{
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    "title" : "Challenge.gov |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Challenge.gov",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/services/challenge-gov/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Challenge.gov","summary" : "Provides resources and collaborative opportunities to facilitate the use of prize competitions in government.","date" : "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"jarah-meador" : "Dr. Jarah Meador"},"topics" : {
        
            "challenges-and-prize-competitions" : "Challenges and prize competitions",
            "innovation" : "Innovation",
            "public-policy" : "Public policy"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"service_challengegov.md",
      
      "filepath" :"services/service_challengegov.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/services/service_challengegov.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/services/service_challengegov.md","source" : "challengegov","source_url" : "https://www.challenge.gov/","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/services/challenge-gov/","weight" : "2","content" :"\n  \u003ca class=\"usa-button usa-button--outline\" href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/about/\"\u003ePost a challenge on Challenge.gov\u003c/a\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"a-primer-on-challenges--prizes\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Primer on Challenges \u0026amp; Prizes\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChallenges and prize competitions are proven methods to drive innovation in the public sector and beyond. But they aren’t new. The 1927 Orteig Prize led to Charles Lindbergh’s famous transatlantic flight and advances in aerospace. In the centuries before, prizes were offered in Europe for ways to determine a ship’s longitude at sea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, incentivized and open competition has become a standard tool for federal agencies to solve mission-centric problems—whether technical, scientific, or creative. Agencies have used challenges to tackle a variety of issues, including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBuilding resiliency in communities damaged by natural disasters\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eRaising literacy levels for low-income students\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eJumpstarting technology development and startups in the energy sector\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCreating environmentally friendly and economically feasible products to recycle nutrients in livestock manure on America’s farms\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe links on this page contain a variety of resources that will help agencies and their partners better understand and navigate the process of running a challenge.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"why-use-challenges-and-prize-competitions\"\u003eWhy Use Challenges and Prize Competitions?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell-designed challenges and prize competitions allow agencies to:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePay only for success and establish an ambitious goal without having to predict which team or approach is most likely to succeed;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReach beyond the “usual suspects” to increase the number of solvers tackling a problem and to identify novel approaches without great risk;\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBring out-of-discipline perspectives to bear; and\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIncrease cost-effectiveness to maximize the return on taxpayer dollars.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"policy-and-guidance\"\u003ePolicy and Guidance\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/InnovationStrategy.pdf\"\u003eStrategy for American Innovation\u003c/a\u003e (PDF, 1.3 MB, 76 pages), first issued in 2009 and subsequently updated, urges the use of open innovation and public participation methods like challenges to improve America’s economic growth and international competitiveness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2010, the Office of Management and Budget issued a \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2010/m10-11.pdf\"\u003ememo\u003c/a\u003e (PDF, 94 KB, 12 pages) providing a formal policy framework to guide agencies in using challenges and prize competitions to advance their core missions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat same year, the General Services Administration (GSA) launched \u003ca href=\"http://www.challenge.gov/\"\u003eChallenge.gov\u003c/a\u003e, the official clearinghouse for all federal problem-solving competitions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"a-platform-for-all\"\u003eA Platform for All\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://challenge.gov/\"\u003eChallenge.gov\u003c/a\u003e provides a central place online for agencies to post and manage challenges. It is a one-stop shop for the public to discover and engage with federal agencies that are running crowdsourcing competitions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChallenge.gov breaks down barriers to innovation by providing an open format for collaboration. The platform allows government representatives to communicate with citizen problem-solvers and features data and visualization tools that make it easy for agencies to track and report the success of their challenges.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eContact the Challenge.gov team via \u003ca href=\"mailto:challenge@gsa.gov\" title=\"challenge at g s a dot gov\"\u003eemail\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"innovation-acquisition-and-the-law\"\u003eInnovation Acquisition and the Law\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are a variety of legal permissions under which federal agencies can run challenges, including the \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/5116\"\u003eAmerica COMPETES Reauthorization Act\u003c/a\u003e, which grants all agencies broad authority to conduct prize competitions to spur innovation, solve critical problems and advance their core missions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGSA employs a special contracting vehicle, \u003ca href=\"http://www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov/ElibMain/sinDetails.do?scheduleNumber=00CORP\u0026amp;specialItemNumber=541+4G\u0026amp;executeQuery=YES\"\u003eProfessional Services Schedule 541 4G\u003c/a\u003e, which includes several vendors that provide support to agencies launching, managing and marketing prize competitions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"a-community-of-helping-hands\"\u003eA Community of Helping Hands\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe federal government has a growing and active \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/challenges-prizes/\"\u003ecommunity of practice\u003c/a\u003e for challenges and prizes. This government-only group consists of more than 725 federal challenge practitioners who use a listserv to ask questions and share information. \u003ca href=\"mailto:challenges@listserv.gsa.gov\" title=\"challenges at listserv dot g s a dot gov\"\u003eEmail the Challenges Listserv\u003c/a\u003e to join and receive email alerts about training, events, networking opportunities, and new reports and resources.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to providing assistance directly to agency prize managers, GSA also facilitates mentoring by bringing together veteran prize leads and experts and challenge teams with highly specific prize competiton planning, strategy and execution needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"watch-and-learn\"\u003eWatch and Learn\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLd9b-GuOJ3nFeJeAHAn3Z5opohjxIw8OC\"\u003eplaylist\u003c/a\u003e contains more than 40 videos of specialized training, expert tips and additional resources exploring Challenge.gov and the federal competition space.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"achieving-success\"\u003eAchieving Success\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough the benefits to government agencies are numerous, open competitions are ultimately about people. Challenges have long-lasting impacts beyond the public sector. They help stimulate markets and create industries, build communities of citizen scientists and change people’s lives.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSee examples of how federal agencies have applied prize methodology to achieve progress in this \u003ca href=\"https://www.challenge.gov/toolkit/case-studies\"\u003ecatalog of case studies\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}