Eligibility Criteria

Each of the Challenges AHRQ has supported have some eligibility rules in common. In general, to be eligible to win a prize under the Challenge, an individual or entity:

1. Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
2. Shall have complied with all the stated requirements of the Challenge.
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.
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. May not be an employee of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or any other company, organization, or individual involved with the design, production, execution, judging or distribution of the Challenge and their immediate family (spouse, parents and step-parents, siblings and step-sibling, and children and step-children) and household members (people who share the same residence at least 3 months out of the year).
7. Federal grantees 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.
8. 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 equitably available to all individuals and entities participating in the competition.
9. The Government will not select as a winner an individual who is currently on the Excluded Parties List.
10. If applicable, the proposed application must be HIPAA compliant to be eligible for entry into the Challenge.
11. All individual members of a team must meet the eligibility requirements.

All potential participants should review the criteria specific to the competition they wish to enter and comply with those standards, which may vary from the general list above.

General Submission Requirements

In order for a Submission to be eligible to win this Challenge, it must meet the following requirements:

1. No HHS or AHRQ logo—They must not use HHS' or AHRQ's logos or official seals and must not claim endorsement.
2. Functionality/Accuracy—An application may be disqualified if it fails to function as expressed in the description provided by the participant, or if it provides inaccurate or incomplete information.
3. Security—Submissions must be free of malware. Participant agrees that AHRQ may conduct testing on the application(s) to determine whether malware or other security threats may be present. AHRQ may disqualify the application(s) if in AHRQ's judgement, the application may damage Government or others' equipment or operating environment.

All potential participants should review the criteria specific to the competition they wish to enter and comply with those standards, which may vary from the general list above.

Intellectual Property Rights

Each participant retains title and full ownership in and to their submission. Participants expressly reserve all intellectual property rights not expressly granted. By participating in the Challenge, each participant acknowledges that, as a condition of participating the Challenge, each participant grants to the U.S. Government a paid-up, non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable worldwide license and right to reproduce the submission, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, perform publicly and display publicly, and authorize others to do so, including, without limitation, for advertising and promotional purposes relating to the Challenge.

Additionally, the grand prize winner will be required to post an open source version of any application code on the GitHub source code repository, made publicly available under the Creative Commons license, CCO 1.0 Universal (CCO 1.0, Public Domain Dedication). Select for a summary and full text of the CCO 1.0 Universal license and the GitHub source code repository.

All potential participants should review the rights, protections, and limitations specific to the competition they wish to enter and comply with those standards, which may vary from the general guidance above.