Challenges & Prize Competitions

Prize competitions can advance the missions of federal agencies.

Agencies can use prize competitions to connect with the public braintrust, tapping into diverse expertise and perspectives to solve complex problems. Prize competitions often lead to unconventional and efficient solutions that might not be found within traditional government structures. Agencies and the public benefit from fresh approaches to tackle challenges in areas like healthcare, cybersecurity, and environmental protection.

American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (Public Law 114-329)

American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (Public Law 114-329)

Resources on Challenges & Prize Competitions

  • Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government

    This guidance calls for the increased use of challenges and prizes to develop new tools and approaches to improve open government, and highlights for agencies policy and legal issues related to the use of prizes and challenges as tools for promoting open government, innovation, and other national priorities.

Tools and Services

  • Challenge.gov

    Provides resources and collaborative opportunities to facilitate the use of prize competitions in government.

Join a Community of Practice

  • Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science

    We work across government develop best practices for designing, implementing, and evaluating crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives.

  • Challenge & Prize

    We encourage public participation in crowdsourcing competitions to find innovative government solutions.

Challenges & Prize Competitions events

Celebrating OSTP’s biennial report to Congress on Implementation of Federal Prizes and Citizen Science Authority, Fiscal Years 2019 - 2020, and the role of community partnerships in the federal open innovation landscape.
2022
A discussion of lessons learned from implementing the Lab-to-Market (L2M) Inclusive Innovation Ecosystem prize competition with members of the prize planning committee, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI)– one of three federally funded research and development centers of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a non-profit corporation that assists the federal government in addressing national security issues.
2021

Challenges & Prize Competitions news

Challenge.Gov FY22 Year In Review

Challenge.gov is proud to be part of an ecosystem advancing open innovation in the federal government and engaging the public in open ways. Through the collective efforts of federal challenge managers and the ChallengeGov team, Challenge.gov hosted more prize competitions from a greater number of federal agencies than in previous years. Review fiscal year 2022’s accomplishments, and five goals for FY23.— via Challenge.gov

challengegov logo
Feb 27, 2023

White House and GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts

White House & GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts—On July 20, GSA’s Open Innovation Program and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-hosted the Open Innovation Forum in partnership with Digital.gov. The event was themed around building equitable partnerships and it celebrated OSTP’s biennial report to Congress that covers the federal government’s prize competitions, crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives in fiscal years 2019 and 2020.— via General Services Administration

gsa logo
Aug 03, 2022

Finding Post-award Balance With Quality Assurance

Finding Post-award Balance With Quality Assurance—If you’re one of the many federal employees carrying out your mission through contracting, you might have an important question: how do I know if my contractor is doing a good job? Even if you don’t have a strong technical background, there are steps you can take to build your confidence in the project’s maintainability and sustainability.— via 18F

18f logo
May 02, 2022

Finding post-award balance with quality assurance

If you’re one of the many federal employees carrying out your mission through contracting, you might have an important question: how do I know if my contractor is doing a good job? Even if you don’t have a strong technical background, there are steps you can take to build your confidence in the project’s maintainability and sustainability.— via 18F

18f logo
May 01, 2022

The Opportunity Project 2021 Summit: Open Innovation for All

Census Open Innovation Labs (COIL) at the U.S. Census Bureau is hosting a virtual, 3-day innovation conference, December 13 to 15. This year’s summit will feature keynotes, panels, workshops, and more—showcasing technology built with open data, and how to create space for conversations on government innovation, effective collaboration, the power of open data, and the inclusion of all voices. Seven federal agencies and two cities led TOP sprints focused on the World Post-COVID-19. They’ll introduce the resulting new products and announce more than $300,000 in awards to the winners of the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge. Review the full agenda and register to attend.

Dec 01, 2021

Resources on Challenges & Prize Competitions

  • Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government

    This guidance calls for the increased use of challenges and prizes to develop new tools and approaches to improve open government, and highlights for agencies policy and legal issues related to the use of prizes and challenges as tools for promoting open government, innovation, and other national priorities.

Tools and Services

  • Challenge.gov

    Provides resources and collaborative opportunities to facilitate the use of prize competitions in government.

More News and Events on Challenges & Prize Competitions

151 posts

Challenge.Gov FY22 Year In Review

Challenge.gov is proud to be part of an ecosystem advancing open innovation in the federal government and engaging the public in open ways. Through the collective efforts of federal challenge managers and the ChallengeGov team, Challenge.gov hosted more prize competitions from a greater number of federal agencies than in previous years. Review fiscal year 2022’s accomplishments, and five goals for FY23.— via Challenge.gov

challengegov logo
Feb 27, 2023

White House and GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts

White House & GSA Celebrate Record Years in Prize Competitions, Citizen Science Efforts—On July 20, GSA’s Open Innovation Program and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-hosted the Open Innovation Forum in partnership with Digital.gov. The event was themed around building equitable partnerships and it celebrated OSTP’s biennial report to Congress that covers the federal government’s prize competitions, crowdsourcing and citizen science initiatives in fiscal years 2019 and 2020.— via General Services Administration

gsa logo
Aug 03, 2022
Celebrating OSTP’s biennial report to Congress on Implementation of Federal Prizes and Citizen Science Authority, Fiscal Years 2019 - 2020, and the role of community partnerships in the federal open innovation landscape.
2022

Finding Post-award Balance With Quality Assurance

Finding Post-award Balance With Quality Assurance—If you’re one of the many federal employees carrying out your mission through contracting, you might have an important question: how do I know if my contractor is doing a good job? Even if you don’t have a strong technical background, there are steps you can take to build your confidence in the project’s maintainability and sustainability.— via 18F

18f logo
May 02, 2022

Finding post-award balance with quality assurance

If you’re one of the many federal employees carrying out your mission through contracting, you might have an important question: how do I know if my contractor is doing a good job? Even if you don’t have a strong technical background, there are steps you can take to build your confidence in the project’s maintainability and sustainability.— via 18F

18f logo
May 01, 2022

The Opportunity Project 2021 Summit: Open Innovation for All

Census Open Innovation Labs (COIL) at the U.S. Census Bureau is hosting a virtual, 3-day innovation conference, December 13 to 15. This year’s summit will feature keynotes, panels, workshops, and more—showcasing technology built with open data, and how to create space for conversations on government innovation, effective collaboration, the power of open data, and the inclusion of all voices. Seven federal agencies and two cities led TOP sprints focused on the World Post-COVID-19. They’ll introduce the resulting new products and announce more than $300,000 in awards to the winners of the Open Data for Good Grand Challenge. Review the full agenda and register to attend.

Dec 01, 2021
A discussion of lessons learned from implementing the Lab-to-Market (L2M) Inclusive Innovation Ecosystem prize competition with members of the prize planning committee, including the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI)– one of three federally funded research and development centers of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a non-profit corporation that assists the federal government in addressing national security issues.
2021