The National Science Foundation has launched a competition that aims to develop a model that individuals can use to select career opportunities in the government that match with their skills and interests.
NSF said in a Challenge.gov notice that the first part of the Career Compass Challenge will task participants to present a concept that will help address existing challenges in retraining employees and increasing mobility within and between federal agencies, among other things.
Interested entities have until Dec. 31 to submit their concept white papers for evaluation by a panel of judges.
Up to five competitors will qualify for the second round of the challenge based on their creativity, clarity of concepts and ideas, presentation of proposals and use of evidence-based practices.
Each of the initial winners in the first round will receive a cash prize of $5k. Up to five winners will be selected for a total prize of $25k.
For the second round of the Career Compass Challenge, participants will be tasked to develop a working prototype of the workforce organization mechanism based on the winning concepts.
NSF will organize an entrance conference that will allow solvers to understand the ideals for data and staff subject matter expertise, interact with other competitors and address concerns regarding the selected concept papers.
The second part of the competition will commence in February 2019 and is expected to wrap up in August in the same year.
The grand winner will receive a cash prize of $75K.
The effort aims to provide additional knowledge for future cross-sector collaborations and innovation that the government plans to execute through the the Government Effectiveness Advanced Research Center, which is tasked to address workforce management challenges at the executive branch enterprise level.