Federal Agencies Pay Big Money for Bright Ideas

For years the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has been haunted by a tech problem. The agency books 80 million appointments a year at its more than 1,200 hospitals and clinics, each of which keeps track of its own schedules. The VA can’t get the calendars to talk to each other so veterans can go to the agency’s website and make an appointment wherever they need to be seen. After spending a decade and $127 million trying to fix the inconvenience, VA officials realized they needed a fresh approach. “One of the primary lessons we learned,” says program director Steven Oster, “was that we needed to look outside rather than internally.”

In October the VA challenged the public to help it build a better appointment system, and dangled $3 million apiece for the three best entries. The online competition is one of hundreds coordinated by Challenge.gov, a two-year-old federal program. Since September 2010 more than 16,000 people have participated. Outsiders have created technology for the Federal Trade Commission that blocks illegal robocalls, suggested ways the U.S. Army can safely airdrop aid packages in populated areas, and helped the U.S. Department of Justice predict when older body armor used by police no longer stops bullets.