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

• Fiscal Years 2017-18 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 FY2011 (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)