[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 218 (Tuesday, November 12, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67344-67348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-26976]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


American Energy Data Challenge

AGENCY: Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 
Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of a four-part competition.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the 
administration of a four-part prize competition titled ``American 
Energy Data Challenge.'' The goal of this competition is to introduce 
the public to the open data and resources offered by DOE, to solicit 
feedback about the data, its organization and presentation, to spur the 
creation of new tools and insights for the American public, and to 
solicit public input on how energy generation, distribution and use 
could be transformed to better serve our 21st century society and 
economy.

DATES: See Key Challenge Dates & Deadlines in SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION.

ADDRESSES: The American Energy Data Challenge is available at http://energychallenge.energy.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Christopher Irwin, U.S. Department 
of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, OE-
50, 1000 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585; email: 
[email protected].
    Mr. Matthew Theall, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of 
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, OE-50, 1000 Independence 
Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Key Challenge Dates & Deadlines

    Below is a summary of approximate challenge dates. Official dates 
for Contest 1 were provided when the American Energy Data Challenge was 
announced on November 6, 2013, as

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well as expected dates for Contests 2, 3, and 4.

Contest 1: Submissions: November 6-November 29, 2013. Judging: December 
2-December 13, 2013. Winners Announced: December 16-December 20, 2013.
Contest 2: Submissions: Mid-January-Mid-February 2014. Judging: Late 
February 2014. Winners announced: March 2014.
Contest 3: Submissions: Mid-April-Mid-May 2014. Judging: Late May 2014. 
Winners announced: June 2014.
Contest 4: Submissions: Mid-June-July 2014. Judging: Early August 2014. 
Winners announced: September 2014.

II. Introduction

    The Administration launched the Energy Data Initiative in 2012 to 
liberate data as a fuel for innovation while rigorously protecting 
privacy. The primary fuel for the Energy Data Initiative is open data. 
Open data can take many forms but generally includes information that 
is machine-readable, freely accessible, and in an industry-standard 
format. In particular, open data from the private sector made available 
to consumers may spur a uniquely scalable degree of innovation. For 
example, enabling energy customers to securely access their own 
household or building energy data--via a ``Green Button'' on their 
utility Web site--has fueled the next generation of energy efficiency 
products and services. Within this context, the U.S. Department of 
Energy (DOE) is launching the American Energy Data Challenge (the 
Challenge).
    The Challenge will consist of four parts: (1) Contest 1 will invite 
the public to identify open data sets held by the Department of Energy 
and other organizations that can deliver new or unexpected value, and 
incentivize concepts that blend open and other data in ways that could 
lead to future applications for American consumers and businesses. (2) 
Contest 2 will invite software developers to create software 
applications that enhance the value of open data and Green Button data 
in ways that benefit the public. (3) Contest 3 will invite the public 
to offer approaches that improve the discoverability, usability, or 
understanding of open data and Green Button data resources. (4) Contest 
4 invites bold ideas for re-imagining all aspects of America's energy 
system, and how this system could be changed for the better, including 
the way energy is generated, delivered, secured and sold.

III. The Prizes

    The prizes for this four-part Challenge will be awarded in stages 
after each Contest is complete and will consist of a cash award and an 
opportunity to be recognized at a public announcement of the final 
winners. Each Contest winner will be awarded a small portion of the 
total cash pool. Winner(s) may be invited to a public announcement 
event hosted by DOE and its supporters and will be highlighted on DOE's 
Web site. For the purposes of this Challenge, the term Submissions 
(``Submissions'') refers to the total portfolio of submitted ideas, 
products, and other entries. Monetary prizes will be awarded to each of 
the four Contest winners. Contestants are free to participate in one or 
more Contests.

IV. Authority and Prize Amount

    This Challenge is being conducted under the authority of the 
America COMPETES Act of 2010, 15 U.S.C. 3719. Monetary prizes will be 
awarded, subject to the availability of funds. DOE reserves the right 
to suspend, cancel, extend, or curtail the Challenge as required or 
determined by appropriate DOE officials. Nothing within this document 
or in any documents supporting the Challenge shall be construed as 
obligating DOE or any other Federal agency or instrumentality to any 
expenditure of appropriated funds, or any obligation or expenditure of 
funds in excess of or in advance of available appropriations. DOE will 
award a single dollar amount to winning Team(s) and each Team, whether 
consisting of a single or multiple Contestants, is solely responsible 
for allocating any prize amount among its member Contestants as they 
deem appropriate. DOE will not arbitrate, intervene, advise on, or 
resolve any matters between entrant members. It will be up to the 
winning Team(s) to reallocate the prize money among its member 
Contestants, if they deem it appropriate.

V. Prize Eligibility

    To be eligible to compete within this Challenge all of the 
requirements stated below must be met:
    A. All Challenge entrants must be identified in their Challenge 
Submission under a named Team (``Team'').
    B. Each Team member (``Contestant'') must be: (a) A citizen or 
permanent resident of the United States who is at least thirteen (13) 
years old at the time of entry; or (b) a private entity, such as a 
corporation or other organization, that is a lawfully-organized entity 
established in accordance with applicable State laws and in good 
standing in their respective jurisdiction, with operations in the U.S. 
or its Territories or a foreign legal entity having an officially 
recognized place of business in the U.S. or its Territories. 
Individuals submitting on behalf of corporations, nonprofits, or groups 
of individuals (such as an academic class) must meet the eligibility 
requirements for individual Contestants. A Contestant may join more 
than one Team.
    C. Each Team that registers for the Challenge must be able to 
receive payments that are legally made from the U.S. in U.S. dollars. 
Minors must provide proof of consent of a parent or legal guardian.
    D. Each Team must have a bank account into which funds can be 
legally deposited from the U.S. in U.S. dollars.
    E. The Team and all its Contestant members must agree to assume any 
and all risks related to the Challenge and waive all claims against the 
Federal Government and related entities, except in cases of willful 
misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of personal 
property, revenue or profits, whether direct, indirect, or 
consequential, arising from their participation in the Challenge 
competition, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through 
negligence or otherwise.
    F. Each Team shall submit all required documentation in English and 
any monetary figures shall be stated or referenced in U.S. dollars.
    G. DOE employees, employees of sponsoring organizations (including 
participating industry leaders and employees of their associated or 
affiliated organizations), 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 Challenge.

VI. Open Data and Green Button Data Specifications

    The Department of Energy has data available in a variety of 
locations and in a variety of formats. For this Challenge, where use of 
existing datasets is required, the data resources that are to be used 
by Teams are the datasets that can be directly and legally accessed. 
Green Button data means formatted data produced by the system developed 
by the North American Energy Standards Board for providing web-based 
secure access to energy bill account information, energy usage 
information, and energy consumption and usage data to customers of 
utilities and energy providers for the purposes of business management 
and energy usage

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management. A partial list of electricity and gas service providers 
supporting Green Button data is available at http://www.greenbuttondata.org/greenadopt.html.
    Use of open data or Green Button data is mandatory to be considered 
for a prize in Challenges 1, 2, and 3 listed above. However, DOE also 
encourages combining the value of this data with other non-open data, 
such as weather data or GPS technologies on a smart phone.

VII. Evaluation Criteria

    It is of paramount importance to the American Energy Data Challenge 
that any use of open data or Green Button data protects privacy. Any 
generated idea, application, design, or other entry that presents a 
potential violation of this principle will be rejected by the judges. 
The following evaluation criteria are common across all four Contests, 
but complete rules and judging criteria will be published under each 
Contest.

Common Criteria for Challenge

    Potential Impact: Each Submission will be rated on the strength of 
its potential to help individuals, organizations, and communities make 
greater use of open data or resources held by DOE, data in the Green 
Button data format, or energy infrastructure in the United States.
    Creativity and Innovation: Each Submission will be rated for the 
degree of new thinking it brings to the subject matter of each Contest, 
and the creativity shown in designing for impact.
    Helps Deliver Services Smarter and Faster: Each Submission will be 
rated for the degree to which public resources can be discovered and 
utilized or how open data and energy infrastructure can be efficiently 
leveraged to greatest citizen benefit.
    Use of Open Data: Each Submission in Contests 1, 2, and 3 must make 
use of open data or Green Button data. Judges will be looking at both 
the depth of usage for each data stream and the breadth of different 
data streams that are integrated.
    Submissions will be judged by an expert panel as well as the 
public. The expert judging panel will be appointed by DOE, may include 
both Federal and non-Federal personnel, and will determine winners of 
Contests 1-4. Each Contest will also feature a Popular Choice award, to 
be determined by public vote. Public votes will be displayed on the 
Challenge Web site, but will be verified for integrity. The winners of 
the Popular Choice Awards will be determined on the basis of the 
verified vote counts, as determined by DOE, and DOE reserves the right 
to suspend, cancel or extend the Popular Choice voting period at any 
time for any reason.

VIII. Submission Requirements

    The official time-keeping device will be announced at the launch of 
each Contest, which shall be used for determining submission date and 
time, and compliance with submission timelines. The rules for 
Submissions--subject to modification as the individual Contests 
require--by Teams are as follows:
    (a) Visit http://energychallenge.energy.gov/ and click ``Sign Up'' 
to create a Contest account, or click ``Log In'' and log in with an 
existing account.
    (b) Register your interest in participating by clicking ``Accept 
this Challenge'' on the Challenge Web site in order to receive 
important Challenge updates. Registration is free.
    (c) After you sign up on the Challenge Web site, a confirmation 
email will be sent to the email address you provided. Use the 
confirmation email to verify your email address. As a registered 
Contestant, you will then be able to enter the each Contest by crafting 
a Submission that conforms to the requirements set forth in the 
Official Rules.
    (d) For Contest 1, submit an idea. For Contest 2, create a software 
application according to the Official Rules. For Contest 3, meet the 
requirements for the relevant prize category (visualization, 
information design, directory, etc). For Challenge 4, create a video.
    (e) Challenge Submission Requirements: Timing of Submission 
requirements will be announced when each Contest is launched, with 
Contest 1 commencing on the date specified above. When a Submission is 
made, you will be required to visit http://energychallenge.energy.gov/ 
to confirm that you have read and agree to the Official Rules.
    (g) Submission Rights:
    1. For Contest 1, Submissions must be submitted and released to the 
public under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
    2. By sending in a Submission to this Challenge, you grant to DOE, 
and the other supporters a royalty-free license to: (i) Post on http://energychallenge.energy.gov/ your Submission(s) and if applicable a link 
to the downloadable product in the online store of the applicable 
software platform (e.g., Google Play) or, if not distributed through 
such platform, to your Web site; and (ii) publicize the names of 
Challenge Contestants (including the individual members of a team) and 
winners and their Submissions through media and events of DOE's 
choosing. Such license shall remain in force for the duration of the 
Challenge and for a period of no less than 12 consecutive months 
following the announcement of the Challenge winners.
    (h) Submission Requirements: In order for Submissions to be 
eligible to win a Contest, they must meet the following requirements:
    1. Acceptable platforms--The Submission, if in the form of 
software, must be designed for the web, a personal computer, a mobile 
handheld device, console, or any platform broadly accessible on the 
open internet.
    2. Data used--For Contests 1, 2, and 3, the Submission must utilize 
open data or Green Button data. The use of or reference to data from 
other sources in conjunction with required data is strongly encouraged.
    3. No DOE logo--The Submission must not use DOE's logo or official 
seal in the Submission, and must not claim DOE endorsement.
    4. Functionality/Accuracy--In the case of software applications, 
such applications may be disqualified if the software application fails 
to function as expressed in the description and video provided by the 
user, or if the software application provides inaccurate information.
    5. Third Party Approval--Submissions requiring approval from a 
third party, such as an ``app store'' like the Apple App Store, in 
order to be accessible to the public, must be submitted to such third 
party or app store for review before the end of the Contest period. For 
any software platform that is not easily shared on the web before store 
approval, such as Apple iPhone, you may submit your working software 
product using a web framework designed for those platforms (such as 
PhoneGap), and provide the required link to a video of your working 
application. DOE may request access to the product in person or via 
device provisioning to verify any criteria or functionality of your 
product.
    6. Security--Submissions must be free of malware. Contestant agrees 
that DOE may conduct testing on the Submission to determine whether 
malware or other security threats may be present. DOE may disqualify 
the Submission if, in DOE's judgment, the Submission may damage 
Government or others' equipment or operating environment.
    7. No Previous Winners--Contestant may not submit a Submission that 
is substantially similar to a Submission that has previously been 
submitted by

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the Team to another competition and has won a prize.
    8. DOE will also screen Submissions for Team eligibility, IT 
security, and compliance with the challenge Web site's Terms of 
Participation. Once a Submission has been submitted, the Team cannot 
make any changes or alterations to any part of the Submission. Ideas 
and products failing to meet Submission requirements or other 
Submission screenings will be deemed ineligible to win a prize. Posting 
a software application to http://energychallenge.energy.gov/does not 
constitute DOE's final determination of Team eligibility.
    9. Each Submission must be original, the work of the Team, and must 
not infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate the lawful rights of 
any individual or organization including intellectual property rights 
and proprietary rights, privacy rights, or any other rights of any 
person or entity. Each Team further represents and warrants to DOE and 
the other sponsors that the Submission, and any use thereof by DOE or 
the other sponsors (or any of their respective partners, subsidiaries 
and affiliates), shall not: (i) Be defamatory or libelous in any manner 
toward any person, (ii) constitute or result in any misappropriation or 
other violation of any person's publicity rights or right of privacy, 
and (iii) infringe, misappropriate, or otherwise violate any 
intellectual property rights, proprietary rights, privacy rights, moral 
rights, or any other rights of any person or entity.
    10. It is an express condition of eligibility that each Team 
warrants and represents that the Team's Submission is solely owned by 
the Team, that the Submission is wholly original with the Team, and 
that no other party has any ownership rights or ownership interest in 
the Submission.
    11. A Team may contract with a third party for technical assistance 
to create the Submission, provided the idea or product is solely the 
Team's work product and the result of the Team's ideas and creativity 
and the Team owns all rights to it.
    12. Each Submission must be in English or, if in a language other 
than English, the Submission must be accompanied by an English 
translation of the text.
    13. Submissions will not be accepted if they contain any matter 
that, in the sole discretion of DOE or its judges, is indecent, 
obscene, defamatory, libelous, in bad taste, or demonstrates a lack of 
respect for public morals or conduct. If DOE, in its discretion, finds 
any Submission to be unacceptable, then such Submission shall be deemed 
disqualified.
    14. Winners are responsible for both reporting and paying all 
applicable Federal, state, and local taxes payable from any prize 
amounts awarded under this Challenge.

IX. Additional Terms and Conditions

    Challenge Subject to Applicable Law: the Challenge is subject to 
all applicable Federal laws and regulations. Registering for this 
Challenge constitutes each Team and/or Contestant's agreement to the 
official rules as set forth on http://energychallenge.energy.gov/ and 
administrative decisions, which are final and binding in all matters 
related to the Challenge. Eligibility for a prize award is contingent 
upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.
    Judges: The Submissions will be judged by a qualified judging panel 
selected by DOE at its sole discretion. The judging panel will judge 
the Submissions on the judging criteria identified in the Contest rules 
in order to select winners in each category.
    Publicity: Except where prohibited, participation in the Challenge 
constitutes each winner's consent to DOE's and its agents' use of each 
winner's name, likeness, photograph, voice, biographical information, 
opinions, and/or hometown and state information for promotional 
purposes through any form of media, worldwide, without further 
permission, payment, or consideration.
    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 Contestants 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 Contestants or any third party. Upon registration, 
all Contestants 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 Challenge, whether the claim or 
cause of action arises under contract or tort. Upon registration, all 
Contestants 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 Contestants or 
Contestants' officers, employees or agents.
    Records Retention and FOIA: All materials submitted to DOE as part 
of a Submission become DOE records and cannot be returned. No 
confidential information will be accepted with any Submission. 
Submitters will be notified of any Freedom of Information Act requests 
for their Submissions in accordance with 10 CFR part 1004.
    508 Compliance: Participants should keep in mind that the 
Department of Energy 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 (29 U.S.C. Sec.  794d), 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.
    Public Voting: DOE is not responsible for, nor is it required to 
count, incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, unlawful, or illicit 
votes, including those secured through payment or achieved through 
automated means.

X. Contact Information

    Department of Energy, Office of Public Affairs, 7A-145, Attn: 
American Energy Data Challenge, 1000 Independence Ave. SW., Washington, 
DC 20585.
    For questions about the Official Rules, contact 
[email protected].


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    Issued in Washington, DC on November 6, 2013.
Patricia A. Hoffman,
Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy 
Reliability.
[FR Doc. 2013-26976 Filed 11-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P