The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced the Challenge Statement for the Modernizing National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Challenge on April 15, 2024, making $750,000 available for the prize competition.
Applications due (sign-in required):
July 15, 2024
2:00 pm PT
The Challenge intends to showcase how existing web-based, interactive, collaborative tools can be used to make documents associated with NEPA more accessible and transparent to the public and agencies, while also saving time and improving the quality of documents. Specifically, this challenge intends to increase accessibility and transparency to historically under-represented populations by allowing the public to read and comment on documents from a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
Individual prizes will be $50,000 each and DOT expects to provide up to 15 awards. Awardees will be invited to present their winning submission at a Modernizing NEPA Showcase webinar with DOT leadership in Late 2024. All submissions must be made by July 15, 2024, at 2:00 pm PT through the Modernizing NEPA Challenge posting found on Challenge.gov.
Challenge is seeking submissions across two categories:
1: Public-Facing Interactive Documents: Submissions showcasing NEPA documents that are interactive, engaging, and easy to read and that are published or scheduled to be published after the Challenge opens.
2: Interagency Collaborative Tools and Documents: Submissions showcasing how web-based platforms (SharePoint, Google Docs, or ArcGIS) are being used to increase the speed and efficiency of inter-agency NEPA reviews. To be eligible, the showcased reviews must occur after the Challenge opens.
For questions or more information email DOT or visit the Modernizing NEPA website; for details and information on the steps to apply, view a recording of the DOT informational webinar (Passcode: C54?2mX3).