Competition Rules

This Challenge is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (“Competition Sponsor”), with platform support provided by DrivenData, Inc ("DrivenData") through the website listed above or linking to these competition rules (the "Competition Website"). By registering to compete in this Challenge, downloading a dataset linked from the Competition Website, submitting an entry to this Challenge (a "Submission"), or joining a team in this Challenge, you are agreeing to be bound by the competition rules and the contents of the Competition Website.

Participation in this challenge is subject to the official rules found at https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=prepare-challenge and the terms and conditions for use of the Competition Website. A copy of participation and eligibility terms are copied here for ease of reference along with the information presented on the Competition Website.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge, a Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) —

a. Shall have registered to participate in the Challenge under the rules promulgated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as published in the challenge announcement (https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=prepare-challenge);

b. Shall have complied with all the requirements set forth in the announcement (https://www.challenge.gov/?challenge=prepare-challenge);

c. In the case of an Entity, shall be incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. In the case of an Individual, the Individual shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. In the case of a group of individuals participating as a Team, the Team must identify a Team Captain who shall be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. However, non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents can participate as a member of a Team or Entity that otherwise satisfies the eligibility criteria. Non-U.S. citizens and non-permanent residents are not eligible to win a monetary prize (in whole or in part). Their participation as part of a winning Team or Entity, if applicable, may be recognized when the results are announced.

d. Shall not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment;

e. Shall not be an employee of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS, or any other component of HHS) acting in their personal capacity;

f. Who is employed by a federal agency or entity other than HHS (or any component of HHS), should consult with an agency ethics official to determine whether the federal ethics rules will limit or prohibit the acceptance of a prize under this Challenge;

g. Shall not be a judge of the Challenge, or any other party involved with the design, production, execution, or distribution of the Challenge or the immediate family of such a party (i.e., spouse, parent, step-parent, child, or step-child);

h. Shall be 18 years of age or older at the time of submission;

i. Shall electronically acknowledge acceptance of these Official Rules and satisfy all of the requirements described herein.

PARTICIPATION

1. Participants (whether individuals, groups of individuals, or entities) may not use federal funds from a grant award or cooperative agreement to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions unless use of such funds is consistent with the purpose, terms, and conditions of the grant award or cooperative agreement. Participants intending to use federal grant or cooperative agreement funds must register for and participate in the Challenge as an Entity on behalf of the awardee institution, organization, or entity. If a Participant uses federal grant or cooperative agreement funds and wins the Challenge, the prize must be treated as program income for purposes of the original grant or cooperative agreement in accordance with applicable Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2 CFR § 200).
2. Federal contractors may not use federal funds from a contract to develop their Challenge submissions or to fund efforts in support of their Challenge submissions.
3. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees 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 participation in this Challenge, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
4. Based on the subject matter of the Challenge, the type of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, property damage, or loss potentially resulting from Challenge participation, no Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) participating in the Challenge is required to obtain liability insurance, or demonstrate financial responsibility, or agree to indemnify the federal government against third party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities in order to participate in this Challenge.
5. A Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) shall not be deemed ineligible because the Participant used federal facilities or consulted with federal employees during the Challenge if the facilities and employees are made available to all Participants participating in the Challenge on an equitable basis.
6. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) warrants that they are sole author or owner of, or has the right to use, any copyrightable works that the submission comprises, that the works are wholly original with the Participant (or is an improved version of an existing work that the Participant has sufficient rights to use and improve), and that the submission does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which the Participant is aware.
7. By participating in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) grants to the NIH an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free nonexclusive worldwide license to reproduce, publish, post, link to, share, and display publicly the submission on the web or elsewhere. Each Participant will retain all other intellectual property rights in their submissions, as applicable. To participate in the Challenge, each Participant must warrant that there are no legal obstacles to providing the above-referenced nonexclusive licenses of the Participant’s rights to the federal government. To receive an award, Participants will not be required to transfer their intellectual property rights to NIH, but Participants must grant to the federal government the nonexclusive licenses recited herein.
8. Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) agrees to follow all applicable federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and policies.
9. Each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) participating in this Challenge must comply with all terms and conditions of these rules, and participation in this Challenge constitutes each such Participant’s full and unconditional agreement to abide by these rules. Winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements herein.
10. Participants are prohibited from sharing source or executable code developed in connection with or based upon data received through the Challenge outside of their Team or Entity during the Challenge. Any such sharing is a breach of these Participation Rules and may result in disqualification.
11. As a condition for winning a cash prize in this Challenge, each Participant (whether an individual, group of individuals, or entity) that has been selected as a winner must complete and submit all requested winner verification and payment documents (e.g., in Phase I, this includes having data that can be downloaded by the team implementing the challenge) within 10 business days of formal notification, unless otherwise specified in the Challenge timeline and materials request. Failure to return all required verification documents by the date specified in the notification may be a basis for disqualification of a cash prize winning submission.
12. Entities must designate one individual to serve as their Official Representative. For groups of individuals participating as a Team, the Team Captain will also be their Official Representative. The Official Representative will be the only individual with the authority to officially interact and communicate with the Organizers (i.e., the team implementing the challenge) regarding the Participant-created materials, completion of tasks as part of the Challenge, signing of official documentation related to the Challenge, providing of information to process prize payments, and any other administrative requests related to the Challenge.

PAYMENT OF THE PRIZE:

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

Entities participating in this Challenge are encouraged, but not required, to request and obtain a free Unique Entity ID (UEI), if they have not already done so, via SAM.gov as this will expedite prize payment. Additional information can be found at https://sam.gov/content/entity-registration .

NIH reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to (a) cancel, suspend, or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, and/or (b) not award any prizes if no submissions are deemed worthy.

COMPETITION WEBSITE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Account

To register for this Challenge, visit the Competition Website and follow the onscreen instructions to complete and submit your registration. All of the registration information that you provide is collectively referred to as your "Account". (If you have already created an Account, enter your user name and password and follow the on-screen instructions.) You may only compete using a single, unique DrivenData Account registered at http://www.drivendata.org. Competing using more than one DrivenData Account per individual is a breach of the competition rules, and DrivenData reserves the right to disqualify any individual (or team including an individual) who is found to breach these rules.

Participant warranties and obligations

By registering, you agree that (a) your Account is complete, correct and accurate and (b) your registration may be rejected or terminated and all entries submitted by you and/or your team may be disqualified if any of the information in your Account is (or DrivenData has reasonable grounds to believe it is) incomplete, incorrect or inaccurate. You are solely responsible for your Account. All registration information is deemed collected in the United States.

Participation is subject to all applicable federal, state, provincial, territorial and local laws, rules and regulations. You agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations at all times during your participation in the Challenge. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. You are responsible for checking applicable laws and regulations in your jurisdiction before participating in the Challenge to make sure that your participation is legal. You are responsible for all taxes and reporting related to any award that you may receive as part of the Challenge. You are responsible for abiding by your employer's policies regarding participation in the Challenge. DrivenData disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between you and your employer related to this Challenge. Each Participant must comply with all applicable explicit or implicit terms and conditions or policies applicable for platforms, applications, or software used in connection with or on which their solution operates. As such, each Participant must follow the spirit of such terms and conditions and policies; and any attempt to subvert or to use a work-around of such terms and conditions or policies may, in DrivenData’s sole discretion, lead to such Participant’s disqualification.

Each Participant is solely responsible for all equipment, including but not necessarily limited to a computer and internet connection necessary to access the Competition Website and to develop and upload any submission, and any telephone, data, hosting or other service fees associated with such access, as well as all costs incurred by or behalf of the entrant in participating in the Challenge.

By entering a Submission, you represent and warrant that all information you enter on the Competition Website is true and complete to the best of your knowledge, that you have the right and authority to make the Submission on your own behalf or on behalf of the persons and entities that you specify within the Submission, and that your Submission:

• complies with all applicable federal, state, provincial, territorial, local and international laws, statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations;
• is your own original work, or is used by permission, in which case full and proper credit and identity is given and the third party contributions are clearly identified within your Submission;
• does not contain confidential information or trade secrets and is not the subject of a registered patent or pending patent application;
• does not violate or infringe upon the patent rights, industrial design rights, copyrights, trademarks, rights of privacy, publicity or other intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity;
• does not contain malicious code, such as viruses, timebombs, cancelbots, worms, Trojan horses or other potentially harmful programs or other material or information;
• does not and will not violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, rule or regulation;
• does not trigger any reporting or royalty obligation to any third party; and
• was not previously published and has not won any other prize/award.

A breach of any of these warranties will result in the corresponding submission being invalid.

Delivery and receipt of entries

DrivenData is not responsible for (a) late, lost, stolen, damaged, garbled, incomplete, incorrect or misdirected Entries or other communications, (b) errors, omissions, interruptions, deletions, defects, or delays in operations or transmission of information, in each case whether arising by way of technical or other failures or malfunctions of computer hardware, software, communications devices, or transmission lines, or (c) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of Submission materials, loss or otherwise. DrivenData is not responsible for electronic communications or emails which are undeliverable as a result of any form of active or passive filtering of any kind, or insufficient space in any email account to receive email messages. DrivenData disclaims any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participation in, or accessing or downloading information in connection with, the Challenge.

Reservation of rights

DrivenData, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any person tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Website, the competition process, or is otherwise in violation of the competition rules. DrivenData reserves the right at any time to disqualify a submission from a Challenge where, acting in good faith, it believes there are reasonable grounds to warrant disqualification. For example, DrivenData’s determination that the submission does not provide the functionality described or required, or the submission appears to be purposely designed to circumvent these competition rules or the spirit of the Challenge would be grounds for disqualification. DrivenData reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the Challenge if it is not capable of completion as planned for any reason, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort. If DrivenData determines (at any time and in their sole discretion) that any Participant is engaging in behavior that DrivenData deems obnoxious, inappropriate, threatening, illegal or that is intended to annoy, abuse, or harass any other person or entity, DrivenData reserves the right to disqualify such Participant (and Participant’s team, if applicable).

General release

By entering the Challenge, you release and discharge DrivenData from any liability whatsoever in connection with the Challenge or with the acceptance, possession, use or misuse of any prize including, without limitation, legal claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages, demands or actions of any kind (including, without limitation: personal injuries; death; damage to, loss or destruction of property; rights of publicity or privacy; and defamation or portrayal in a false light). DrivenData will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these competition rules or in other materials relating to the Challenge. Additionally, you hereby agree to indemnify DrivenData from any and all losses, damages, costs, expenses, rights, claims, demands and actions (including attorney's fees and expenses for litigation and settlement), which may be brought against any one or more of them by anyone claiming to have suffered loss or damage as a result of your participation in the Challenge or for any breach of any representation or warranty herein.

Limitations of liability

By participating in the Challenge, each Participant agrees that: (1) any and all disputes, claims, and causes of action arising out of or in connection with the Challenge, or any prize awarded, shall be resolved individually without resort to any form of class action; (2) any claims, judgments and awards shall be limited to actual out-of-pocket costs incurred, including costs associated with entering the Challenge, but in no event attorney's fees; and (3) under no circumstances will a Participant be permitted to obtain any award for, and each Participant hereby waives all rights to claim, punitive, incidental or consequential damages and any and all rights to have damages multiplied or otherwise increased and any other damages, other than damages for actual out-of-pocket expenses.

DrivenData and the employees, officers, directors, shareholders, agents, representatives, affiliates, subsidiaries, and advertising, promotional and legal advisors thereof (collectively, the “Released Parties”) are not responsible and shall not be liable for: (i) late, lost, delayed, damaged, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, or unintelligible entries; (ii) telephone, electronic, hardware, or software program, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures, or difficulties; (iii) errors in transmission; (iv) any condition caused by events beyond the control of the Released Parties that may cause the Challenge to be disrupted or corrupted; (v) any injuries, losses, or damages of any kind caused by a prize or resulting from acceptance, possession, or use of a prize, or from participation in the Challenge (however (but only if required by law in your jurisdiction), this release and hold harmless commitment does not apply to cases of bodily injury or loss of life to the extent that any death or personal injury is caused by the negligence of DrivenData or other third parties, where liability to the injured party cannot be excluded by law); or (vi) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Challenge.

Disclaimer of Warranties

You understand that we cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the internet or the Competition Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code. You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data. RELEASED PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

YOUR USE OF THE COMPETITION WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE AND RECEIPT OF ANY PRIZES IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BEYOND ANY NON-EXCLUDABLE GUARANTEES (DEFINED BELOW). NEITHER THE RELEASED PARTIES NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH RELEASED PARTIES MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE COMPETITION WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, NEITHER RELEASED PARTIES NOR ANYONE ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELEASED PARTIES REPRESENTS OR WARRANTS THAT THE COMPETITION WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL BE ACCURATE, RELIABLE, ERROR-FREE OR UNINTERRUPTED, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, THAT OUR SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS OR THAT THE COMPETITION WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE WILL OTHERWISE MEET YOUR NEEDS OR EXPECTATIONS.

NOTHING IN THESE COMPETITION RULES LIMITS, EXCLUDES, OR MODIFIES OR PURPORTS TO LIMIT, EXCLUDE, OR MODIFY ANY STATUTORY CONSUMER GUARANTEE OR ANY IMPLIED CONDITION OR WARRANTY, THE EXCLUSION OF WHICH FROM THESE COMPETITION RULES WOULD CONTRAVENE ANY STATUTE OR CAUSE ANY PART OF THESE TERMS TO BE VOID (“NON-EXCLUDABLE GUARANTEES”). SUBJECT TO THE LIMITATIONS IN THE PRECEDING SENTENCE AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY ANY MANDATORY PROVISIONS OF APPLICABLE LAW, THE RELEASED PARTIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.