Up to 10 winners will be selected. The overall number of winners will evenly divide a total cash prize pool of $200,000. For example, if 10 winners are ultimately selected, each winner will receive $20,000.

The funding for this competition will be provided by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Any U.S.-based organizations are eligible to submit a Situational Manual; however, the project must be focused on a specific locality or localities (e.g. city, county, state, tribal community, etc.) dealing with heat.

There must be at least two authors/organizations on the submission, one representing a community-based organization (CBO) that serves an at-risk group, and one representing a non-Federal state, tribal, local, or territorial government ( e.g., Emergency Management Agency/Office/Department, Resilience or Sustainability Agency/Office/Department, etc.). For this competition, we define CBO rather broadly, as it should be a non-profit that operates within a specific community or geographical area, aiming to address local needs and improve the well-being of its residents. The Heat.gov At-Risk Group page identifies several groups that are at increased risk of extreme heat. If your at-risk group is not on this list, please provide a supplemental paragraph or two as to why your at-risk group is at risk of extreme heat impacts. Resources to consider when defining at-risk groups include Urban Heat Island Mapping campaigns, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, or the Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool to explain why your community is at risk of extreme heat and how the CBO serves this group. 

These eligible entities must be led by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident of the United States who is 18 years of age or older. 
Individuals or organizations must not be a federal entity or federal employee acting within the scope of their employment with the Federal Government and may not have relied on any facilities, access, personnel, knowledge, or other resources available to them because of their employment, except for those resources available to all participants on an equal basis. 

Either the community-based organization (CBO) or the SLTT can submit the SitMan through Challenge.gov, but the Cover Page should specify who will be the primary recipient of the prize money, as it should be only one organization. It is then up to the winners on how to distribute the prize money accordingly.

Federal employees participating as individuals, or who make a submission as part of or on behalf of an otherwise eligible entity, are responsible for ensuring that their participation in the Competition is permitted by the rules and regulations relevant to their position and that they have obtained any authorization that may be required by virtue of their government position. Failure to do so may result in disqualification of them individually or of the entity which they represent or in which they are involved. 

Submitting individuals must 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 (e.g. spouse, parent, stepparent, child, or stepchild).

To be eligible to win a prize under the challenge, those entering:

1. Must agree to participate in the competition under the rules and abide by the terms and conditions in this notice, and
2. Must comply with all submission, content, and format requirements.

A submission may be disqualified if it is found to provide false inaccurate or incomplete information. 

Participants may be asked to provide additional confirmation of their eligibility. NOAA will determine whether applicants meet eligibility criteria.

Situation Manuals need to be converted from Word to PDF in order to submit within Challenge.gov. If you have issues with converting, visit: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/word-to-pdf.html. Submissions must include all sections identified in the provided template.

Using the provided template and consulting the Heat Tabletop Exercise Planning Guide, applicants will co-develop and submit a Situational Manual, the primary planning document for a tabletop exercise in their local community focused on extreme heat. As stated above, applicants must co-develop these Situation Manuals with a local government employee and an employee of a community-based organization that represents a group that is at heightened risk of heat-related impacts. Additional suggestions for co-development are available in the Tabletop Exercise Planning Guide.

Intellectual Property: 

• Winning submissions will be posted on Heat.gov and announced within two months of the competition closing. By entering a submission under this challenge all participants authorize the posting of their submission(s) on Heat.gov.
• Submissions and winners names may be used by NOAA/NIHHIS in connection with this Competition and the production, distribution, promotion, broadcast at public meetings/conferences, and online posting thereof.
• Challenge winners are responsible for complying with applicable copyright and intellectual property laws for any materials used in their submissions. Participants should seek legal guidance if they have questions about using copyrighted materials.

Non-endorsement: NOAA and NOAA officials do not endorse any product, service, or enterprise that may appear in submission materials. Furthermore, by recognizing winning submissions, NOAA is not endorsing any products, services, or enterprises that may appear in those submissions.

Only the winners of the Competition will receive an award. 

NOAA reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, for any reason, at NOAA’s sole discretion.

Each individual or team may be involved in the development or submission of more than one Situation Manual to this Challenge, provided that each submission addresses a unique location. Multiple submissions from the same source will not be disqualified and will not be judged any differently than the rest of the submissions, provided that the participants and submissions are eligible, meet all requirements, and comply with all rules as stated in this Challenge notice. 
Only Situation Manuals that fulfill all requirements and are submitted by the deadline will be accepted into the competition.

By participating in this challenge, participants represent, warrant, and agree:

1. 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 their participation in this prize contest, whether the injury, death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise. 
2. To indemnify the federal government against third-party claims for damages arising from or related to Challenge activities.
3. To release, discharge, and hold harmless NOAA and U.S. Department of Commerce, and its agents, contractors, and employees, from any loss arising out of participation in Challenge activities and the acceptance, use, or misuse of any award(s). 
4. That, by submitting a Situation Manual, applicants confirm that they have the written consent of any person or business that is listed as a co-submitter of the concept note.
5. That it is their sole responsibility to review and understand their employers’ policies regarding eligibility to participate in this prize challenge. If applicants are participating in violation of employee policies, they may be disqualified from entering and/or receiving prizes. NOAA disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for disputes arising between an employee and their employer related to the competition, and prizes will only be awarded in compliance with the employer's policies.
6. That they are the sole authors, creators, and owners of the submission, including the data, methods, or ideas provided in the submission (the content); the submission and its contents are not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim; the submission and its content do not and will not violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, or other legal rights of any third party; and the submission, its contents, and their use of the submission, does not and will not violate any applicable laws or regulations, including, without limitation, applicable export control laws and regulations of the United States and other jurisdictions. If the submission or its contents includes any third-party works (such as third-party content or open-source code), they must provide NOAA with all appropriate licenses and releases for such third-party works. If they cannot provide all such required licenses and releases, NOAA reserves the right, in NOAA’s sole discretion, to disqualify the applicable submission.
7. That any data provided as part of the submission is compliant with any confidentiality or privacy law, rule, regulation, terms of service, contract terms, or any other restrictions on or obligations regarding or related to the ownership, retention, disclosure, or use of the submitted data. NOAA reserves the right to request documentation that shows compliance with this provision and, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any submission that fails to produce sufficient documentation of compliance or otherwise does not comply with this provision.
8. That this Challenge is subject to and governed by the federal laws of the United States and the forum for any dispute will be the United States Federal Courts.

 
RESTRICTIONS:

1. Submission of any multimedia supporting material via web links must be free of malware. Participants agree that the NOAA Bureau may conduct testing on any relevant links to determine whether malware or other security threats may be present. NOAA may disqualify the application(s) if, in NOAA’s sole discretion, materials contained in the application have damaged or may damage government or others' equipment or operating environment. If this Competition is not capable of running as planned, due to fraud, tampering or any technical failures beyond the NOAA’s control, or any circumstances that affect the security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, NOAA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to disqualify any participant(s) responsible and/or to cancel, modify, or suspend this Competition in whole or in part. 
2. The submitting team must not use government logos or official seals and must not claim endorsement by NOAA or Department of Commerce.