[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 81 (Friday, April 28, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19728-19732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08778]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention


Announcement of Requirements and Registration for Healthy 
Behavior Challenge

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located 
within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announces the 
launch of the Healthy Behavior Data Challenge. The Healthy Behavior 
Data Challenge responds to the call for new ways to address the 
challenges and limitations of self-reported health surveillance 
information and tap into the potential of innovative data sources and 
alternative methodologies for public health surveillance. Challenge 
participants will propose data sources and approaches for aggregating 
data from wearable devices, mobile applications and/or social media in 
the areas of nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and/or 
sleep. Conducted in two phases, Phase I (Prototype Development) entails 
Challenge participants developing a concept proposal for obtaining data 
collected from wearable devices, mobile applications and/or social 
media for public health surveillance purposes. In Phase II (Prototype 
Implementation), a subset of submissions (up to 3) with promising 
concepts will be invited to test their proposed approaches for ongoing 
public health surveillance.

DATES: The Challenge is effective April 28, 2017 and will conclude 
December 31, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Machell Town, National Center for 
Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE., MS F-78, Chamblee, 
Georgia 30341; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Award Approving Official: Anne Schuchat, MD, (RADM, USPHS) Acting 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Acting 
Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
    The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the 
nation's premier system of health-related telephone surveys that 
collect state data about U.S. residents regarding their health-related 
risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of preventive 
services. Established in 1984 with 15 states, BRFSS now collects data 
in all 50 states as well as the District of

[[Page 19729]]

Columbia and three U.S. territories. BRFSS completes more than 400,000 
adult interviews each year, making it the largest continuously 
conducted health survey system in the world.
    The collection of health data through traditional surveillance 
modes including telephone and in-person interviewing, however, is 
becoming increasingly challenging and costly with declines in 
participation and changes in personal communications. In addition, the 
self-reported nature of responses particularly in the areas of 
nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and sleep has been a 
major limitation in these surveillance systems, since self-reported 
data are subject to under/over reporting and recall bias. Meanwhile, 
the advent of new technologies and data sources including wearable 
devices (such as: Smart watches, activity trackers, sleep monitors, 
etc.), mobile health applications on smartphones or tablets, and data 
from social media represents an opportunity to enhance the ability to 
monitor health-related information and potentially adjust for 
methodological limitations in traditional self-reported data.
    The Healthy Behavior Data (HBD) Challenge will be conducted 
concurrently with a similar challenge proposed by the Public Health 
Agency of Canada. This will enable the two countries to learn from 
their respective challenges and leverage information. We expect 
increased efficiency with a dual challenge.
    Submissions will be accepted starting April 28, 2017. The 
submission period for phase I will end on July 31, 2017. The Phase II 
(Prototype Implementation) submission period will begin September 4, 
2017 and end December 31, 2017. The grand prize finalist is anticipated 
to be announced in February of 2018.
    Information on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System can 
be found at www.cdc.gov/brfss.

Subject of Challenge Competition

    The Healthy Behavior Data Challenge responds to the call for new 
ways to address the challenges and limitations of self-reported health 
surveillance information and tap into the potential of innovative data 
sources and alternative methodologies for public health surveillance.
    The Healthy Behavior Data (HBD) Challenge will support the 
development and implementation of prototypes to use these novel 
methodologies and data sources (e.g., wearable devices, mobile 
applications, and/or social media) to enhance traditional healthy 
behaviors surveillance systems in the areas of nutrition, physical 
activity, sedentary behaviors, and/or sleep among the adult population 
aged 18 years and older in the U.S. and U.S. territories.

Ideation Period

    The Challenge will launch as an ideation/open submission period in 
which eligible participants (outlined in Eligibility Rules) may 
register and submit an entry onto the Challenge Web site (https://www.challenge.gov/challenge/the-healthy-behavior-data-challenge/). 
Information about the Challenge and a link to the Challenge Web site 
can also be found at Challenge.gov. The 13-week ideation period will be 
followed by a 16-week resubmission period held for those who were 
chosen by the judges as semifinalists to further refine their idea. The 
Challenge Web site serves as the destination and submission portal. 
Participants may find the Challenge rules, eligibility criteria, 
evaluation criteria, additional resources, and the Challenge timeline 
on the Challenge Web site or at Challenge.gov.

Submission Requirements

    Entries not in compliance with the submission requirements outlined 
below will be ineligible for further review and prize award. During the 
open submission period, eligible participants may register and submit 
an entry onto the Challenge Web site, to include:

Phase I (Prototype Development)

    1. A completed HBD Challenge Submission Template describing the 
proposed project, project personnel and data sources.
    2. A PowerPoint or other visual presentation of the proposed 
project including purpose, methods and anticipated outcomes of the 
proposed approach, which could be used to present the proposal to a 
judging panel.
    3. A description of data that are anticipated to be captured by the 
proposed approach, comparability to the Behavioral Risk Factor 
Surveillance System (BRFSS), and, if applicable, descriptions of online 
app(s), web-based tools or communication devices used to recruit or 
track subjects' healthy behavior information.
    4. Proposal of a viable data source(s) from a currently available 
or a feasible future source (such as a proposed app or online tool). 
HBD Challenge participants may propose the use of public and/or private 
data sources, as long as respondent agrees to participate and the 
respondent confidentiality and privacy are maintained.
    5. A demonstration of how CDC would be able to access the data.
    6. A detailed outline of the information that will be obtained.
    7. A demonstration of how data will be extracted and collected: 
Present the format in which it will be stored.
    8. A description of how the new data source(s) could be linked with 
other data sources, in a statistically robust manner that could result 
in useful public health insights, citing statistical approaches and 
evidence to support the proposal.
    9. A focus on one or more behavioral factors including physical 
activity, sleep, sedentary behaviors, and/or nutrition.
    10. Information about the population reached and generalizability 
of the approach.
    11. A description of how data could be stratified by demographic 
characteristics (e.g. age, sex, education, geographic jurisdiction).
    12. An indication of how information gathered addresses some or all 
of the following common metrics in one or more of the healthy behavior 
topics below:
    a. Sleep:

i. Hours of sleep per night (sleep duration)
ii. Amount of time awake (sleep quality)
iii. Number of times awake (sleep quality)
iv. Number of adults reporting having trouble getting to and staying 
asleep
v. Time to fall asleep
vi. Amount of time in REM vs. non-REM sleep (duration of sleep stage)
vii. Heart rate
viii. Respiration
ix. Sleep behaviors such as snoring, sleep talking, and sleep movement

    b. Sedentary Behaviors:

i. Average number of hours per day spent sedentary, excluding sleep 
time
ii. Average number of hours per week spent on a computer/screen 
including watching TV, videos, playing computer games, emailing or 
using the internet
iii. Sedentary data with additional information on location (work, 
school, community, etc.) broken down by weekday and weekend day

    c. Nutrition:

i. Total calories consumed per day
ii. Consumption of fruit (not including juices) by day, week, or month
iii. Consumption of green leafy or lettuce salads, with or without 
other vegetables, by day, week, or month
iv. Consumption of vegetables (not including lettuce salads and 
potatoes) by day, week, or month
v. Number of sugar-sweetened beverages consumed by day, week, or month

[[Page 19730]]

vi. Number of caffeinated drinks consumed by day, week, or month

    d. Physical activity:

i. Minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day 
(ideally by location--work, school, in community)
ii. Daily number of steps
iii. Miles/km (Distance) on foot
iv. Number of days of physical activity/week or month (and established 
number of days in one month)
v. Minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day 
(ideally by location--work, school, in community) broken down by week 
day and weekend day.
vi. Calories burned
vii. Type of activity (aerobic, strength, etc.)
viii. Active minutes
ix. Duration of exercise
x. Flights of stairs climbed
xi. Average and peak heart rate
xii. Occupational physical activity and active chores amount: (location 
of physical activity)
xiii. Number of hours of reported physical activities while at work, in 
or around household
xiv. Leisure time physical activity amount:
xv. # of hours per week adult participants spent in sports, fitness or 
recreational physical activities, organized or non-organized, that 
lasted a minimum of 10 continuous minutes
xvi. Number of adults reporting and time spent walking or cycling to 
work or school
    Participants may also choose to suggest additional metrics in the 
areas of nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and/or 
sleep. If additional metrics are included, the participant should 
include a short description of the data and how it might inform public 
health efforts (such information and data will be collected in 
accordance with any applicable laws and regulations).

Phase II (Prototype Implementation Phase)

    During The Phase II Prototype Implementation Phase, the six 
submissions selected under Phase I will test their solutions, utilizing 
their previously collected data from 300 or more adults (aged 18 and 
above) residing in the U.S. or its territories. During this phase there 
will be an opportunity for HBD Challenge participants to incorporate 
data from existing surveys including the Behavioral Risk Factor 
Surveillance System (BRFSS).
    Phase II (Prototype Implementation) allows applicants to test 
proposals developed in Phase I. The prototype is a demonstration of 
possible methods for supplementing data from existing surveillance 
systems (such as the BRFSS). This prototype is not meant to be merged 
with existing surveillance systems, but rather to complement data 
collected with current infrastructures. At the end of implementation 
HBD Challenge participants should be able to:
    1. Compare data obtained by the prototype to data from the BRFSS in 
the areas of nutrition, physical activity, sedentary behaviors, and/or 
sleep.
    2. Demonstrate how data from the included participants could be 
stratified by demographics (age, sex, education, etc.).
    3. Demonstrate the ease of adding additional types of mobile 
applications and wearable devices to existing survey methodologies.
    4. Report that describes the prototype/methodology and the 
prototype's anticipated strengths and limitations for surveillance.
    5. Demonstrate the applicability of the non-traditional data 
source(s) for ongoing public health surveillance purposes.
    6. Describe the prototype in detail, including purpose, method, 
outcomes and comparability to data obtained from the Behavioral Risk 
Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
    7. Provide a working prototype including data (in Excel format) 
obtained using the prototype from 300 or more adult respondents 
residing in the U.S. or its territories. The data must include the age, 
gender, location, and at least one of the measures associated with the 
HBD Challenge in the areas of nutrition, physical activity, sedentary 
behaviors and/or sleep.
    8. Provide a PowerPoint presentation to the judges and invited CDC 
personnel which includes information on the purpose, methods, outcomes 
and comparability to the BRFSS.
    Submissions must be free of security threats and/or malware. 
Applicants/Contestants agree that CDC may conduct testing on the 
product/submission to determine whether malware or other security 
threats may be present. CDC may disqualify the product if, in CDC's 
judgment, the app may damage government or others' equipment or 
operating environment or if the app, in CDC's judgment, is inconsistent 
with CDC's public health mission, utilizes software or other 
technologies without appropriate licenses, or any other reason deemed 
necessary.

How To Enter

    Participants may enter by visiting healthdatachallenge.gov and 
challenge.gov and following the instructions for submission. The U.S. 
and Canadian challenges are being run in parallel and U.S. entrants 
should submit to this contest via challenge.gov and Canadian citizens 
to the Canadian contest found at healthdatachallenge.gov.

Eligibility Rules for Participating in the Competition

    To be eligible to win a prize under this challenge, an individual 
or entity--
    (1) Shall have registered to participate in the competition under 
the rules promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention;
    (2) Shall have complied with all the requirements under this 
section;
    (3) In the case of a private entity, shall be incorporated in and 
maintain a primary place of business in the United States, and in the 
case of an individual, whether participating singly or in a group, 
shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States; and
    (4) May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within 
the scope of their employment.
    (5) Shall not be an HHS employee working on their applications or 
submissions during assigned duty hours.
    (6) Are an individual or team comprised of members each of who are 
18 years of age or over.
    (7) Are not on the Excluded Parties List System located at 
www.sam.gov.
    Additionally:
    (a) Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop challenge 
applications unless consistent with the purpose of their grant award. 
Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract to 
develop challenge applications or to fund efforts in support of a 
challenge submission.
    (b) Employees of CDC, and/or any other individual or entity 
associated with the development, evaluation, or administration of the 
Challenge as well as members of such persons' immediate families 
(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.
    (c) An individual or entity shall not be deemed ineligible because 
the individual or entity used Federal facilities or consulted with 
Federal employees during a competition if the facilities and employees 
are made available to all individuals and entities participating in the 
competition on an equitable basis.

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    (d) Applicants must agree to assume any and all risks and waive 
claims against the Federal Government and its related entities, except 
in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or 
loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or 
consequential, arising from their participation in a competition, 
whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or 
otherwise.
    (e) A solution may be disqualified if it fails to function as 
expressed in the description provided by the user, or if it provides 
inaccurate or incomplete information.
    (f) CDC reserves the right to disqualify participants from the 
Challenge for inappropriate, derogatory, defamatory, or threatening 
comments or communication through the Challenge Web site or on the 
Challenge.gov Web site.
    (g) Submissions must be free of security threats and/or malware. 
Applicants/Contestants agree that CDC may conduct testing on the 
product/submission to determine whether malware or other security 
threats may be present. CDC may disqualify the product if, in CDC's 
judgment, the product may damage government or others' equipment or 
operating environment.
    (h) Applicants must obtain liability insurance or demonstrate 
financial responsibility in the amount of $0 for claims by: (1) A third 
party for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss resulting 
from an activity carried out in connection with participation in a 
competition, with the Federal Government named as an additional insured 
under the registered applicant's insurance policy and registered 
applicant's agreeing to indemnify the Federal Government against third 
party claims for damages arising from or related to competition 
activities; and (2) the Federal Government for damage or loss to 
Government property resulting from such an activity. Applicants who are 
a group must obtain insurance or demonstrate financial responsibility 
for all members of the group.
    (i) By participating in the Challenge, each Applicant agrees to 
comply with and abide by these Official Rules, Terms & Conditions and 
the decisions of the Federal Agency sponsors and/or the individual 
judges, which shall be final and binding in all respects.

Registration Process for Participants

    To register for this Challenge, participants can access https://www.challenge.gov/challenge/the-healthy-behavior-data-challenge/ 
anytime during the proposal submission period stated above to register.

Amount of the Prize

    In Phase I (Prototype Development), participants will compete for a 
$30,000 prize pot from which up to six teams or submissions will be 
selected to receive a $5000 prize each).
    In phase II, up to 3 participants will compete for a $70,000 prize 
pot. The following prizes will be awarded:

One First Place winner of $40,000
One Second Place winner of $20,000
One Third Place winner of $10,000
Three (3) winners will be notified via email.

Payment of the Prize

    Prizes awarded under this competition will be paid by electronic 
funds transfer and may be subject to Federal income taxes. HHS will 
comply with the Internal Revenue Service withholding and reporting 
requirements, where applicable.

Basis Upon Which Winner Will Be Selected

    A review panel composed of subject-matter experts will judge 
eligible HBD Challenge entries. A judging panel will make final winner 
selections based upon the criteria outlined below and in compliance 
with the HHS Competition Judging Guidelines.

Phase I Scoring Criteria

    All Criteria are scaled 1-5, with 1 being the lowest score on each 
dimension and 5 being the highest score on each dimension. Scores are 
weighted by the proportion of each dimension and then aggregated to 
create a final score.

1. Efficacy of Prototype (20%)

    1 = Prototype is likely to not work in a way that is statistically 
appropriate/5 = Prototype is likely to successfully collect, and 
harmonize data, in a statistically robust manner, across multiple data 
sources to address common metrics.

2. Promise of Comparability to BRFSS Findings (20%)

    1 = Prototype does not consider stratification parameters, or 
applies to only a narrow population/5 = Prototype holds promise for 
capturing data that is valid, reliable, and representative of a large 
population.

3. Acceptability (15%)

    1 = All parties expressed concerns with data being used in terms of 
respondent privacy, feasibility and utility/5 = All parties involved 
are comfortable with data being used in terms of respondent privacy, 
feasibility and utility. NOTE: This means that federal and state 
restrictions on data collection and assurance of confidentiality are 
being respected. Any proposals that appear to violate the Privacy Act, 
HIPAA, and FERPA will be unacceptable. (Mandatory criteria; if not 
scored 5, prototype may be disqualified).

4. Innovation (15%)

    1 = Prototype duplicates existing approach/5 = Prototype presents a 
novel approach.

5. Feasibility of Prototype (15%)

    1 = Prototype is not feasible due to factors like cost, 
availability of data, etc./5 = Prototype is feasible and addresses 
potential implementation challenges by offering solutions.

6. Generalizability (10%)

    1 = Prototype is not generalizable to a range of data sources/5 = 
Prototype is generalizable to a range of data sources.

7. Breadth of Data Collected (Scope) (5%)

    1 = Prototype does not address required metrics, across the 
identified content area(s)/5 = Prototype includes required metrics.

Phase II Scoring Criteria

    All Criteria are scaled 1-5, with 1 being the lowest score on each 
dimension and 5 being the highest score on each dimension. Scores are 
weighted by the proportion of each dimension and then aggregated to 
create a final score. Judging criteria for Phase II include:

 Data quality (20%)

    1 = Prototype does not provide data that are likely to be valid or 
reliable or representative of a population/5 = Prototype provides data 
that demonstrate validity, reliability, and representativeness.

     Ability to complement BRFSS Findings (20%)

    1 = Prototype does not outline steps to complement BRFSS efforts/5 
= Prototype is provides data which can complement and/or supplement 
measures collected by the BRFSS or other publically available 
traditional surveillance systems.

     Validation of or Enhancement of existing national public 
health surveillance data (20%)

    1 = Prototype cannot be statistically aligned with currently 
available health data/5 = Prototype statistically aligns with available 
data across population sub-groups.

 Flexibility (10%)

    1 = Prototype does not demonstrate the ability to include 
additional types of

[[Page 19732]]

data and data sources/5 = Prototype demonstrates flexibility in the 
ability to add different data types and data from additional sources.

 Simplicity (structure and ease of operation) (10%)

    1 = Prototype's structure and operation is complex/5 = Prototype's 
structure is clear and easy to implement; it is not burdensome on 
current systems.

 Resources for system operation (10%)

    1 = Prototype requires heavy resource burden in terms of cost, 
training, administration, infrastructure/5 = Prototype has low resource 
burden in terms of cost, training, administration, infrastructure.

 Timeliness (5%)

    1 = there is a significant gap in time between data collection and 
analysis/5 = there is a real-time monitoring through the collected 
data.

 Stratification by Demographics (5%)

    1 = Prototype is unable to stratify the data by key demographics/5 
= Prototype is able to stratify the data by age, sex, education, and 
race/ethnicity.

Additional Information

    An individual or entity shall not be deemed ineligible because the 
individual or entity used Federal facilities or consulted with Federal 
employees during a competition if the facilities and employees are made 
available to all individuals and entities participating in the 
competition on an equitable basis.
    Participants must also agree to assume any and all risks and waive 
claims against the Federal Government and its related entities, except 
in the case of willful misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or 
loss of property, revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or 
consequential, arising from my participation in this prize contest, 
whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or 
otherwise.
    Participants are required to obtain liability insurance or 
demonstrate financial responsibility in the amount of $0, for claims by 
a third party for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss 
resulting from an activity carried out in connection with participation 
in a challenge.
    Participants must also agree to indemnify the Federal Government 
against third party claims for damages arising from or related to HBD 
Challenge activities.
    CDC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the HBD 
Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at CDC's sole discretion.

Compliance With Rules and Contacting Contest Winners

    Finalists and the Contest Winners must comply with all terms and 
conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon 
fulfilling all requirements herein. The initial finalists will be 
notified by email, telephone, or mail after the date of the judging. 
Awards may be subject to Federal income taxes, and the Department of 
Health and Human Services will comply with the Internal Revenue Service 
withholding and reporting requirements, where applicable.

Intellectual Property (IP) Rights

     Applicants are free to discuss their submission and the 
ideas or technologies that it contains with other parties; encouraged 
to share ideas/technologies publicly; encouraged to collaborate or 
combine with other teams to strengthen their solutions; and are free to 
contract with any third parties. Applicants should be aware that any 
agreement signed or obligation undertaken in regards to their 
participation in this HBD Challenge that conflicts with the HBD 
Challenge rules, terms and conditions may result in disqualification of 
the Applicant's submission.
     Upon submission, each Applicant warrants that he or she is 
the sole author and owner of the work and any pertinent Intellectual 
Property (IP) rights, that the work is wholly original of the Applicant 
(or is an improved version of an existing work that the Applicant has 
sufficient rights to use--including the substantial improvement of 
existing open-source work), and that it does not infringe any copyright 
or any other rights of any third party of which Applicant is aware. 
Each Applicant also warrants that the work is free of security threats 
and/or malware.
     Applicants retain ownership of the data that they develop 
and deliver under the scope of the HBD Challenge, including any 
software, research product, or other intellectual property (``IP'') 
that they develop in connection therewith. Applicants agree to grant a 
license to the Federal Agency sponsor (CDC) for the use of the IP 
developed in connection with the HBD Challenge as set forth herein.
     Each Applicant must clearly delineate any Intellectual 
Property (IP) and/or confidential commercial information contained in a 
submission that is owned by the Applicant, and which the Applicant 
wishes to protect as proprietary data.
     Upon completion of the HDB Challenge period, applicants 
consent to grant CDC an unlimited, non-exclusive, royalty-free, 
worldwide license and the right to reproduce, publically perform, 
publically display, and use the Submission, including, without 
limitation, for promotional purposes relating to the HBD Challenge.
     All materials submitted to CDC as part of a submission 
become CDC agency records. Any confidential commercial or financial 
information contained in a submission must be clearly designated at the 
time of submission.
     If the Submission includes any third party works (such as 
third party content or open source code), Applicant must be able to 
provide, upon request, documentation of all appropriate licenses and 
releases for use of such third party works. If Applicant cannot provide 
documentation of all required licenses and releases, Federal Agency 
sponsors reserve the right, at their sole discretion, to disqualify the 
Submission. Conversely, they may seek to secure the licenses and 
releases and allow the applicable Submission to remain in the HBD 
Challenge, while reserving all applicable Federal agency rights with 
respect to such licenses and releases.

Privacy

    If Contestants choose to provide the CDC with personal information 
by registering or filling out the submission form through the 
Challenge.gov Web site, that information is used to respond to 
Contestants in matters regarding their submission, announcements of 
entrants, finalists, and winners of the Contest. Information is not 
collected for commercial marketing. Winners are permitted to cite that 
they won this contest.

General Conditions

    The CDC reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the 
Contest, or any part of it, for any reason, at CDC's sole discretion.
    Participation in this Contest constitutes a contestants' full and 
unconditional agreement to abide by the Contest's Official Rules found 
at www.Challenge.gov.

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 3719.

    Dated: April 26, 2017.
Sandra Cashman,
Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2017-08778 Filed 4-27-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P