[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 42 (Friday, March 2, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12796-12798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-5051]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. 120127071-2071-01]


Commerce Business Apps Challenge

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary (OS), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: A key mission of both the Department of Commerce (DOC) is to 
help U.S. businesses grow and create jobs. Recently, the White House 
launched the BusinessUSA Initiative (www.Business.USA.gov) to help 
further these goals. This notice announces the Commerce Business Apps 
Challenge (http://docbusinessapps.challenge.gov) which DOC is launching 
to encourage members of the public to develop, using at least one DOC 
data set, an application (Web, mobile, PC, etc.) that assists 
businesses and/or improves the service delivery of Business.USA.gov to 
the business community. Specifically, we're looking for innovative ways 
to use DOC and other federal data and program information to help 
businesses:
     Learn about and evaluate opportunities, both here in the 
U.S. and internationally;
     Access useful government services, data, and market 
information;
     Fund business activities;
     Support education and training, and
     Facilitate or accelerate the pursuit of operating and 
growing their business.

This notice announces the BizApps Challenge and explains its terms and 
conditions, and prizes.

DATES: Contestants must register for the contest on this Web site by 
creating an account between February 22nd and April 30th, 2012. The 
judging period will run from May 1, 2012, 12 a.m. EDT to May 21, 2012, 
11:59 p.m. EDT. DOC will announce contest winners on May 31, 2012, or 
soon thereafter.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gordon Keller, by phone at 202-482-
2490, or via email at [email protected], or Mike Kruger, by phone at 202-
482-2556, or via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To facilitate the public's awareness of the 
various types of DOC data available to businesses online and to enhance 
the usability and service delivery of the newly launched BusinessUSA 
Initiative (www.Business.USA.gov), DOC announces a contest, open to the 
public, to develop an application using at least one DOC data set, to 
assist businesses and/or improves the service delivery of 
Business.USA.gov to the business community.
    You pick the technology* * *
 The web
 A personal computer
 A mobile handheld device, or
 Any platform broadly accessible to the open Internet

* * *we provide the data (or at least some of it).

    DOC offers a wealth of economic, demographic, environmental, 
weather, international trade, scientific research and program data and 
in this challenge, we require that you use at least one of our datasets 
in your application. This data can be layered and/or combined with any 
other federal, state, local or publicly available information or 
datasets that you wish. Below are listed some repositories for DOC and 
other federal data:
     Commerce Data
    [cir] U.S. Census Bureau--Population, household, housing, 
demographics. Economic census and monthly

[[Page 12797]]

indicators, foreign trade, employment statistics, maps, geographic data 
and more.
    [ssquf] http://www.census.gov/
    [ssquf] http://www.census.gov/main/www/access.html
    [cir] International Trade Administration (ITA)--International 
market research, export assistance services, market access assistance, 
trade agreements
    [ssquf] http://www.trade.gov
    [ssquf] http://www.export.gov
    [cir] U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)--www.uspto.gov
    [cir] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)--
    [ssquf] Climate Data--http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html
    [ssquf] Weather Data--http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
    [cir] National Technical Information Service (NTIS)--Database of 
research sponsored by the U.S. and select foreign governments.
    [ssquf] http://www.ntis.gov/products/ntisdb.aspx
    [cir] Economic Development Administration--http://www.eda.gov
    [cir] Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)--http://www.bea.gov/itable/index.cfm
    [cir] Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)--http://www.bis.doc.gov/
    [cir] Economic and Statistics Administration (ESA)--http://www.esa.doc.gov
    [cir] National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(NTIA)--www.ntia.doc.gov
    [cir] All DOC's data sets on Data.Gov: (http://www.data.gov/list/agency/1/0/catalog/raw/page/1/count/50)
     www.Data.gov--repository for data and geodata from across 
the federal government, searchable by agency, data type, keyword, among 
others. Many, but not all Commerce data sets reside here.
     http://www.data.gov/business_A business specific section 
of Data.gov (above), this Web site features business-related datasets 
and applications from across the federal government.
    Also:
     List of Open Data Sites Around the World: http://www.data.gov/opendatasites
     Amazon Listing of Public Data Sets: http://aws.amazon.com/datasets
     Washington DC: http://data.octo.dc.gov
     New York: http://nyc.gov/data
     San Francisco: http://datasf.org/
     U.K.: http://data.gov.uk/
    These represent only a partial list of data repositories, and 
contestants are encouraged to use others as needed.

What's in it for you?

    The applications that best satisfy the competition criteria will 
receive cash prizes up to $5,000 for the first prize winner. We 
encourage contestants to combine DOC data with other publicly 
accessible data feeds from around the Web, and to be creative in 
exploring approaches for realizing the goals.

How To Enter

    Contestants must register for the contest on this Web site by 
creating an account between February 6 and April 30, 2012. Registrants 
will receive an email to verify their account and may then enter their 
submissions via the ``Post a Submission'' tab (Submissions).
    1. Submissions may be any kind of software tool, be it for the Web, 
a personal computer, a mobile handheld device, console, or any platform 
broadly accessible to the open Internet.
    2. A Submission may be disqualified if it does not function as 
expressed in the description or if it does not comply with the contest 
entry criteria (e.g., use of at least one DOC dataset).
    3. All Submissions must be available for public use and evaluation 
by April 30, 2012 in order to be considered for judging purposes.
    4. Once a Submission is made, the Contestant cannot make any 
changes or alterations to the Submission until the judging is complete. 
The approximate date by which the judging will be complete is May 21, 
2012.
    For all Submissions, the Contestant agrees that DOC will have the 
ability to release the code as open source at its discretion (see Rules 
for more details).

Important Dates

Submission Period

    Start: February 6, 2012 12 a.m. EDT. End: April 30, 2012 11:59 p.m. 
EDT.

Judging Period

    Start: May 1, 2012 12 a.m. EDT. End: May 21, 2011 11:59 p.m. EDT.
    Winners announced: May 31, 2011 12 a.m. EDT, or soon thereafter.

Judges

    An exclusive panel of high-profile judges will evaluate and vote on 
the entries. The panel includes:

 John Bryson, Secretary of Commerce
 Steven Van Roekel, Federal CIO
 Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook
 Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
 Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media
 Vivek Kundra, Executive Vice President of Emerging Markets, 
Salesforce.com

Judging Criteria

1. Use of DOC Data (20%)

    Does the application use a novel combination of relevant data sets, 
including at least one dataset from one of Commerce's bureaus?

 Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
 Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)
 U.S. Census Bureau
 Economic Development Administration (EDA)
 Economic and Statistics Administration (ESA)
 International Trade Administration (ITA)
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
 National Telecommunications Administration (NTIA)
 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
 National Technical Information Service (NTIS)
 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

    Note: All submissions must cite data sources and note 
calculations, derivation and mash-ups from the source(s).

2. Usability and Interface Design (20%)

    Is the application implemented in a functional and elegant fashion?

3. Relevance to Stated Objective (40%)

    Does the application meet the mission defined for this challenge?

4. Creativity

    Is the application and concept creative and interesting? (20%)

Prizes

First Place--$5,000 (1 prize)
Second Place--$3,000 (1 prize)
Third Place--$2,000 (1 prize)

Official Rules

Official Rules

    1. Eligibility: The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)--DOC 
BizApps Challenge is open only to: (1) Citizens or permanent 
residents of the United States who are at least thirteen (13) years 
old at the time of entry (or teams of eligible individuals); and (2) 
private entities, such as corporations or other organizations, that 
are incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the 
United States. Individuals submitting on behalf of corporations, 
nonprofits, or groups of individuals (such as an academic class or 
other team) must meet the eligibility requirements for individual 
participants. An individual may join more than one team, 
corporation, or nonprofit organization. DOC employees and members of 
their immediate family (spouses, children, siblings, parents), and 
persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not 
related, are not eligible to participate in the Competition.

[[Page 12798]]

    2. Competition Subject to Applicable Law: The Competition is 
subject to all applicable federal laws and regulations. 
Participation constitutes each Participant's full and unconditional 
agreement to these Official Rules and administrative decisions, 
which are final and binding in all matters related to the 
Competition. Eligibility for a prize award is contingent upon 
fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. This notice is not an 
obligation of funds; the final award of prizes is contingent upon 
the availability of appropriations.
    3. Competition Submission Period: Developers must submit their 
original application between February 6, 2012 and April 30, 2012. 
Submissions will be published on Challenge.gov as they are received 
throughout the competition submission period.
    4. Teams: Challenge submissions can be from an individual or a 
team. Prize money will be awarded to the project leader for 
distribution to the rest of the team.
    5. Required Datasets: Submissions must use at least one DOC 
dataset, such as those available at http://www.data.gov. In 
addition, you can combine data and resources from this or any other 
public sources online. We anticipate winning entries to draw from 
the DOC data sources, but to combine them with one another, as well 
as any of an interesting array of publicly available resources, 
geospatial and/or location data, etc.
    6. Intellectual Property Rights: All submissions to the DOC 
BizApps Challenge remain the intellectual property of the 
individuals or organizations that developed them. By registering, 
consenting to the terms of the challenge, and entering a Submission, 
however, the Participant agrees that DOC reserves an irrevocable, 
nonexclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute to the 
public, create derivative works from, and publicly display and 
perform a Submission for a period of one year starting on the date 
of the announcement of contest winners.
    7. Copyright: Participant represents and warrants that he or she 
is the sole author and copyright owner of the Submission, and that 
the Submission is an original work of the Participant, or if the 
Submission is a work based on an existing application, that the 
Participant has acquired sufficient rights to use and to authorize 
others, including DOC, to use the Submission, as specified in the 
``Intellectual Property Rights'' section of the Rules; and that the 
Submission does not infringe upon any copyright or upon any other 
third party rights of which the Participant is aware, and that the 
Submission is free of malware.
    8. Submission Topic/Theme: All Submissions should meet the 
intent and spirit of the challenge, as previously defined in the 
challenge summary.
    9. Judges: The Submissions will be judged by the judges 
identified in the challenge details or by another qualified panel 
selected by DOC at its sole discretion. The panel will judge the 
Submissions on the judging criteria identified in the challenge 
summary in order to select winners in each category. Judges have the 
right to withdraw without advance notice in the event of 
circumstances beyond their control. Judges may not (A) have personal 
or substantial (over $500) financial interests in, or be an 
employee, officer, director, or agent of any entity that is a 
registered participant in a competition; or (B) have a familial or 
financial relationship with an individual who is a registered 
participant.
    10. Decisions: The decisions of the judges will be announced on 
or about May 31st, 2012 on Challenge.gov.
    11. Publicity: Except where prohibited, participation in the 
Competition constitutes each winner's consent to DOC's and its 
agents' use of each winner's name, likeness, photograph, voice, 
opinions, and/or hometown and state information for promotional 
purposes through any form of media, worldwide, without further 
permission, payment or consideration.
    12. Liability and Insurance: Any and all information provided by 
or obtained from the Federal Government is without any warranty or 
representation whatsoever, including but not limited to its 
suitability for any particular purpose. Upon registration, all 
participants agree to assume and, thereby, have assumed any and all 
risks of injury or loss in connection with or in any way arising 
from participation in this competition, development of any 
application or the use of any application by the participants or any 
third-party. Upon registration all participants agree to and, 
thereby, do waive and release any and all claims or causes of action 
against the Federal Government and its officers, employees and 
agents for any and all injury and damage of any nature whatsoever 
(whether existing or thereafter arising, whether direct, indirect, 
or consequential and whether foreseeable or not), arising from their 
participation in the contest, whether the claim or cause of action 
arises under contract or tort. Upon registration, all participants 
agree to and, thereby, shall indemnify and hold harmless the Federal 
Government and its officers, employees and agents for any and all 
injury and damage of any nature whatsoever (whether existing or 
thereafter arising, whether direct, indirect, or consequential and 
whether foreseeable or not), including but not limited to any damage 
that may result from a virus, malware, etc., to Government computer 
systems or data, or to the systems or data of end-users of the 
software and/or application(s) which results, in whole or in part, 
from the fault, negligence, or wrongful act or omission of the 
participants or participants' officers, employees or agents.
    Based on the subject matter of the Competition, the type of work 
that it possibly will require, and the likelihood of any claims for 
death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss potentially 
resulting from challenge participation, Participant is not required 
to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate fiscal responsibility 
in order to participate in this Competition.
    13. Standard Disclaimer: The following disclaimer is mandatory 
for applications deployed on non-DOC information systems. This 
standard disclaimer shall be incorporated into the software in such 
a way that individuals must read and accept its conditions before 
initial use (Note: The standard disclaimer must appear in all 
capital letters):
    THE MATERIAL EMBODIED IN THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU ``AS-
IS'' AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR 
OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR 
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT 
OF COMMERCE OR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR 
ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR 
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, 
INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, SAVINGS 
OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT DOC OR 
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH 
LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF 
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSSESSION, USE, OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS 
SOFTWARE.
    14. Records Retention and FOIA: All materials submitted to DOC 
as part of a Submission become DOC records and cannot be returned. 
Any confidential commercial information contained in a Submission 
should be designated at the time of submission. Submitters will be 
notified of any Freedom of Information Act requests for their 
Submissions in accordance with 29 CFR 70.26.
    15. 508 Compliance: Participants should keep in mind that the 
Department of Commerce considers universal accessibility to 
information a priority for all individuals, including individuals 
with disabilities. In this regard, the Department is strongly 
committed to meeting its compliance obligations under Section 508 of 
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, to ensure the 
accessibility of its programs and activities to individuals with 
disabilities. This obligation includes acquiring accessible 
electronic and information technology. When evaluating Submissions 
for this contest, the extent to which a Submission complies with the 
requirements for accessible technology required by Section 508 will 
be considered.

    Dated: February 22, 2012.
Simon Szykman,
Official, CIO, Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce.
[FR Doc. 2012-5051 Filed 3-1-12; 8:45 am]
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