GSA's crowdsourcing website named finalist for innovation award

Challenge.gov, the General Services Administration’s online portal for crowdsourcing solutions to agency problems, is among five finalists for the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award sponsored by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

The Ash Center -- named for Roy Ash, the first director of the Office of Management and Budget, and his wife Lila -- announced that GSA’s site was among five finalists for the annual contest highlighting successful programs in city, county, state and federal government. Finalists were selected from among 600 applications. The program involves the Education, Justice, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury departments. The winner of the award, which is funded by the Ford Foundation and intended to highlight programs for replication by other agencies, will be announced in December 2013. GSA’s Challenge.gov site allows the government to crowdsource solutions to problems in a contest format, “bringing diversity in solutions and contributors,” said the center in a statement. “This is a pay-for performance model that saves money on key initiatives and broadly drives innovation within and beyond government.”

(Nov 27)