[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 46 (Monday, March 10, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13370-13373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-04399]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Office of the Secretary of Transportation


Requirements for the DOT Data Innovation Challenge

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary of 
Transportation.

ACTION: Notice .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 3719 (America COMPETES Act).

    Award Approving Official: Anthony Foxx, Secretary of 
Transportation.

SUMMARY: Informed decision making, based on sound data and analysis is 
a cornerstone of crafting effective transportation policies and guiding 
efficient investment decisions with scarce public resources. Web-based 
tools, visualizations, and mobile applications can help uncover 
actionable information for making better informed decisions--both by 
the public and policy makers. This challenge will focus on developing 
tools to address three areas: (1) Safety, (2) Transportation Access, 
and (3) Traffic Management and Congestion.
    Do you have what it takes to create innovative tools to address our 
Nation's transportation challenges or revolutionize the way Americans 
see and understand the transportation system they use every day? The 
United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) wants to see what 
you can do!

DATES: Entries must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on April 30, 2014

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Gidigbi, 202-366-6837, 
dot.gov">stephanie.gidigbi@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Subject of Challenge Competition: Your challenge is to create a 
web-based tool, data visualization, mobile app, or other innovative use 
of technology to address systemic challenges by accessing publicly-
available Federal and/or local DOT datasets. The application/tool will 
help the public and policy makers understand

[[Page 13371]]

transportation challenges in three main areas:
     Safety--develop tools to address and/or identify safety 
concerns and challenges
     Transportation Access--develop tools to show how 
transportation connects people to jobs, school, housing, and community 
resources
     Traffic Management and Congestion--develop tools to 
understand and reduce traffic and congestion
    Eligibility: The Challenge is open only to: (1) Persons who are at 
least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry who are either 
citizens or legal residents of the United States; (2) teams of eligible 
individuals; and (3) corporations or organizations, including nonprofit 
organizations, that are incorporated in the United States (including 
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 
and American Samoa). Individuals submitting entries on behalf of 
corporations, nonprofit or groups of individuals (such as an academic 
class or other team) must meet the eligibility requirements for 
individual contestants. An individual may join more than one team, 
corporation or nonprofit organization. Candidates may not be a Federal 
entity or Federal employee acting within the scope of employment. 
Employees of the U.S. Department of Transportation are not eligible. 
The Challenge is subject to all applicable federal laws and 
regulations. Participation constitutes Contestant's full and 
unconditional agreement to these Official Rules 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.
    The following additional rules apply:
    1. All decisions by the U.S. DOT are final and binding in all 
matters related to the challenge. Potential winners must continue to 
comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules and 
winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. The potential 
winners will be notified by email, telephone, or mail after the date of 
the judging. The potential winner(s) will be required to sign and 
return to U.S. DOT, within ten (10) days of the date notice is sent, an 
Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability/Publicity Release (except where 
prohibited) in order to claim any recognition. In the event that a 
potential winner of a Challenge recognition is disqualified for any 
reason, U.S. DOT may award the applicable recognition to an alternate 
winner. Submission Rights. Each Contestant grants to the U.S. DOT and 
others acting on behalf of the U.S. DOT, a royalty-free non-exclusive 
worldwide license to use, copy for use, distribute, perform publicly, 
and display publicly all parts of the Submission for the purposes of 
the Challenge until one year after the announcement of winners. This 
license includes posting or linking to the Submission on the official 
U.S. DOT Web site and making it available for use by the public.
    2. Entry Conditions and Release. By entering, each Contestant 
agrees to: (a) Comply with and be bound by these Official Rules and the 
decisions of the U.S. DOT and/or the Challenge judges which are binding 
and final in all matters relating to this Challenge; (b) release and 
hold harmless the U.S. DOT and the Federal Government and its related 
entities, including any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, 
fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Challenge, and 
all of their respective past and present officers, directors, 
employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the ``Released 
Parties'') from and against any and all claims, expenses, and 
liability, whether direct or indirect, including but not limited to 
negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, including 
but not limited to invasion of privacy (under appropriation, intrusion, 
public disclosure of private facts, false light in the public eye or 
other legal theory), defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of 
publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual 
property rights, property damage, a third party's unauthorized use of 
the Submission beyond the one-year license granted in the Submission 
rights, loss of profits, or death or personal injury arising out of or 
relating to a Contestant's entry, creation of an entry or submission of 
an entry, participation in the Challenge, acceptance or use or misuse 
of prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the 
broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of entry; 
and, (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the U.S. DOT against any 
and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable 
attorney's fees) arising out of or relating to a Contestant's 
participation in the Challenge and/or Contestant's acceptance, use or 
misuse of a prize or recognition.
    3. Publicity. Except where prohibited, participation in the 
Challenge constitutes Contestant's consent to U.S. DOT's and its 
agents' use of Contestant's name, likeness, photograph, voice, 
opinions, and/or hometown and state for promotional purposes in any 
media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.
    4. General Conditions. The U.S. DOT reserves the right to cancel, 
suspend and/or modify the Challenge, or any part of it for any reason, 
including if any fraud, technical failures or any other factor beyond 
the U.S. DOT's reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper 
functioning of the Challenge, as determined by the U.S. DOT in its sole 
discretion. The U.S. DOT reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to 
disqualify any individual or Contestant it finds to be tampering with 
the entry process or the operation of the Challenge or to be acting in 
violation of these Official Rules or any other promotion or in a 
disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine 
the legitimate operation of the Challenge may be in violation of 
criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the U.S. 
DOT reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the 
fullest extent permitted by law. The U.S. DOT's failure to enforce any 
term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that 
provision. The U.S. DOT is not responsible for, nor are they required 
to count, incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, unlawful or illicit 
votes, including those secured through payment, votes achieved through 
automated means or by registering more than one email account and name, 
using another Contestant's email account and name, as well as those 
lost for technical reasons or otherwise.
    5. Limitations of Liability. The Released Parties are not 
responsible for: (1) Any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether 
caused by Contestants, printing errors or by any of the equipment or 
programming associated with or utilized in the Challenge; (2) technical 
failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, 
interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or 
software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry 
process or the Challenge; (4) technical or human error which may occur 
in the administration of the Challenge or the processing of entries; 
or, (5) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be 
caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from Contestant's 
participation in the Challenge or receipt or use or misuse of any 
prize. If for any reason a Contestant's entry is confirmed to have been 
erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, 
Contestant's sole remedy is another entry in the Challenge. No more 
than

[[Page 13372]]

the stated number of prizes will be awarded.
    6. Original Work, Plagiarism, and Copyright. Contestant(s) warrants 
that he or she or they is/are the sole author and owner of the 
Submission, and that the Submission is wholly original with the 
Contestant, and that it does not infringe any copyright or any other 
rights of any third party of which Contestant is aware.
    7. PRIVACY. Any personal information provided to the U.S. DOT and 
ChallengePost by registering or submitting through the U.S. DOT 
electronic mail system is used only to communicate on matters regarding 
the submission and/or the Challenge. Information is not collected for 
commercial marketing. Candidates may not be a Federal entity or Federal 
employee acting within the scope of employment.
    At least one individual from each team may travel to Washington, 
DC, to accept the award. Only the individual who makes the submission 
on behalf of an organization may receive the award. The submitting 
individual may designate, within 10 business days following 
notification of award, another person to whom to re-direct the award.

Submission Requirements

    Your submission is due by 5:00 p.m. ET, on Wednesday, April 30, 
2014. Your submission must use publicly available data. You must not 
provide any information that is a trade secret or confidential business 
information. Federal DOT datasets are available at http://www.dot.gov/data and other Federal data can be found at http://catalog.data.gov. In 
addition, some state and local data can be found at http://states.data.gov, http://counties.data.gov, or http://cities.data.gov. 
You may use any other publically available data sets as well.
    A submission package will consist of the following:
    A full description of the application, device, product, or 
visualization tool (the ``Concept'') that addresses at least one of the 
three challenges outlined above for this specific challenge (Safety, 
Transportation Access, Traffic Management and Congestion) with elements 
outlined in the Submission Content Below (not to exceed 6000 words):
    i. Description of the user or users;
    ii. Explanation of the Concept's value to the user and society as a 
whole;
    iii. Description of the conditions under which the Concept is 
useful;
    iv. Description of the ways in which the Concept is innovative: how 
it differs from past and current practices, technologies, tools and 
applications;
    v. Explanation of the process by which the application or 
visualization tool would be implemented and widely adopted. Discuss any 
other risks, costs or challenges in making the utilization and/or 
adoption of the tools or applications widespread, and how they could be 
overcome;
    vi. Submissions must include a link to a working tool (via the web 
with a URL or mobile app store) or a video of the tool in action; and 
should illustrate or otherwise support the Concept described in the 
Submission Description.

The Submission should also include a summary (not to exceed 650 words, 
in 12-point Arial normal font, double-spaced, in PDF format) of the 
solution submitted that discusses:
    i. How it meets the judging criteria;
    ii. Data sets used to develop the solution; and,
    iii. Intended audience/users.

    Note:  Submissions that do not conform to these requirements may 
be considered ineligible. This eligibility decision is at the sole 
discretion of the U.S. DOT. Contestants waive the right to protest. 
The U.S. DOT makes no warranties to protect proprietary information 
or trade secrets if they are featured in the submission. It is 
recommended that entrants consider the content of their submissions 
prior to making their submittal.

    Any elements of the Challenge described in the ``details'' section 
of this Challenge and posted on dot.gov are wholly incorporated as part 
of the rules of this contest.
    The Submission must be written in English, and be no longer than 
6000 words. Some or all of the submission must be sent to 
dot.gov">datachallenge@dot.gov with the subject line ``Innovation Challenge.'' 
The Submission Summary should be included in the body of the email and 
must not exceed 650 words.
     Must be in PDF or Microsoft Word format
     Use a font size of no less than 12 points
     Have margins no smaller than 1 inch all around
    Submissions may be updated by the submitter until the Challenge 
Submission Period ends.

Award

    Winners will have their innovation featured on the Secretary's 
FastLane Blog and will receive a letter of recognition from the 
Secretary. Following the announcement of the award, awardees will be 
honored by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx in a special session 
where awardees will present their Concept for senior officials from 
across the U.S. Department of Transportation, Challenge judges, and 
other members of DOT staff. Outside guests will also be invited to 
attend. Furthermore, depending upon the quality of submissions and 
subject to the Federal Acquisitions Regulations, the Department may 
negotiate licensing for the use of intellectual property developed by 
selected submission winner(s) beyond the one year royalty-free 
nonexclusive worldwide license provided under Submission Rights.
    Basis Upon Which the Winner Will Be Selected:

Submission Judging

    Submissions will be scored in each of four criteria, as listed 
below.
1. Technical and Operational Feasibility
    The successful operation of the proposed application or 
visualization tool will depend both upon the soundness of the 
application and tool itself and its relationship to the rest of the 
transportation system, and the data that is used during its 
development.
    How plausible is it that this Concept could be implemented? What 
risks or challenges exist, and how could they be overcome?
2. Potential for Widespread Adoption
    Widespread adoption of the application and/or visualization tool 
will depend upon a system of interrelated decisions made by various 
stakeholders in the transportation network. Stakeholders' incentives 
toward action must be aligned with their capabilities for adoption to 
occur. How likely is it that this application or visualization tool 
would be widely adopted or go viral, if it were developed? What are the 
challenges facing broad adoption, and how could they be overcome?
3. Innovation
    To what degree does the tool present a novel idea or approach?
 4. Social Benefit
    How much would this idea benefit transportation users or society at 
large? Emphasis is on improvements to transportation safety, mobility, 
reliability, accessibility and/or environmental impact.
    The Submissions will be judged by a qualified panel selected by the 
U.S. DOT at its sole discretion. The panel will judge the entire 
Submission on the judging criteria identified above in order to select 
five winners. Judges reserve the right to withdraw without advance 
notice.

[[Page 13373]]

    Additional Information:
    Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop COMPETES Act 
challenge applications.
    Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract to 
develop COMPETES Act challenge applications or to fund efforts in 
support of a COMPETES Act challenge submission.

    Issued On: February 21, 2014
Anthony Foxx,
Secretary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2014-04399 Filed 3-7-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P