Rules
Understand the legal rules governing the Washington Resident Portal Challenge.
Thank you for your interest in the Washington Resident Portal Challenge (the “Competition”). The Competition is sponsored by Consolidated Technology Services (CTS), calling itself Washington Technology Solutions or “WaTech” for short (“Competition Sponsor”) with platform support provided by Carrot. Please know that by participating in this Competition and in accordance with these Rules you are eligible to receive various forms of recognition and a possible Award from WaTech of up to $550,000 (USD). The Rules governing this Competition ("RULES") are stated here as an extension of the Washington’s Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) announcement, and as an extension of Terms & Conditions ("TERMS") for use of this website. The full TERMS are available for your review by accessing them on this Website. The RULES constitute "Competition Terms and Conditions" under Clause 2.3 of the TERMS. Capitalized words used but not defined in the RULES have meanings given to them in the TERMS. Further, any language contained on this website, including but not limited to these RULES, are also an extension of the TERMS, and therefore You are required to read and understand the entirety of the Website content before proceeding.
Please read these RULES and the TERMS carefully, as they describe the conditions under which you are allowed to participate. As you participate, you may periodically be asked to recognize your acceptance of these RULES and the TERMS by clicking "accept" at various pages on this website, but by continuing any use of this website you expressly consent to all of these RULES and the TERMS.
SUBMISSION OF AN ENTRY INTO THIS COMPETITION CONSTITUTES FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL AGREEMENT TO AND ACCEPTANCE OF THESE RULES AND THE TERMS.
The Washington Resident Portal Challenge welcomes applications from United States-based vendors and individuals over the age of 18 years, who are representing a Lead Participant as an applicant. Each applicant must identify a Lead Participant as the recognized Contractor in the execution of any proposed project contained in an Entry.
Eligibility related to any Lead Participant by type are as follows:
Eligible Lead Participants are welcome to collaborate with nonprofit organizations, companies, foundations, schools, colleges and universities, government agencies, individuals, and other entities to develop the solution.
A vendor can submit only one application as the Lead Participant. A vendor can also serve as a partner on a team for multiple applications provided that each application proposes a separate, distinct solution. Regional or location-specific branches of larger organizations, as well as departments, schools, and nonprofits within or based in a college/university, can each register and submit separately as the Lead Participant on one application as long as the proposed solutions are separate and distinct. There should be no overlap in team members. The intent of the policy is to ensure that any team is concentrating their best effort into a single application. We encourage teams to select a single approach that best represents your ability to deliver a solution that meets the timeline and scoring criteria.
Within thirty (30) days of being identified as an Apparently Successful Vendor (ASV), Vendor must be licensed to conduct business in Washington State, including registering with the Washington State Department of Revenue. The Vendor must collect and report all applicable taxes. The Vendor must submit Vendor’s Unified Business Identification (UBI) number within 30 days of being identified as the ASV.
Lead Participants must also read the Certifications and Assurances and submit any proposed Contract exceptions when completing the application and submitting a Response.
WaTech will accept Responses that include one or more third-party contractor involvement only if the Vendor submitting the Response agrees to take complete responsibility for all actions of such Subcontractors. Vendors must state whether Subcontractors are/are not being used. WaTech reserves the right to approve or reject any and all Subcontractors that Vendor proposes. Specific restrictions apply to contracting with current or former state employees pursuant to chapter 42.52 RCW. Vendors should familiarize themselves with the requirements prior to submitting a Response.
SUBCONTRACTOR PARTICIPATION MONITORING & REPORTING: Once a contract is awarded through the solicitation or proposal process, the awarded Prime Contractor is obligated to complete the vendor registration in Access Equity. Access Equity is a secure online vendor management system (B2GNow). Confidential information (Tax ID, etc.) will not be published. Prime Contractors that have previously registered with B2Gnow for any public entity, must verify the system has updated information. Contractors can access the system HERE or through a direct link on the Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE) website.
Each month during the contract, the Prime Contractor will report payments to ALL Subcontractors through the Access Equity system. This monthly reporting information includes total payment in dollars made to the Subcontractor, payment dates, and any additional information required to verify payment to Subcontractors. The Prime Contractor will enter this payment information into the Access Equity system, and the Subcontractors will verify this payment information in the system. Online training is available through the Access Equity/B2Gnow system. This requirement applies to both Prime Contractors and Subcontractors.
WaTech, in accordance with Washington law, encourages small and diverse businesses to compete for and participate in state procurements as contractors and as subcontractors to awarded vendors. See, e.g., RCW 39.19 (OMWBE certified businesses); RCW 43.60A.200 (WDVA certified veteran-owned businesses); and RCW 39.26.005 (Washington small businesses). Vendors who are MWBE and/or veteran certified or intend on using MWBE/veteran certified Subcontractors are encouraged to identify the participating firm on the application. No minimum level of MWBE participation is required as a condition of receiving an award and no preference will be included in the evaluation of Responses in accordance with chapter 39 RCW.
For certification, applicants may contact the Washington State Office of Minority and Women’s Business Enterprises (OMWBE) and the Washington State Department of Veterans’ Affairs (WDVA). Individuals and firms interested in state contracting opportunities with any state agency should register for Solicitation notices at the Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) WEBS Registration. Note: There is no cost to register on WEBS.
The following are not eligible to apply as a Lead Participant for the Washington Resident Portal Challenge:
While individuals/entities outside of the US are not eligible to apply as Lead Participant, they may serve as part of the team on an application.
The Competition Sponsor reserves the right to reject an Entry if, in the Competition Sponsor's sole discretion, the laws of the governing jurisdiction applicable to the Washington Resident Portal Challenge would prohibit or limit the Competition Sponsor from proceeding with the Competition as intended or if the Competition Sponsor determines, in its sole discretion, that the consideration or making of any Award would impose additional administrative, tax, operational, or legal burdens on the Competition Sponsor.
Applicants located within the United States and US territories are eligible to apply as the Lead Participant. All proposed projects must benefit and impact the State of Washington.
The Lead Participant will assume responsibility for the receipt and management of any Award funds from Competition Sponsor and will maintain those fiduciary duties in close coordination with any subcontractors or partner organizations. The purpose of including a Lead Organization is to ensure that there is sufficient administrative support and management for the use of any Award Funds and not to disintermediate the role of any partner(s) who are essential to the implementation of any proposed project contained in any Entry. All vendors must demonstrate the financial capacity of any Lead Participant that may be the recipient of any Award in order to carry out any project and to appropriately manage any Award.
WaTech will not reimburse for any costs incurred in the preparation of a Response.
Award funds must be used for the project for which they are intended and may be dispersed to subcontractors for project-related purposes. Award funds may not be used:
All documents (written and electronic) submitted as part of this Competition are public records. Unless statutorily exempt from disclosure, such records are subject to disclosure if requested. See RCW 42.56, Public Records Act. WaTech strongly discourages bidders from unnecessarily submitting sensitive information (e.g., information that applicant might categorize as ‘confidential,’ ‘proprietary,’ ‘sensitive,’ ‘trade secret,’ etc.).
To the extent consistent with Chapter 42.56 RCW, the Public disclosure Act, WaTech shall maintain the confidentiality of Vendor’s information marked confidential or proprietary. If a request is made to view Vendor’s proprietary information, WaTech will notify Vendor of the request and of the date that the records will be released to the requester unless Vendor obtains a court order enjoining that disclosure. If Vendor fails to obtain the court order enjoining disclosure, WaTech will release the requested information on the date specified.
Each Application should reflect the anticipated ownership, use, and licensing of any intellectual property; the use and licensing of intellectual property of the winning Entry will be subject to the terms of an agreement with the Competition Sponsor. You represent and warrant that your Entry is an original work created solely by You, that You own all Intellectual Property in and to the Entry, and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in the Entry, except as expressly identified by You to us in writing in Your application. You retain all right, title and interest in any inventions, software or work of authorship You invent or create and the ownership and use of intellectual property arising from this Competition remains with You, subject as may be set forth in the agreement with the Competition Sponsor.
Any winning Contractor shall enter into a direct and separate award agreement with the Competition Sponsor, containing key terms and conditions which are separate from these RULES and TERMS posted on this website for this Competition. The Contractor shall sign WaTech’s Confidentiality Agreement before beginning the work described. Any Contractor who enters into a separate agreement to receive funding will be required to report progress towards milestones and other goals. Award will be paid according to a schedule based on dates deliverables are completed and invoices are submitted. Those reporting requirements may vary, based on the vendor and the project, and will be determined by the Competition Sponsor. At minimum, the Contractor can expect to share biweekly status reports and a closeout report, including a lessons learned session and key lessons learned from the project within 30 days of project completion or termination.
Any services performed for the Competition Sponsor under the resulting Contract shall be documented in a Statement of Work (SOW) established between WaTech and the Vendor. The SOW will reference the Contract by number, the SOW term, provide a description of the scope of work to be performed, and the maximum compensation for the project. Multiple SOWS may be entered into between the parties to document the activities necessary to perform the work herein.
13.1 Your application must be in English.
13.2 All applicant communications relevant to this Competition must be addressed in writing by email. Applicants should rely only on Competition website content. In no event will oral communications regarding the Competition be binding. Applicants are encouraged to make any inquiry regarding the Competition as early in the process as possible to allow consideration and, if warranted, respond to the inquiry. If an applicant does not notify the Washington Resident Portal Challenge team of an issue, exception, addition, or omission, WaTech may consider the matter waived by the applicant for protest purposes. If applicant inquiries result in changes to the Competition, written amendments will be issued and posted on the competition website and WEBS. Unauthorized applicant contact regarding this Competition with other state employees involved with the Competition may result in bidder disqualification.
13.3 You must complete registration to participate in the Competition. You cannot reside in nor be governed by countries that are prohibited by law, regulation (including United States or other applicable export laws and regulations), treaty or administrative act from entering into trade relations (including export of technology) with the United States of America or its citizens.
13.4 Your Entry should meet the application requirements stipulated on this website. You are required to register in advance of any deadlines for the submission of an Entry, and You must comply with all other deadlines posted on this website. Your Entry may not, in the sole and unfettered discretion of Competition Sponsor and/or Carrot, contain obscene, provocative, defamatory, or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate content. Competition Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, modify or suspend Competition in whole or in part without liability to You. Competition Sponsor and/or Carrot also reserves the right to disqualify You from participating.
13.5 By participating in the Washington Resident Portal Challenge, You represent, warrant, and agree that:
13.6 You may participate by registering, but You may not register more than one true and uniform identity; multiple registrations for a participant using multiple identities are not allowed. Competition Sponsor and/or Carrot reserve the right to disqualify any Entry made by a participant violating this limitation, regardless of whether all of the respective parties had knowledge of such violation. You may only submit one Entry.
13.7 The application requirements for your Entry are clearly described on this website. Upon submitting Your Entry, the Entry will be subjected to an Administrative Review, to ensure compliance with all of the requirements. Valid Entires will then be assessed by five Judges, who will be assigned to score your Entry either randomly or after considering any potential conflicts of interest, using the scoring rubric and any other judging criteria that are also described on this website. In cases where a Judge indicates any potential conflict of interest, the Entry will be assigned to another Judge. Judges will be responsible for scoring your Entry.
13.8 Once a rank order of Entries has been calculated in June 2024, one Apparently Successful Vendor (ASV) will be awarded $550,000. and a separate contract and statement of work will be executed with the Competition Sponsor no later than July 1, 2024. Award will be paid according to a schedule based on dates deliverables are completed and invoices are submitted (see Rules Section 12 above). The top-scoring Entries will be reviewed by the Selection Committee with consideration given to feasibility and other criteria that may incorporate considerations beyond the Judges’ reviews. The Selection Committee Judges are permitted to communicate with Competitors solely for the purposes of carrying out due diligence for evaluating Your Entry and assigning a score during the review process, but those Judges are not required to contact any individual. By participating in the Washington Resident Portal Challenge, You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the final decision of the Competition Sponsor.
13.9 While Carrot is providing an online platform for your participation, Carrot is not responsible for the payment of any Award(s). Payment of any Award(s) is the sole responsibility of WaTech and its designees, and under the Terms each participant has agreed to look solely to WaTech, as the Competition Sponsor, for the payment of any Award.
13.10 Only applicants who submit a Response may request an optional debrief conference to discuss the evaluation of their Response. The requested debriefing conference must occur on or before the date listed on the competition timeline. The request must be emailed. The optional debriefing will not include any comparison between the Response and any other Responses submitted. However, WaTech will discuss the factors considered in the evaluation of the Vendor requesting the Response and address questions and concerns about Vendor’s performance with regard to the solicitation requirements.
13.11 Vendors who have submitted a Response to this competition and have had a debriefing conference may make protests. Upon completion of the debriefing conference, a Vendor is allowed two (2) business days to file a formal protest of the solicitation with WaTech. Further information regarding the grounds for, filing and resolution of protests is contained in Protest Procedures.
13.12 By submitting your Entry, you agree to release, discharge and hold harmless the Competition Sponsor and Carrot and their partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors and representatives from any Loss arising out of your participation in Competition and the acceptance and use, misuse, or possession of any Award(s). Neither the Competition Sponsor nor Carrot assume responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to Competition entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms. Neither Competition Sponsor nor Carrot are responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to competitors’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading of any materials related to this Competition. In the event of a dispute about the identity of any Competitor, an online registration will be declared as if made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at time of entry.
13.13 THIS COMPETITION IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Competitors agree that this Competition shall be subject to and governed by the laws of the United States of America and the forum of any dispute shall be in the courts of the United States of America. Any arbitration between You and Carrot or Competition Sponsor will be governed by the Commercial Dispute Resolution Procedures and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes (collectively, "AAA Rules") of the American Arbitration Association ("AAA"), as modified by the TERMS, and will be administered by the AAA. The AAA Rules and filing forms are available online at www.adr.org, by calling the AAA at 1-800-778-7879.
13.14 If for any reason Competition is not capable of running as planned, due to infection by computer virus, bugs, worms, Trojan horses, denial of service, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures or any other causes beyond the control of Carrot that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of this Competition, Carrot reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual(s) who tamper with the process, and/or to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend the Competition. If Competition Sponsor and/or Carrot terminates the Competition, it will not retain any rights in the submitted Entries.
13.15 The Competition Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any Competitor who is found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Washington Resident Portal Challenge, to be acting in violation of these Rules, or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with the intent to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of Washington Resident Portal Challenge, or to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person.
13.16 Entry into the Washington Resident Portal Challenge does not constitute entry into any other WaTech competition or program, Carrot competition or program, or promotion that may be offered by the Competition Sponsor and/or its affiliates.
13.17 WaTech and/or Carrot reserves the right to disqualify any participant who violates these RULES, the TERMS and any standards of behavior expressed or implied in them.
13.18 The name of the winning vendor will be posted on this website for such period of time as the Competition Sponsor deems reasonable.
Contact Information
You may contact us with any questions or comments about these RULES.
