1. Eligibility:
    The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) – The Commerce Business Apps Challenge is open only to: (1) citizens or permanent residents of the United States who are at least thirteen (13) years old at the time of entry (or teams of eligible individuals); and (2) private entities, such as corporations or other organizations, that are incorporated in and maintain a primary place of business in the United States. Individuals submitting on behalf of corporations, nonprofits, or groups of individuals (such as an academic class or other team) must meet the eligibility requirements for individual participants. An individual may join more than one team, corporation, or nonprofit organization. DOC employees and members of their immediate family (spouses, children, siblings, parents), and persons living in the same household as such persons, whether or not related, are not eligible to participate in the Competition.
  2. Competition Subject to Applicable Law:
    The Competition is subject to all applicable federal laws and regulations. Participation constitutes each Participant's full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and administrative decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Competition. Eligibility for a prize award is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.  This notice is not an obligation of funds; the final award of prizes is contingent upon the availability of appropriations.
  3. Competition Submission Period:
    Developers must submit their original application between February 22, 2012 and April 30, 2012. Submissions will be published on Challenge.gov as they are received throughout the competition submission period.
  4. Teams:
    Challenge submissions can be from an individual or a team. Prize money will be awarded to the project leader for distribution to the rest of the team.
  5. Required Datasets:
    Submissions must use at least one DOC dataset, such as those available at http://www.data.gov. In addition, you can combine data and resources from this or any other public sources online.  We anticipate winning entries to draw from the DOC data sources, but to combine them with one another, as well as any of an interesting array of publicly available resources, geospatial and/or location data, etc.
  6. 6.    Intellectual Property Rights:
    All submissions to the DOC Business Apps Challenge remain the intellectual property of the individuals or organizations that developed them.  By registering, consenting to the terms of the challenge, and entering a Submission, however, the Participant agrees that DOC reserves an irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, distribute to the public, create derivative works from, and publicly display and perform a Submission for a period of one year starting on the date of the announcement of contest winners.  
  7. Copyright:
    Participant represents and warrants that he or she is the sole author and copyright owner of the Submission, and that the Submission is an original work of the Participant, or if the Submission is a work based on an existing application, that the Participant has acquired sufficient rights to use and to authorize others, including DOC, to use the Submission, as specified in the “Intellectual Property Rights” section of the Rules; and that the Submission does not infringe upon any copyright or upon any other third party rights of which the Participant is aware, and that the Submission is free of malware.
  8. Submission Topic /Theme:
    All Submissions should meet the intent and spirit of the challenge, as previously defined in the challenge summary.
  9. Judges:
    The Submissions will be judged by the judges identified in the challenge details or by another qualified panel selected by DOC at its sole discretion. The panel will judge the Submissions on the judging criteria identified in the challenge summary in order to select winners in each category. Judges have the right to withdraw without advance notice in the event of circumstances beyond their control.  Judges may not (A) have personal or substantial (over $500) financial interests in, or be an employee, officer, director, or agent of any entity that is a registered participant in a competition; or (B) have a familial or financial relationship with an individual who is a registered participant.

10. Decisions:
The decisions of the judges will be announced on or about May 31st, 2012 on Challenge.gov.
 

11. Publicity:
Except where prohibited, participation in the Competition constitutes each winner’s consent to DOC’s and its agents' use of each winner's name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, and/or hometown and state information for promotional purposes through any form of media, worldwide, without further permission, payment or consideration.

12. Liability and Insurance:
Any and all information provided by or obtained from the Federal Government is without any warranty or representation whatsoever, including but not limited to its suitability for any particular purpose.  Upon registration, all participants agree to assume and, thereby, have assumed any and all risks of injury or loss in connection with or in any way arising from participation in this competition, development of any application or the use of any application by the participants or any third-party.  Upon registration all participants agree to and, thereby, do waive and release any and all claims or causes of action against the Federal Government and its officers, employees and agents for any and all injury and damage of any nature whatsoever (whether existing or thereafter arising, whether direct, indirect, or consequential and whether foreseeable or not), arising from their participation in the contest, whether the claim or cause of action arises under contract or tort.  Upon registration, all participants agree to and, thereby, shall indemnify and hold harmless the Federal Government and its officers, employees and agents for any and all injury and damage of any nature whatsoever (whether existing or thereafter arising, whether direct, indirect, or consequential and whether foreseeable or not), including but not limited to any damage that may result from a virus, malware, etc., to Government computer systems or data, or to the systems or data of end-users of the software and/or application(s) which results, in whole or in part, from the fault, negligence, or wrongful act or omission of the participants or participants’ officers, employees or agents.

Based on the subject matter of the Competition, the type of work that it possibly will require, and the likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, or property damage, or loss potentially resulting from challenge participation, Participant is not required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate fiscal responsibility in order to participate in this Competition.

13. Standard Disclaimer:
The following disclaimer is mandatory for applications deployed on non-DOC information systems. This standard disclaimer shall be incorporated into the software in such a way that individuals must read and accept its conditions before initial use (NOTE: The standard disclaimer must appear in all capital letters):
THE MATERIAL EMBODIED IN THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF USE, SAVINGS OR REVENUE, OR THE CLAIMS OF THIRD PARTIES, WHETHER OR NOT DOC OR THE U.S. GOVERNMENT HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE POSSESSION, USE, OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

14. Records Retention and FOIA: 
All materials submitted to DOC as part of a Submission become DOC records and cannot be returned.  Any confidential commercial information contained in a Submission should be designated at the time of submission.  Submitters will be notified of any Freedom of Information Act requests for their Submissions in accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 70.26.

15. 508 Compliance:
Participants should keep in mind that the Department of Commerce considers universal accessibility to information a priority for all individuals, including individuals with disabilities.  In this regard, the Department is strongly committed to meeting its compliance obligations under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, to ensure the accessibility of its programs and activities to individuals with disabilities.  This obligation includes acquiring accessible electronic and information technology.  When evaluating Submissions for this contest, the extent to which a Submission complies with the requirements for accessible technology required by Section 508 will be considered.