as PDQ, clinicaltrials.gov, and the Cancer Atlas for potential public 

benefit which would not have been leveraged without the incentives provided to 

developers by the challenge.
36

3.2. CDC Flu App Challenge

Sponsoring Agency:

CDC, part of HHS

Overview:

This challenge asked competitors to use CDC flu data to develop an innovative 

mobile or web application, data visualization, system, tool, or game that would 

improve communication about critical information about the flu and its impact. 

Website: 

http://fluapp.challenge.gov

Problem Statement:

CDC was seeking an innovative use of technology to raise awareness of influenza 

and educate consumers on ways to prevent and treat the flu. CDC has a wealth 

of flu data and information that can be used to help increase awareness of flu 

symptoms and the benefits of vaccination, to promote positive health behavior 

changes, and to increase the reach of CDC health messages to new audiences.

Proposed Goal: 

The primary objectives of the challenge were to:

• Develop new and innovative ways to present CDC flu data through 

creative tools, applications, or games which have the potential to: 

o Increase awareness of CDC flu information 

o Improve flu health communication message delivery

o Educate audiences about the benefits of vaccination and the 

symptoms of flu

o Impact positive behavior change outcomes, including encouraging 

the general public to get vaccinated

o Build new audiences and improve the reach of CDC information 

through new communications channels

• Contribute to CDC’s goal to make content, tools, and services available 

when, where, and how users want them by developing creative ways to 

distribute and disseminate flu health messages

• Advance the Open Government Directive to enhance public participation 

by: 

o Piloting a challenge using CDC flu data

o Applying lessons learned to future challenges 

• Support the Administration’s guidance that “strongly encourages 

agencies to utilize prizes and challenges as tools for advancing open 

government, innovation, and the agency’s mission.”
37

Why a Prize as Preferred Method: 

In an effort to surface key CDC content and data about seasonal flu, CDC decided 

to host the “CDC Flu Application Challenge.” This challenge asked developers 

across the United States to leverage the abundant data CDC has to offer. These 

new developers were encouraged to create an application, game or visualization 

tool that communicates flu data in a new and innovative way. By opening the 

challenge to this new set of developers and designers, CDC received numerous 

submissions that showcased creative applications of flu data.

In addition to generating new and inventive ways of communicating flu 

information, this challenge allowed CDC to generate multiple innovative tools 

from individuals, micro-enterprises and small business that normally do not work 

on government contracts or are a part of the regular procurement process.

Desired Participants for Competition: 

This competition challenged developers across the United States to leverage the 

abundant data CDC has to offer. These new developers were encouraged to 

create an application, game or visualization tool that communicates flu data in a 

new and innovative way. By opening the challenge to this new set of developers 

and designers, CDC received numerous submissions that showcased creative 

applications of flu data from individuals, micro-enterprises and small business 

that normally do not work on government contracts or are not a part of the 

regular procurement process. Entrants into the challenge included small 

businesses, universities, consulting firms, professional graphical artists, 

computer programmers, educators, doctors and public health professionals, 

students teams, and design firms with wide geographic representation across 

the US. 

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

a. Marketing methods for competition and participants :CDC developed an 

extensive marketing plan which included: 

o Prominent buttons displayed on CDC’s full website and mobile 

website

o Announcements through CDC’s email lists

o Promotion through CDC’s social media channels, including 

Facebook and Twitter

o Announcements via CDC’s text message program

In addition to marketing via CDC’s communication channels, the 

challenge was also promoted externally through features on 

Challenge.gov, USA.gov and the GovGab blog. 

Advertisements were also posted on Facebook pages targeted to mobile 

application designers, gamming developers, and various other types of 

technology specialists. 
38

The challenge was also marketed through an extensive partnership plan 

which included outreach to various health communication associations 

and development communities, including announcements at various 

mobile and technology conferences. 

b. Evaluation method: The efforts of the marketing were evaluated at 

several points during the challenge to determine which channels were 

most effective at generating interest in the challenge and to revise tactics 

in order to capitalize on the most effective methods. 

In developing the marketing plan, CDC considered several elements 

including a multi-phased approach to: 

o Generate interest prior to the launch of the challenge

o Encourage participation upon launch of the challenge 

o Promote public participation in the review and selection of a 

People’s Choice Award at the conclusion of the challenge

o Announce and publicize the winning entries after the evaluation 

period to generate interest and usage of the winning solutions

Incentives:

a. Monetary: CDC’s Federal funds were used to fund the prizes and the 

prizes were awarded through an existing CDC contract. No private funds 

were used.

The challenge offered a total of $35,000 in prizes among nine winners: 

o First Place: $15,000 cash

o Second Place: $10,000 cash

o Third Place: $5,000 cash

o People's Choice: $2,500 cash

o Honorable Mention (5): $500 cash

Evaluation:

Submissions were evaluated by a qualified panel selected by CDC. The panel 

evaluated each submission to ensure that the technology solution used at least 

one of the flu datasets provided by CDC and met the goal of raising awareness of 

influenza and its impact or educating audiences on influenza prevention and 

treatment. The panel selected winners for the categories for first place, second 

place, third place and the five honorable mentions based on the effectiveness of 

the technology solution to showcase CDC flu information in new and innovative 

ways. Specific evaluation criteria included: 
39

o Data Criteria: Does the app or game use a combination of 

creative and relevant data sets including at least one from 

data.CDC.gov? (20%)

o Technical Implementation: Is the app implemented in a 

functional and elegant fashion? (20%)

o Education Criteria: Does the software apply best practices for 

health and risk communication, as cited on

www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/HealthBasics? (20%)

o Creativity: Is the app creative? Interesting? Fun to use? (40%)

The People’s Choice Award was selected based on public voting and ranking of 

the different applications. 

Lessons learned from the evaluation included: 

Lessons Learned Recommendations

The rules language regarding the 

selection of technical evaluators & 

judges was too strict, and did not allow 

for the flexibility to add an additional 

technical evaluator after the challenge

opened. 

Future challenges should include 

language in the rules that CDC has the 

right to add, or remove a technical 

evaluator from the challenge up until 

the submission deadline.

Because of the sheer number of entries 

(96), the review process took longer 

than expected, and as a result CDC was

unable to announce the winners on 

schedule, and needed to extend the 

date to announce winners. 

Rules regarding the announcement of 

winners need to allow for the date to 

be extended, or changed.

Some of the applicants included the 

CDC logo in the graphics that 

accompanied their submissions. The 

CDC logo is not public domain and 

cannot be used without written 

permission from CDC. CDC contacted

applicants individually by email asking 

them to remove the CDC logos, and 

also created a discussion thread 

informing other competitors of the 

policy. 

Include specific language in the rules 

that the CDC logo is not public property, 

and cannot be included in any 

submissions without written permission 

from CDC.
40

Lessons Learned Recommendations

One of the tasks for moderators of the 

Challenge.gov site was to mark 

submissions as eligible for evaluator. 

Until an app was marked as eligible it 

did not get posted to the list of 

submissions on the site. Moderators 

needed to review each submission and 

confirm that it met the data 

requirement, as well as the education 

requirement prior to making it eligible. 

The time associated with this task was 

more than was originally anticipated. 

Discuss the moderation process and 

eligibility requirements for applications 

at the outset, and identify a process for 

approving and reviewing apps. This will 

ensure it is included in the schedule and 

all team members can cover the work.

The challenge schedule dictated that 

applications be submitted by midnight 

on a Friday. This proved to be a 

mistake as many applicants had last 

minute questions, or concerns as they 

finished their app and prepared to 

submit, however the Challenge.gov

staff and project team was not 

available to troubleshoot, and follow 

up with competitors. 

The deadline for submissions is midweek rather than before a weekend or 

holiday, so that staff is available to 

support participants, and address any 

technical errors that occur as users are 

making their final submission. Also 

recommend that the deadline for future 

challenges be changed to 5:00 p.m. EST 

instead of midnight to ensure that the 

project team is available to answer last 

minute questions. 

Many of the submissions to be 

evaluated were mobile applications 

designed for a variety of mobile 

technology platforms including iPhone, 

Android, and Blackberry. It proved to 

be a challenge to ensure that all 

technical evaluators & judges had 

access to the needed technologies to 

test submissions. 

A list of all devices needed for 

evaluating submissions should be 

shared with technical evaluators & 

judges well in advance. Technical 

evaluators & judges should be asked to 

confirm that they can procure access to

the platforms if needed by networking 

with others understanding that Federal 

funds cannot be used unless authorized 

and allowable.” If technical evaluators 

& judges would not have access to the 

majority of the devices needed for 

testing, CDC recommends choosing an 

alternate technical evaluator.
41

Partnerships: 

The challenge was administered solely by CDC without the assistance of external 

partnerships.

Resources:

The challenge was managed by CDC staff and contractors. In addition to the 

CDC staff, CDC also employed the assistance of an outside contracting firm to 

assist with: 

o Technical expertise related to the project (application development 

and challenges)

o Project management and coordination of a new media project 

o Technical support for a new media project

o Promotion of challenge

o Evaluate the project

o Pay prizes to the developers of the winning tools 

The total contract cost of the challenge was $94,611.29 (inclusive of the cash 

awards). 

The funding was FY10 funding and was placed on an existing CDC contract (200-

2004-03409, Task Order 78). This challenge was started before the COMPETES 

process was in place. The funding citation was: 939ZDQG 2512 2010 75-X-0140 

131183121.

The applications developed for CDC’s flu app challenged showcased an 

impressive amount of creativity and variety of technology solutions from flu 

games, to Facebook applications, to mobile applications, to web-based solutions, 

to interactive voice response systems. 

Results:

Entries in CDC’s Flu App Challenge, even those that didn’t win, offered creative 

approaches to improving influenza message dissemination and audience 

engagement. CDC was already aware of the technology proposed by many of 

the entrants, but due to resource and budget constraints, security requirements, 

or other barriers, may not yet have applied the tools and concepts in challenge 

entries to CDC’s current work. Through challenge submissions, CDC was able to 

see real applications of current technologies and approaches to the problem, 

and how they could be applied to CDC data and messages. The challenge 

invigorated CDC’s existing efforts, provided promising new innovations to 

explore, and helped CDC technologists eliminate ineffective or inappropriate 

possibilities. 

One entry combined CDC’s new content syndication API with older interactive 

phone systems and text-to-voice technology to bring CDC health messages to 
42

those who still do not have access to the Internet. Another solution used a 

popular location-based social networking service and combined it with 

incubation and infection periods and health messages to enable a user to alert 

her friends that she might have been infectious when they last met and to 

encourage vaccination. Other entries used the social graphs in popular social 

networking sites to encourage vaccination give notice of infection investigate 

possible spread of infection among friends and even win sympathy when 

infected. 

The winning entry, Flu-Ville!, used current flu activity reports, prevention 

messages, and general CDC health information to create an interactive game. 

Games are highly popular and allow CDC to reach audiences that might have 

interest in gaming, but not public health or influenza. Research on the impact 

and effectiveness of games in driving positive health behaviors is still nascent 

and the challenge gave CDC a low-cost way to engage game developers in 

applying online gaming principles to solving some of public health’s most 

pervasive and persistent challenges. 

The technology and the solutions shown in the Flu App Challenge are not 

necessarily influenza-specific and can be adapted to meet other health 

information dissemination needs, whether the topic be other infectious diseases, 

emergency information or chronic disease management. Elements of the 

winners are being considered and redesigned for use in other products, such as 

ways to incorporate location-based tailored information in mobile applications, 

improved services for existing systems, and the increased use of peer-to-peer 

communication of CDC health messages.

4. Department of Labor 

4.1. InformACTION App Challenge

Sponsoring Agency:

DOL – Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration (OSHA)

Overview:

This DOL competition asked developers to use its public enforcement data in 

innovative way to increase public awareness about employer compliance with 

laws enforced by DOL to ensure fair and safe workplaces.

Website:

http://challenge.gov/Labor/201-dol-informaction-app-challenge
43

Problem Statement:

DOL offers a wealth of data that often go unnoticed by the technical community 

and general public. For example, as part of the Data.Gov initiative, DOL displays 

online enforcement data that shows the results of Wage and Hour and OSHA 

compliance inspections of workplaces. While this is an important first step in 

making enforcement data available to the public, the raw data is not presented 

in a way that the public can easily understand and use.

Proposed Goal:

The challenge required the use of OSHA and WHD inspection and compliance 

information from hotel, motel, restaurant, and retail industries to help workers 

and consumers take educated action. Workers and consumers are already 

accustomed to using online review sites, apps, and other tools. The 

InformACTION App Challenge made it possible for workers and consumers to 

easily access enforcement data to inform their decisions and general awareness 

about workplace issues. By making DOL’s enforcement data more accessible to 

the public, the competition also increased the incentives employers have to 

comply with Federal workplace laws because their compliance track record is 

now readily accessible to the public. 

Why a Prize as Preferred Method: 

DOL utilized a prize competition in order to tap into pools of talented developers 

across the country that traditionally do not participate in Government IT 

development or mission specific exercises, with a desire to collaborate directly 

with new and established innovators who typically do not interact with 

Government data, who do participate in the creation of new groundbreaking 

online platforms and technologies, and who are experts in the development of 

mobile applications.

Desired Participants for Competition: 

Talented developers across the country that traditionally do not participate in 

Government IT development or mission specific exercises, with a desire to 

collaborate directly with new and established innovators who typically do not 

interact with Government data, who do participate in the creation of new 

groundbreaking online platforms and technologies, and who are experts in the 

development of mobile applications.

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

DOL utilized GSA’s Challenge.gov platform to host and launch its informACTION 

App challenge. The Department used multiple methods to market the challenge, 

including press releases, social media via its Open Government Blog, Facebook 

and Twitter accounts. DOL also announced the challenge on the Federal Register, 

as required by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. DOL additionally 

created a dedicated website, http://developer.dol.gov/ that housed APIs, SDKs 
44

and sample code for multiple platforms to ensure developer success. These 

actions drew the attention of various media outlets that ran stories about the 

challenge and amplified DOL’s outreach efforts. Lessons learned include: 

establishing more clear and mature measures of success, need to establish DOL 

developer community, and non-traditional outreach via developer-friendly 

online communities. 

Incentives:

All challenge prizes were offered in monetary form. The total prize award 

resulted in $34,500 (first place prize of $15,000; second place prize of $10,000; 

third place prize of $5,000; four honorable mention prizes of $500 each; and a 

people’s choice prize of $2,500). 

All monetary prizes were obligated and paid from appropriated funds derived 

from the Departmental Management account. 

Evaluation:

DOL’s evaluation process was composed of two parts. The first was the 

development of four basic evaluation criteria that were weighed based on their 

priority:

 Use of Required Data - Does the application use a combination of creative 

and relevant data sets, including at least the two mentioned in this 

challenge from api.dol.gov? (20%)

 Technical Implementation - Is the application implemented in a 

functional and elegant fashion? (20%)

 Mission - Does the application meet the mission defined for this 

challenge? (20%)

 Creativity - Is the application creative, interesting, and easy to use? (40%)

The second part included the establishment of a two-tiered panel of judges 

composed of subject matter experts and DOL leadership. The initial panel 

screened all submissions for compliance with minimum established technical and 

policy requirements, and ranked each submission based on the above criteria. 

The final panel of DOL leaders evaluated each qualified submission based on the 

above criteria, and potential for mission amplification. 

Partnerships:

The challenge was developed and executed through an internal partnership 

among DOL agencies, including the Office of the Deputy Secretary, WHD, OSHA, 

Solicitor’s Office (SOL), Office of Public Affairs (OPA) and Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Management (OASAM).
45

Resources:

Resources used for the development, execution and management of this 

challenge included staff time from the Office of the Deputy Secretary, WHD, 

OSHA, SOL, OPA, and OASAM. Related obligations and expenditures were 

recorded against the appropriate salaries and expenses accounts. 

Results:

As a result of the InformACTION Challenge, there are now multiple new public 

tools available for consumers to easily search and use DOL enforcement data to 

inform decisions about where to shop, eat, or spend the night. The applications 

also make it easier for workers and employers to keep track of the compliance 

record of employers in their area.

In addition, DOL used the opportunity to publish a DOL API and SDK to make 

data available to third party developers.

The total prize purse was $34,500, including a first place prize of $15,000; a 

second place prize of $10,000; a third place prize of $5,000; four honorable 

mention prizes of $500 each; and a people’s choice prize of $2,500). 

The informACTION challenge on Challenge.gov advanced DOL’s mission by 

leveraging existing technology to raise public awareness about employer 

compliance with Federal workplace laws. Multiple applications were developed 

utilizing DOL enforcement data that in many cases incorporated access to 

mainstream applications like Yelp!, Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Consumers, 

workers and employers can now more easily identify OSHA and WHD

enforcement history of restaurants, shops, and hotels or motels in relation to 

Federal wage and hour and workplace safety laws.

DOL is in the process of evaluating additional success factors including data on 

application usage, feedback from users, usage of DOL data, and influence over 

consumer choices based on enforcement activities.

4.2. Occupational Employment Statistics Challenge

Sponsoring Agency:

DOL – Office of the Deputy Secretary of Labor

Overview:

This challenge asked developers to take data from DOL’s Bureau of Labor 

Statistics(BLS) and create applications that could help individuals plan their 

education or job training strategies, negotiate pay and benefits with employers, 
46

find places to update their skill sets, and make informed decisions about 

potential career changes. 

Website:

http://challenge.gov/Labor/202-occupational-employment-statistics-challenge

Problem Statement:

BLS collects a wealth of information, including Occupational Employment 

Statistics (OES), but these data can be overwhelming if not presented in a 

fashion tailored to specific user needs. There is a lack of awareness by the 

general public about the large amount of DOL data available to help individuals 

better understand the job market, allow consumers to assess companies’ labor 

practices, and better connect workers to good jobs, local training opportunities, 

and other resources. 

Proposed Goal:

Reach key DOL customer groups including job seekers and individuals planning a 

career change, relocating, or planning their career paths. In addition, DOL used 

the opportunity to publish a new DOL API and SDK to make data available to 

third party developers.

Why a Prize as Preferred Method:

DOL utilized a prize competition in order to tap into pools of talented developers 

across the country that traditionally do not participate in Government IT 

development or mission specific exercises. DOL wanted to collaborate directly 

with new and established innovators that typically do not interact with 

Government data. 

Desired Participants for Competition: 

Talented developers across the country that traditionally do not participate in 

Government IT development or mission specific exercises, with a desire to 

collaborate directly with new and established innovators who typically do not 

interact with Government data, who do participate in the creation of new 

groundbreaking online platforms and technologies, and who are experts in the 

development of mobile applications.

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

DOL utilized GSA’s Challenge.gov platform to host and launch its OES App 

challenge. The Department used multiple methods to market the challenge, 

including press releases, social media via its Open Government Blog, Facebook 

and Twitter accounts. DOL also announced the challenge on the Federal Register, 

as required by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act. DOL additionally 

created a dedicated website, http://developer.dol.gov/ that housed APIs, SDKs 

and sample code for multiple platforms to ensure developer success. These 
47

actions drew the attention of various media outlets that ran stories about the 

challenge and amplified DOL’s outreach efforts. Lessons learned include: 

establishing more clear and mature measures of success, need to establish DOL 

developer community, and non-traditional outreach via developer-friendly 

online communities.

 

Incentives:

All challenge prizes were offered in monetary form. The total prize award 

resulted in $34,500 (first place prize of $15,000; second place prize of $10,000; 

third place prize of $5,000; four honorable mention prizes of $500 each; and a 

people’s choice prize of $2,500). 

All monetary prizes were paid from appropriated funds derived from the 

Departmental Management account. 

Evaluation:

DOL’s evaluation process was composed of two parts. The first was the 

development of four basic evaluation criteria that were weighed based on their 

priority:

 Use of Required Data - Does the application use a combination of creative 

and relevant data sets, including at least the two mentioned in this 

challenge from api.dol.gov? (20%)

 Technical Implementation - Is the application implemented in a 

functional and elegant fashion? (20%)

 Mission - Does the application meet the mission defined for this 

challenge? (20%)

 Creativity - Is the application creative, interesting, and easy to use? (40%)

The second part included the establishment of a two-tiered panel of judges 

composed of subject matter experts and DOL leadership. The initial panel 

screened all submissions for compliance with minimum established technical and 

policy requirements, and ranked each submission based on the above criteria. 

The final panel of DOL leaders evaluated each qualified submission based on the 

above criteria, and potential for mission amplification. 

Partnerships:

The challenge was developed and executed through an internal partnership 

among DOL agencies, including the Office of the Deputy Secretary, BLS, Chief 

Economist Office, and OPA. 

Resources:

Resources used for the development, execution and management of this 

challenge included Office of the Deputy Secretary, BLS, Chief Economist Office, 
48

the Office of the Solicitor, and OPA. Related obligations and expenditures were 

recorded against the appropriate salaries and expenses accounts. 

Results:

The grand prize winner, Where are the Jobs?, allows users to retrieve average 

salaries of occupations and occupation groups by State or region and has a 

comparison function that allows users to find where job types or industries are 

centered and the best compensated. It helps workers make better choices about 

where to get training and education, apply for positions, or, if necessary, move 

to find good jobs. 

The application assists individuals in planning their education, changing careers, 

relocating, or negotiating compensation packages by generating data 

visualizations of customized results on wages, employment growth, 

unemployment, and industry outlook based on geographic location, occupation, 

industry or other user-selected criteria. The application also helps all other users 

access and organize the BLS OES data. 

In addition, DOL used the opportunity to publish a new DOL API and SDK to make 

data available to third party developers.

The OES competition on Challenge.gov advanced DOL’s mission by leveraging 

existing technology to provide workers with interactively tools to explore salary 

and job statistics for various occupations at national, state and regional levels, 

and be able to identify an occupation and explore the job market for that 

occupation (at the state or regional level). Multiple applications were developed 

utilizing Labor Market Information data that in many cases incorporated access 

to mainstream applications like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. 

DOL is in the process of evaluating additional success factors including data on 

application usage, feedback from users, usage of DOL data, and influence over 

consumer choices based on enforcement activities.

5. Department of Veterans Affairs

5.1. Blue Button® for All Americans Prize Contest

Sponsoring Agency:

VA Innovation Initiative (VAi2)

Overview:

To help veterans have access to their heath information regardless of where they 

get their care, the VA sponsored the Blue Button® for All Americans Prize 
49

Contest, announced in July 2011. This challenge asked HealthIT software 

developers to include a Blue Button data download function in PHR systems and 

then arrange to install the PHR on patient-facing websites of 25,000 doctors 

across America. 

Website:

http://bluebutton.challenge.gov/

Problem Statement:

Veterans who receive medical care through VA health care facilities can 

download their personal health data through the My HealtheVet patient portal 

using the Blue Button® software function. 

VA delivers care to approximately six million veterans; many of these and most 

of the 24 million veterans in the United States receive their care from providers 

outside the VA health care system. VA believes that all veterans – and not just 

veterans who receive their care from VA – should be able to download their 

health data using the Blue Button. 

Proposed Goal:

The goal of the challenge was to enable veterans to be able to download their 

health data regardless of where they get their care. The primary objective of the 

challenge was to achieve installation of Blue Button-enabled PHRs in a large 

number (>25,000) of non-VA doctor’s offices across America. 

Why a Prize as Preferred Method:

A prize competition was assessed as the most efficient and economical way of 

encouraging PHR developers to include Blue Button functions in their software 

and arrange to install that software on patient portals of thousands of doctors 

across the country. This particular outcome was especially well suited for a 

prize: it could be executed quickly, achieved inexpensively, and judged 

objectively. Moreover, due to the fragmented and competitive market of PHR 

software development, a cooperative agreement would have been difficult. 

Instead, VA chose to leverage these factors by giving developers a new 

opportunity to compete. 

Desired Participants for Competition: 

VA identified two kinds of PHR developers that VA expected to compete. 

• First, startup or small-business PHR developers who would perceive their 

product to be more competitive with a Blue Button function, and for 

whom the prize amount would be relatively significant. 
50

• Second, established PHR vendors who would have similar expectations 

about the competitive advantages of adding Blue Button functionality to 

their existing products, and for which the primary benefit of participation 

would not be the prize amount but instead publicity and market 

differentiation. 

Based on inquiries VA received during the course of the challenge on the 

Challenge.gov website, it seemed clear that VA had successfully identified the 

relevant markets. VA did receive submissions (which did not meet judging 

criteria) from startup and small organizations. The winner was from an 

organization with an established PHR customer base.

Solicitation and Outreach Methods and Results:

The challenge was announced in the Federal Register, 76 FR 42164, on July 18, 

2011 and on the Challenge.gov website the same day. 

VA identified the health IT trade press as the optimal way to publicize the 

challenge to likely participants, and used press releases, blogs, social media such 

as Twitter and VA websites for that publicity. VA achieved significant “echo 

effect” from trade press and health IT blogs, with significant assistance from the 

U.S. Chief Technology Officer, HHS, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Incentives:

The prize amount paid to the winner was $50,000. 

Evaluation:

Contest rules required an entrant to demonstrate that a Blue Button-enabled 

PHR had been installed on the patient-facing websites of at least 25,000 doctors. 

VA’s evaluation focused on verifying that an entrant’s qualifying PHR was in fact 

so installed. 

VA deliberately structured the challenge to provide entrants maximum flexibility 

in how they built and installed their PHR products; VA needed to be equally 

flexible in how VA evaluated the entries VA received. VA’s evaluation method 

was tailored to the installations presented by the winning entrant and involved 

actual log-on to internet web sites to verify required Blue Button functionality, 

and actual installation of the PHR by the required number of doctors. 

McKesson was declared the apparent winner of the competition on September 

28, 2011, and after providing additional information required by the competition

rules was declared the winner of the challenge on October 21, 2011. 
51

Partnerships

The White House, VA, and HHS Chief Technology Officers were actively engaged 

in promoting the challenge as well as advancing the underlying concepts of 

empowering consumers with their own health data. 

While the challenge was underway, HHS sponsored a media event that drew 

considerable attention to the Blue Button technology and solicited commitments 

from industry to install and use Blue Button-enabled PHRs in a variety of HIT 

settings. 

Also during the pendency of the challenge, the Robert Wood Johnson 

Foundation launched a website, http://bluebuttondata.org/ to promote the use 

of Blue Button technologies in health care. 

Resources:

Overall costs were modest, consisting of administrative salary expense and the 

cost of the prize purse. 

Category Hours Cost Account

Salary Expense

Senior Leadership (SES) 35 $ 2,616 3600000.00 0151A1 FY11

Contest Coordinator (GS15) 270 $ 19,795 3610160.01 0152A1 FY11

Staff and Fiscal Support 

(GS13-14)

85 $ 3,715 3602000.80 0151A1 FY11

Office of General Counsel 55 $ 4,488 3620151A1.02 101-1200-017 

Total Salary Expense $ 30,614

Prize Amount $ 50,000 3620160-6068-803800-2580 -

T21SOTH00

Total Resources $ 80,614

Results:

The winner of the $50,000 prize – McKesson Corporation’s Relay Health division 

– added Blue Button download functions to its existing PHR system which is used 

by approximately 200,000 doctors and 2,000 hospitals. McKesson donated the 

prize to the Wounded Warrior Project after being declared the winner of the 

challenge in October 2011.

• While typical contract and grant making development cycles span several 

months before soliciting proposals, this challenge took only six weeks to 

develop and launch. This was VA’s first challenge under the COMPETES 

Act. 
52

• VA was able to declare a winner of the challenge approximately four 

months after the announcement date: this time included about four 

weeks of evaluation of the winner’s entry. Performance periods under a 

contract or grant would have been at least three times as long.

• Administrative costs (see section 14, below) were modest and are 

assessed as significantly less than if a conventional contract or grant 

vehicle was used.

• Had the winner merely installed a Blue Button-enabled PHR in the patient 

portals of 25,000 doctors – the minimum necessary – the $50,000 prize 

would equate to a cost of two dollars per doctor. Because the winner 

added the Blue Button function to the PHRs used by the approximately 

200,000 doctors in its system, the prize amount cost the taxpayers about 

25 cents per doctor. 

As noted, the goal of the challenge was to advance VA’s mission of improving the 

health care and health status of veterans by enabling them to download their 

health data from a large number of non-VA doctors. The primary objective of the 

challenge was to achieve installation of Blue Button-enabled PHRs in a large 

number (>25,000) of non-VA doctor’s offices across America. VA achieved the 

goal and significantly exceeded the objective. 

• The winner of this challenge had approximately 200,000 doctors and 

2,000 hospitals using their PHR system. 

• The winner’s user base had substantially more than the 25,000 minimum 

doctors required, and in addition represented very significant share of 

the overall doctor and hospital markets: almost a third of America’s 

practicing doctors43 and slightly more than a third of the country’s 

registered hospitals.44 

• The challenge was at least in part a catalyst for the adoption of Blue 

Button technologies in a wide cross-section of the HIT market:

o Aetna, Inc. and United Health Group, each among the five largest 

health benefit plans in the country, announced during the 

challenge period that they would add Blue Button capabilities to 

their patient portals. Aetna’s Blue Button implementation 

 43 http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos074.htm#projections_data : 661,000 physicians. 44 http://www.aha.org/research/rc/stat-studies/fast-facts.shtml : 5,754 hospitals.
53

occurred in the fourth quarter, 2011; United Health Group’s Blue 

Button functions are scheduled to go live in the first quarter, 

2012. 

o While the challenge was open, Humetrix, Inc., a medium-size 

California HIT developer, announced a mobile Blue Button 

application to allow patients to securely transmit their health 

information directly to the tablet computers of their doctors. 

o Walgreen’s, one of the Nation’s largest pharmacy chains, 

announced it would add Blue Button functions to its online 

patient portals and store-based kiosks.

o Other software developers, including Iatrix, Inc. (a hospital 

software company in Massachusetts) and a number of small 

companies, added Blue Button capabilities to their software. 

The challenge validated Blue Button technology as part of the routine way in 

which doctors across America and their patients – including veterans – share 

health information.