Introduction

The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Video Challenge (the “Challenge”) is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Federal Highway Administration, and Federal Transit Administration. The Challenge is intended to highlight the deployment and benefits of proven ITS technologies around the country through videos produced and submitted by to individuals, teams of individuals, corporations, and nonprofit organizations (collectively, "Contestants").

Any elements of the Challenge described in the “details” section of this Challenge posting on challenge.gov are wholly incorporated as part of the rules of this contest.

1. Eligibility

The Challenge is open only to: (1) persons who are at least eighteen years old at the time of entry who are either citizens of the United States or permanent residents; (2) teams of eligible individuals; and (3) corporations or organizations that are domiciled in the United States (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa). Individuals submitting on behalf of corporations, nonprofit or groups of individuals (such as an academic class or other team) must meet the eligibility requirements for individual contestants. An individual may join more than one team, corporation or nonprofit organization. Employees of the U.S. Department of Transportation are not eligible. The Challenge is subject to all applicable federal laws and regulations. Participation constitutes Contestant's full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and administrative decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to the Challenge. Eligibility for a prize award is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein.

2. Challenge Submission Period

The Challenge Submission Period begins on April 6, 2011, at 12:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) and ends on June 30, 2011, at 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

3. How to Enter and Submission Requirements

Submission Format

The Submission must be in the form of an email and YouTube video link.

To enter, take the following steps during the Challenge Submission Period:

1) Create an original video highlighting the deployment of an ITS technology in your community.

2) Upload the Video to http://www.youtube.com and send the URL link for your video on the YouTube website to U.S. DOT via email at open@dot.gov. Please have “ITS Video Challenge” as your entry email’s subject line.

3) Within the same email as your YouTube video link, provide the name and affiliation of each team member and the office or school (non-personal) email address of the team member who will serve as the main point of contact.

Videos must comply with the website terms, conditions, and policies at http://www.youtube.com to be eligible to win. An entry into the Contest consists of your video and your email to U.S DOT (together, the “Entry Materials”). All Entry Materials must be in English. All requested information must be provided for your entry to be valid.

Videos are recommended to be five to six minutes in length but should not exceed ten minutes.

Submissions may be updated by the submitter until the Challenge Submission Period ends.

Submission Content

Video Submissions should focus on one example of ITS deployment in the field. The ITS technology can be for any type of surface transportation application including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, auto, freight, or any combination thereof. Videos can be of any style or format desired but to make it most useful to the practitioner and research communities, and anyone else that may be interested, it should consider the following elements, not necessarily in the following order:

1) Introduction – Describe and show what type of ITS deployment you are highlighting and where it is located.

2) Benefits – Who is benefiting from the ITS deployment, how, and by how much? Have you conducted a formal evaluation? What metrics are being used to measure the benefits, if any? What were the expectations of the deployment and are they being met?

3) Costs – How much did the ITS deployment cost? Also, highlight how much does it cost to operate and maintain your system (O & M costs) annually? What funding mechanisms were used to pay for the project?

4) Public Process – Did the project have to be “sold” to upper management or an elected official before being deployed? If so, how was this accomplished? How was the community engaged in the process?

5) Demonstration – Show how the ITS deployment works in the field. What type of equipment is necessary? How was it installed? How is it maintained? How does it work?

6) Contact Information and references – Display contact information so that others who are interested in your experience can contact you for more information (Name, affiliation, office/school, phone number, office/school email address). Also display any research references or citations used when discussing the ITS benefits.

Submissions that do not conform to these requirements may be considered ineligible. This eligibility decision is at the sole discretion of the U.S. DOT. Contestants waive the right to protest. The U.S. DOT makes no warranties to protect proprietary information or trade secrets if they are featured in the submission. It is recommended that entrants consider the content of their submissions prior to making their submittal.

4. Submission Judging

Video Submissions will be scored in each of three criteria, as listed below.

1. Success in illustrating the deployment of ITS technology as described in the Submission Content section.

Successful videos will be viewed as a knowledge resource to the transportation community that practitioners, researchers, and other interested parties can tap to learn more about the deployment of proven ITS technologies. How effective is the video in educating its viewer about ITS technology deployment? How well does the video cover the topics raised in the Submission Content section?

2. Success in highlighting the benefits of the ITS technology deployment on the local community.

The deployment of ITS technology is, of course, not an end in itself, but a means to provide transportation benefits to the local community. Does the video clearly articulate what these benefits are and how they are achieved?

3. Creativity of presentation.

Videos that are able to take advantage of their communication medium to engage the audience and bring the subject of ITS technology deployment to life are more likely to capture the audience’s attention and get their message across. To what degree is the video able to engage the audience’s attention while telling the story of ITS technology deployment in a clear, concise, and unique way?

The Video Submissions will judged by a qualified panel of ITS stakeholders selected by the U.S. DOT at its sole discretion. The panel will judge the entire video on the judging criteria identified above in order to select the awardees. The judging panel will be finalized by June 30, 2011. Judges have the right to withdraw without advance notice in the event of circumstances beyond their control.

5. Verification of Potential Winners

ALL DECISIONS BY THE U.S. DOT ARE FINAL AND BINDING IN ALL MATTERS RELATED TO THE CHALLENGE.

Potential winners must continue to comply with all terms and conditions of these Official Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. The potential winners will be notified by email, telephone, or mail after the date of the judging. The potential winners will be required to sign and return to U.S. DOT, within ten (10) days of the date notice is sent, an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability/Publicity Release (except where prohibited) in order to claim any recognition. In the event that a potential winner of a Challenge recognition is disqualified for any reason, U.S. DOT may award the applicable recognition to an alternate winner who had the highest score remaining of the eligible entries.

6. Awards

One grand prize will be awarded. Depending on the number of Submissions, the U.S. DOT may also recognize several videos through the use of media that may include the U.S. DOT YouTube channel, the Secretary’s Fast Lane blog, and the U.S. DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration website.

Following the announcement of the award, the grand prize awardee will be honored at the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) World Congress in Orlando, Florida, which lasts from October 16-20, 2011. Authorized travel expenses will be paid for up to four members of the grand prize awardee team to attend the conference in its entirety. These expenses include the World Congress registration fee, transportation, meals and lodging. Travelers will need to provide receipts to document travel expenses and the travel expenses will be reimbursed according to Federal Government travel rules and regulations, including 41 CFR 300-3.1 (Invitational Travel). Maximum reimbursement rates for travel to Orlando,

Florida, are published by the General Services Administration here; these limits apply to the awards made in this Challenge. No air travel with origins or destinations outside the U.S. (including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa) will be purchased, reimbursed or otherwise covered through the awards made in this Challenge. No cash equivalent or substitute compensation will be made in place of the authorized travel expenses.

Only the individuals (up to four) who make the submission on behalf of an organization may receive the award. The submitting individuals may designate, within 10 business days following notification of award, other persons to whom to direct the award.

If chosen as a winner, the U.S. DOT reserves the right to request the original video file for editing. Edits may be for video length and/or content clarity. The U.S. DOT may also require that winning videos be captioned in English by their authoring team before being awarded the grand prize or awarded recognition by the U.S. DOT.

7. Submission Rights

Each Contestant grants to the U.S. DOT and others acting on behalf of the U.S. DOT, a royalty-free non-exclusive worldwide license to use, copy for use, perform publicly, and display publicly all parts of the Submission for the purposes of the Challenge. This license includes posting or linking to the Submission on the official U.S. DOT website and making it available for use by the public.

8. Entry Conditions and Release

By entering, each Contestant agrees to: (a) comply with and be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of the U.S. DOT and/or the Challenge judges which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Challenge; (b) release and hold harmless the U.S. DOT and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Challenge, and all of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the "Released Parties") from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, including but not limited to invasion of privacy (under appropriation, intrusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light in the public eye or other legal theory), defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating to a Contestant’s entry, creation of an entry or submission of an entry, participation in the Challenge, acceptance or use or misuse of prize (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, transmission, performance, exploitation or use of entry; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the U.S. DOT against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys fees) arising out of or relating to a Contestant's participation in the Challenge and/or Contestant's acceptance, use or misuse of a prize or recognition.

9. Publicity

Except where prohibited, participation in the Challenge constitutes Contestant’s consent to U.S. DOT's and its agents' use of Contestant’s name, likeness, photograph, voice, opinions, and/or hometown and state for promotional purposes in any media, worldwide, without further payment or consideration.

10. General Conditions

The U.S. DOT reserves the right to cancel, suspend and/or modify the Challenge, or any part of it, if any fraud, technical failures or any other factor beyond the U.S. DOT’s reasonable control impairs the integrity or proper functioning of the Challenge, as determined by the U.S. DOT in its sole discretion. The U.S. DOT reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual or Contestant it finds to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Challenge or to be acting in violation of these Official Rules or any other promotion or in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive manner. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Challenge may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, the U.S. DOT reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. The U.S. DOT’s failure to enforce any term of these Official Rules shall not constitute a waiver of that provision. The U.S. DOT is not responsible for, nor are they required to count, incomplete, late, misdirected, damaged, unlawful or illicit votes, including those secured through payment, votes achieved through automated means or by registering more than one e-mail account and name, using another Contestant's e-mail account and name, as well as those lost for technical reasons or otherwise.

11. Limitations of Liability

The Released Parties are not responsible for: (1) any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Contestants, printing errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Challenge; (2) technical failures of any kind, including, but not limited to malfunctions, interruptions, or disconnections in phone lines or network hardware or software; (3) unauthorized human intervention in any part of the entry process or the Challenge; (4) technical or human error which may occur in the administration of the Challenge or the processing of entries; or (5) any injury or damage to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from Contestant's participation in the Challenge or receipt or use or misuse of any prize. If for any reason a Contestant's entry is confirmed to have been erroneously deleted, lost, or otherwise destroyed or corrupted, Contestant's sole remedy is another entry in the Challenge. No more than the stated number of prizes will be awarded.

12. Original Work, Plagiarism, and Copyright

Contestant warrants that he or she is the sole author and owner of the Submission, and that the Submission is wholly original with the Contestant, and that it does not infringe any copyright or any other rights of any third party of which Contestant is aware. The U.S. DOT reserves the right to not accept any video which it believes infringes on the intellectual property rights of others.

13. Privacy

Any personal information provided to the U.S. DOT by submitting an entry to this Challenge is used only to communicate on matters regarding the submission and/or the Challenge. Information is not collected for commercial marketing.