We’ve written a lot recently about the effectiveness of challenges and prizes in public procurement, particularly in bringing in potential suppliers who exist far outside the orbit of the standard marketplace. The U.S. Agency for International Development, for instance, has used challenges to move mountains when it comes to addressing public health crises. And NASA has used them for space poop. So you see, they run the gamut. Which is why it’s so great to have the General Services Administration’s Challenges and Prizes Toolkit on Challenge.gov available to help agencies to launch their own.
The toolkit walks agencies through every step of the process for creating a challenge, all the way from preparing and developing a challenge to transitioning post-award (analyzing and documenting results). There are also four extensive case studies to show how different organizations have used the approach to address specific, idiosyncratic needs.
There are also 14 mentors signed up to volunteer time to help an organization as they go through the challenges of a challenge. Check out the toolkit on Challenge.gov.