Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

White text on blue background Challenge.gov Challenge and Prize Community Office Hours 4th Wednesday of each month 12 PM ET

Agency Directives on Prize Competitions

What are agency directives? How do they help you to run a prize competition?

By Quinn Slayton · September 20, 2024

Does your agency have a prize challenge directive? If not, you might consider bringing this best practice to your agency. Directives are official policy determinations for how you do things at your agency. Some federal agencies have adopted this practice to give employees a better understanding of the requirements for the use of prize competitions and challenges. Here’s one from USDA as an example.

At the August 2024 Challenge and Prize Community Office Hours, we heard from representatives from various agencies on their approaches to agency directives. Jarah Meador, Director of Challenge.gov shared advice from her experience working with the General Services Administration (GSA) on drafting an agency directive. “Look at other agencies' directives and recycle heavily from those to craft one for your agency. The goal is to have reproducible language across the federal government for how agencies interpret the America COMPETES Act,” said Meador.

A challenge manager from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) shared their unique approach. USAID established the Innovation Incentive Award Authority (IIAA) to incentivize local innovators, entrepreneurs, and organizations to enter and strengthen weak markets and systems and contribute to greater sustainability through unrestricted prize awards of up to $500,000.

Learn more about IIAA here: https://www.usaid.gov/innovation-technology-research/innovation/epic/iiaa

We also heard from a colleague from National Institutes of Health (NIH) on their approach. As a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH receives broad guidance on prize competitions from HHS. Additionally, NIH has a designated challenge manager at each of the 27 institutes to help the people in their operating unit interpret the challenge policy, design and run challenges, and file the required reporting.

Starting a prize challenge or competition from scratch can be a daunting task. An agency directive takes out the mystery and gives you the guard rails for planning and executing a prize competition at your agency. If you’re thinking of creating an agency directive, reach out to the Challenge and Prize Community for ideas.

Office Hours are for Federal challenge managers, the Challenge & Prize Community of Practice, and other federal employees interested in learning more about prize competitions. They are held on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 12 pm ET via Zoom.gov. Register here.