Federal Agency Resources and Policies

White House, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and Government-Wide Guidance

• American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (January 2017)
• OMB Fact Sheet and FAQ on Prize Authority in the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act
• OMB Memo: Guidance on the Use of Challenges and Prizes to Promote Open Government (March 2010)
• OMB Frequently Asked Questions on the Paperwork Reduction Act & Prizes and Challenges
• General Guide to the Paperwork Reduction Act
• Open Government Directive (December 8, 2009)
• 2009 Strategy for American Innovation (September 2009)

White House: Prizes and Challenge Initiatives Addressing COVID-19

• Memorandum: Empowering Innovators to Develop Solutions to COVID-19 Through Prizes and Challenges
• Fact Sheet: Empowering Innovation to Address COVID-19

Sample Agency Policies and Capacity-Building Resources

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

• Resources for Challenge Managers at HHS
• Office of the Secretary Delegation of Authority

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI)

• Prize Challenges Policies
• Bureau of Reclamation Knowledge Stream Research and Development Office - Prize Competitions

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• Policy Directive on Challenges, Prize Competitions, and Crowdsourcing Activities
• Open Innovation at NASA, November 2020
• Challenge Formulation Worksheet
• Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI)
• CoECI / NASA Tournament Lab
• NASA Solve: Portal for All Prize, Challenge and Citizen Science Activities

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

• Contract Vehicles for Prize Competitions
• Congressional Testimony on the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act, One Year Later (January 2018)
• Congressional Testimony on the Health Health III Challenge (December 2017)

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

• USAID Full Innovation Programming and Design Toolkit

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

• Departmental Regulation on Prizes and Challenges

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

• Prize Development and Execution Guidance - EERE G 121.001 (November 2019)

Implementation of Federal Prize Authority

The America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (COMPETES) and the American Innovation and Competitiveness Act (AICA) require the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to produce a biennial report to Congress on the activities carried out under these authorities. This report highlights how government agencies use prize competitions and challenges (PC&Cs) and crowdsourcing and citizen science (CCS) activities to engage with members of the public to innovate, drive scientific discovery, and solve important problems. Reporting on related activities conducted under other authorities is voluntary and also included.

• Fiscal Years 2021 -2022 Full Report with Appendices (April 2024)
• Fiscal Years 2019-20 Full Report with Appendices (March 2022)
• Fiscal Years 2017-2018 Full Report (June 2019)
  • All prizes and challenges - This CSV file compiles all prizes and challenges from Appendix A and Appendix B of the report, broken down by agency, legal authority, goals, budget, results and more (this is a raw data set).
• Fiscal Year 2016 Progress Report, including appendices (July 2017)
• Fiscal Year 2015 Progress Report (August 2016)
  • Appendix One: Agency Prizes and Challenges Conducted Under the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010
  • Appendix Two: A Selection of Agency Prizes and Challenges Conducted Under Authorities Other Than the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010
• Fiscal Year 2014 Process Report (May 2015)
• Fiscal Year 2013 Progress Report (May 2014)
• Fiscal Year 2012 Progress Report (December 2013)
• Initial Report from OSTP to Congress on Prizes and America COMPETES in Fiscal Year 2011 (March 2012)

Reports and Publications on Public-Sector Prizes

• National Academies: The Role of Inducement Prizes: Proceedings of a Workshop - in Brief (August 2020)
• Congressional Research Service: Federal Prize Competitions (April 2020)
• National Academies: Project Information: The Role of Inducement Prizes
• Deloitte: Government Trends
• National Academies, Returns to Federal Investments in the Innovation System: Proceedings of a Workshop in Brief (October 2017)
• Government Accountability Office (GAO): Executive Branch Developed Resources to Support Implementation, but Guidance Could Better Reflect Leading Practices (June 2017): Highlights Full Report
• Abt Associates, AgResults: A Framework for Evaluating Innovation Challenges (January 2017)
• GAO: Open Innovation: Practices to Engage Citizens and Effectively Implement Federal Initiatives (October 2016)
• MITRE: From Incentive Prizes to Procurement (August 2016)
• Deloitte University Press, The Craft of Prize Design (June 2014)
• Nesta Centre for Challenge Prizes: Challenge Prizes: A Practice Guide (February 2014)
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation: The Power of Prizes: Incentivizing Radical Innovation
• Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society: Public-Private Partnerships for Organizing and Executing Prize-Based Competitions (June 2012)
• Congressional Research Service: Federally Funded Innovation Inducement Prize (June 2009)
• McKinsey & Company: And the Winner Is… Capturing the Promise of Philanthropic Prizes (June 2009)
• National Academies: Concerning Federally Sponsored Inducement Prizes in Engineering and Science (1999)

Other Blogs and Fact Sheets

Challenge.Gov

• Challenge.Gov Prize and Challenge Toolkit
• Challenge.Gov Program Overview
• Challenge.Gov Platform Overview

Challenge Marketing

• Social Media Style Guide: Applied AI Challenge

Videos

• Videos: Challenge.gov Webinars and Trainings on YouTube
• NIST Drone Challenge Overview Video (June 2018)

Articles and Fact Sheets

• 700 Strong: Challenge.gov Crosses New Milestone in Open Innovation (June 2016)
• White House Fact Sheet: Administration Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary of Challenge.gov with Launch of More than 20 New Public- and Private-Sector Prizes (October 2015, White House.gov)
• Not Just a Website: Challenge.gov enables agencies to innovate with incentives (September 2015, GSA Blog)

Blogs

• NIST: Flying Drones Compete to Complete Unprecedented Feat Blog (August 2018)
• Incentive Prizes Deliver Important Results for the Nation, Offer More “Bang for the Buck” (January 2017, OSTP Blog)
• Public Sector Prizes and Challenges Grow in Use and Sophistication as Agencies Build Infrastructure (August 2016, OSTP Blog)
• Celebrating the Five-Year Anniversary of Challenge.gov with More Than 20 New Prizes (October 2015, OSTP Blog)
• This October, the White House Celebrates Over $150 Million in Prize Competitions Since 2010 (September 2015, OSTP Blog)
• Accelerating the Use of Prizes to Address Tough Challenges (July 2015, OSTP Blog)
• Public Sector Prizes and Challenges Show Increased Sophistication, Ambition and Use: A Fiscal Year 2014 Progress Report (May 2015, OSTP Blog)
• 21st Century Public Servants: Using Prizes and Challenges to Spur Innovation (April 2015, OSTP Blog)
• DIY Space Race: Unleashing Space Innovators through Prize Competitions (January 2015, OSTP Blog)
• Identifying Steps Forward in Use of Prizes to Spur Innovation (April 10, 2012, OSTP Blog)
• Unleashing Innovation and Deepening Democracy Through Prizes (June 12, 2012, White House Blog)
• Challenge.Gov: Two Years and 200 Prizes Later (September 5, 2012, OSTP Blog)
• Audacious Goals in Eye Research (May 2013, OSTP Blog)
• DOE Vehicle Data Challenge Fuels Innovation (April 2013, OSTP Blog)
• Help NASA Power the International Space Station (January 2013, OSTP Blog)
• New Center of Excellence Fuels Prize to Help Modernize Tools for Patent Examination (December 2011, OSTP Blog)
• Congress Grants Broad Prize Authority to All Federal Agencies (December 2010, OSTP Blog)