Participant Agreement

SPONSOR:
The DS-MRN Challenge:Digital Stockpile & Manufacturing Response Network is presented by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“Sponsor”,”we”, “us”).

TEAMS:
All members of your team must meet the eligibility criteria contained in this Participation Agreement. If any member of your team is ineligible or otherwise fails to comply with this Participation Agreement, the team as a whole may be disqualified at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. Each team is solely responsible for its own cooperation and teamwork. The Sponsor will not officiate any dispute among members regarding their conduct, participation, cooperation, contribution, prize sharing, or intellectual property.  Your team’s materials submitted in connection with the Challenge will be referred to herein as your team’s “submission.” 
THIS CHALLENGE IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.  BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CHALLENGE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS.
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‍JUDGING:
A panel of judges will evaluate and score each submission against the judging criteria as outlined on the Challenge website. Challenge Sponsor will determine, in its sole discretion, which Submissions best addresses the Challenge. Challenge Sponsor has absolute and sole discretion to determine whether to accept any Submission, and whether to make an Award, multiple Awards or any Award. The decision of the Sponsor is final. Judges are subject to change at the Sponsor’s sole discretion. A judge may elect to recuse him or herself from evaluating a submission, or the Sponsor may require a judge to recuse him or herself from evaluating a submission, if, at the judge’s or the Sponsor’s discretion, it would not be appropriate for the judge to evaluate a participant’s submission because of a past or current relationship with the participant. Recusal decisions are final and not subject to appeal.
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‍WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT AND VERIFICATION:
Potential winners will be announced after the judging. The Sponsor may take any actions necessary to verify a team’s compliance with this Participation Agreement before awarding a Prize. By agreeing to this Participation Agreement, the participant understands and acknowledges that even though a team may be announced as a winner, if the team’s compliance with this Participation Agreement cannot be verified to the satisfaction of the Sponsor, the Sponsor will select an alternate winner with the next highest score based on the same judging criteria.
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‍PRIZES:
Prizes are awarded based on combined judge scores from each round of judging.
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‍PRIZE CONDITIONS:
All Prize details will be determined by the Sponsor at  its sole discretion. All taxes and other expenses, costs, or fees associated with the acceptance and/or use of any Prize are the sole responsibility of the winners. Prizes cannot be transferred or substituted by the winner. The Sponsor will furnish the appropriate tax forms to winners for the approximate retail value of the Prize for the tax year in which the Prize was won. If a Prize is unclaimed within a reasonable time after notification from the Sponsor, as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion, it will be forfeited, and time permitting, an alternate winner may be selected from the remaining eligible entries at the Sponsor’s sole discretion.
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‍SUBMISSIONS:
Your submission must–

  1. Adhere to the terms of service per this agreement and the rules stated at the beginning of the Challenge
  2. Not breach the terms and conditions of any embedded software or services used by your Application
  3. Not contain any malicious code or backdoors
  4. Not contain, depict, or refer to any crude, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, disparaging, discriminatory, offensive, illegal, or otherwise unsuitable language, activity, or other content (all as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion)
  5. Not contain, depict, or refer to any content which disparages or refers negatively to the Sponsor, the Challenge, or any other person or entity (all as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion); and
  6. Not contain any content that violates any law or any third party’s rights (including privacy, personality, and intellectual property rights).
DISQUALIFICATIONS:
Your team’s submission may be disqualified if the Sponsor has reason to believe, in the Sponsor’s sole discretion, that your submission (a) contains any element that is malicious, corrupt, damaged, incomplete, inappropriate, or offensive; (b) violates the terms of use of any social media service, website, mobile application or any other platform used in connection with your submission; (c) infringes any third party intellectual property rights; (d) violates any applicable law or (e) violates or does not comply with any section of this Participation Agreement.
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You and/or your entire team may be disqualified for any of the following actions, with or without warning, in the Sponsor’s sole discretion: (i) verbal abuse of another participant or Challenge staff, (ii) inappropriate touching or harming of another participant or Challenge staff, (iii) breach of the Challenge Participant Agreement or any other agreement entered into in connection with the Challenge, (iv) violation of or non-compliance with any section of this Participation Agreement, or (v) violating the spirit of the Challenge. If the Sponsor has reason to believe that you or your team has compromised the integrity or the legitimate operation of this Challenge, including, without limitation, by cheating, hacking, creating a malicious bot or other automated program, or by committing fraud in any way, your team will be disqualified and asked to leave the Challenge. If during the Challenge, any Challenge staff has reason to believe that your health is in danger, you may be required to discontinue your participation in the Challenge and asked to seek immediate medical assistance. Your teammates, if any, may continue participating in the Challenge if they so choose.
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All disqualification decisions are final and not subject to appeal.
INDEMNIFICATION, RELEASE, AND HOLD HARMLESS
By registering for or participating in the ASPR Digital Stockpile & Manufacturing Response Network (DS-MRN) Challenge (the "Challenge"), each Participant (including all members of a Team and any Entity on whose behalf a Participant enters) agrees to the following: