10x Announces 25 Projects to Start Phase One

The 10x program is excited to announce that we selected the next round of projects (PDF, 119 KB, 8 pages) to start at the Phase One Investigation level.

This round, we were absolutely blown away by the caliber and quantity of ideas submitted. This submission pool was by far the largest we’ve ever had - with over 300 ideas submitted! We received 220 new ideas, while 114 ideas were considered from prior rounds.

The Evaluation Process

The 10x program has made it a top priority to ensure that projects are scored and evaluated fairly. Names and agency affiliations are excluded from the proposals to guarantee projects are evaluated purely based on merit. The 10x team also enlisted several subject matter and technical experts to ensure the evaluation panel was fair and well-rounded.

Proposals were evaluated against three criteria:

• Clarity: Does the proposal clearly define a problem, an affected group, and an application for government-wide use?
• Alignment: Does the proposal align with the organizational priorities and does it align with the legislative authorities of our Digital Services Fund, as interpreted by our General Counsel?
• Impact: Does the proposed solution promise a significant impact on the public experience with government?

Submission Analytics

We conducted an analysis of the various idea submissions and wanted to share the findings with you.

Figure 1: Percent Submitted.

Figure 2: Percent selected.

Distribution of GSA & Outside Agencies: In the two graphs above, Figure 1 shows that 41.9% of submitted ideas were from GSA, while 58.1% were from outside agencies. Figure 2 shows that 59.3% of selected ideas were from GSA, while 40.7% were from outside agencies. As a reminder, evaluators did not know with which agency the submitters were affiliated. However, this slight variance could be due to the fact that GSA employees were more familiar with the submission process criteria, therefore they may have been able to submit pitches that better aligned with what the 10x program was looking for in terms of clarity, alignment, and impact.

TTS Areas of Focus: In the bar graph below, we also analyzed how submitted ideas vs. selected ideas mapped to the six TTS Focus Areas of Artificial Intelligence, Omnichannel Experience, Data and Analytics, Identity, Cloud and Infrastructure, and Accelerators. The majority of submitted ideas, roughly 25%, fell under the umbrella of Omnichannel Experience. Twenty-two percent of ideas fell under the umbrella of Data & Analytics, and about 14% of ideas focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI). This matched closely with selected ideas. The majority of selected ideas, 37%, focused on Omnichannel Experience, while 30%, focused on Data & Analytics. AI and Accelerators each represented 11% of selected ideas.

Figure 3: Areas of Focus.

What’s Next?

Over the next several weeks, 10x will create project teams to conduct investigation sprints. In these sprints, these project teams will identify blockers, validate ideas, understand the problem space, and recommend whether or not an idea should be pursued further. For more information about the 10x process, please visit 10x.gsa.gov/the-10x-process/.

If you have an idea for how to improve the public’s experience with the Federal Government through technology, you can submit your idea anytime at 10x.gsa.gov. The next evaluation period will be early in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Additionally, below we’ve offered a few guidelines to help craft your pitch.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is the problem or opportunity?
2. Who is impacted?
3. What is a possible solution?

Suggested Template:

We have observed [problem or opportunity]. We believe that if we [do this that it will result in this benefit] for [this group of people].

Learn More

• Learn more about our ongoing projects with the 10x project lightning talks;
• Find out more about our work on our website, 10x.gsa.gov;
• Email us at 10x@gsa.gov.