Connecting Government & The Public To Advance Innovation
GSA TTS Challenge.Gov Support Services

Introduction: Challenge.Gov is a U.S. Government platform and program within the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Open Innovation (OI) program which hosts prize competitions from federal agencies seeking the public's assistance to solve challenges. Serving both federal partners and public citizens Kaptivate has enhanced the platform's technology, content, resources, user experience, and accessibility since 2021. The platform is an ecosystem of communications, customer service, challenge management, data reporting, submission management, and archival functionalities. Kaptivate's Development Team (Dev) manages operational information and technology services by providing ongoing maintenance, design, security, and development tasks for the web platform. Kaptivate’s OI Program Management Office (PMO) team provides marketing, customer support, and technical assistance to federal and public audiences. Both teams integrate to provide backend and front end tasks on the promotion and communication of the platform, while innovating new features and providing the testing and quality assurance rigor needed for systems operation.

Brand Development: Challenge.Gov was in its 10th year of the GSA Open Portfolio program when Kaptivate was awarded the contract. The team aimed to modernize the program using new branding, including a logo, wordmark, and color palette. The team began a Creative Brief to outline the approach where they considered permissions needed along the approval process (Creative team > Program Director > Office of Strategic Communications > and Office of the General Council). The process addressed all accessibility needs. For example, the color palette went through several iterations of hues to ensure the colors, font, and sizes met accessibility standards. The team integrated the Public Sans font created by the U.S. Web Design Systems (USWDS), also a GSA program, and chose colors reflective of the program values: orange (energetic, creative) and blue (trustworthy).  Once branding was approved, both teams deployed the branded assets on program materials and wove them into the website platform design.

User Experience: The redesign of the Challenge.Gov for accessibility and usability is a collaborative effort that aligns with Kaptivate’s commitment to providing an exceptional user experience for all. By incorporating feedback from internal managers and embracing accessible design principles, we are not only meeting legal requirements but also taking a significant step toward creating an inclusive online environment. This initiative reflects our dedication to ensuring that every user can engage with our digital platform seamlessly, fostering a positive and inclusive online experience.

Usability & Accessibility: Our development and user experience team work in conjunction to meet or exceed accessibility standards and ensure GSA AMP score remains high as we deploy new functionality. PDF content gets converted into web pages to create screen readers compatible content. In addition, it was important to audit the content and rewrite it in plain language to accommodate varying reading and comprehension levels.  Such examples include the Challenge.Gov User Guides, with information about basic knowledge of prize competitions as well as technical platform how-tos.  

Security Compliance: When the need for an experienced DevSecOps became apparent, Kaptivate added a DevSecOps specialist to the team. This team member has been an integral part of ensuring Challenge.Gov compliance with data calls related to an external FISMA Audit and internal GSA Self-Assessment - neither of which were known needs when Kaptivate initially took over the work in Dec 2021. The team was incredibly responsive and identified a security advisor within one week. To ensure code updates meet quality standards, Dev implemented quality assurance, security, and testing protocols to include an internal review of all new code before pushing into production. Kaptivate was initially awarded the PMO contract, then the Dev Team was brought in to take on the remaining development work, after a previous vendor was unable to provide the necessary expertise. Dev created a detailed project roadmap with multiple tiers to reflect work that could be accomplished with various staffing and funding levels. 

Public and Federal Customer Service: The launch of the new Challenge.Gov platform in Oct 2021 brought new opportunities to engage a public audience. The Kaptivate team enthusiastically stepped into this new direction, adding value to maximize customer service, communications, and data use with deep knowledge of the Challenge.Gov platform. The team developed a two-tiered customer support model to distinguish between customer support and technical platform support. The team provided Tier 2 / technical support for end-users to supplement Tier 1 / customer service provided by the OI PMO team. This support also included internal audit preparation and response, platform security and customer service guidance. The team had over 643 customer service touch points in the first year. In September 2022, the Kaptivate team transitioned the Challenge.Gov customer support from a shared inbox to a more sophisticated help desk model with ZenDesk. Using the tiered customer support framework, the team pioneered standard operating procedures for ZenDesk that other GSA TTS teams have adapted. 

Data Analytics, Visualization and Dashboards: We collect data to match against KPIs across various program sources including Challenge.Gov platform use, website analytics, social media, customer support, and community engagement platforms. At the start of the contract, Kaptivate built an ecosystem of Google Sheets to collect, synthesize and analyze this data. The team then identified a business technology need to be more efficient with data processing and presentations. The Challenge.Gov PMO and Challenge.Gov development teams worked collaboratively to identify system requirements and create processes for capturing data from the Challenge.Gov platform.

The Kaptivate team then built a series of dashboards in Tableau to visually present the data story. With these powerful tools the Challenge.Gov PMO team is not only able to improve the quality and reliability of data outputs, we are able to reduce staff time spent compiling data which allows staff to spend more time on data analysis and data storytelling. This efficiency increases staff time available to develop action plans using these data-driven insights to improve customer experience, audience segmentation, and stakeholder engagement. In the end, these efforts allow the Challenge.Gov PMO team the opportunity to scale and expand the reported metrics and data modeling to mature the programs data literacy and data-driven strategies. One example of the output from this work is the Challenge.Gov FY22 Year In Review Infographic.

Unlocking Career Success
Department of Education’s Experimental Design and Advanced Research Projects Accelerator

Introduction: In November 2022, the U.S. Department of Education launched Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success, an innovative Biden-Harris Administration initiative supported by the Departments of Commerce and Labor to increase and expand access to high-quality training programs to help young Americans pursue jobs in today’s in-demand fields, and be prepared for careers of the future. Unlocking Career Success integrates high school, college, and career, providing students with accelerated opportunities to earn college credits and gain real-world experiences. This joint endeavor empowers leaders and organizations to support students in obtaining the degrees and certifications that employers demand. 

Background: Kaptivate is one of two vendors participating in the Experimental Design and Advanced Research Projects Accelerator (ED ARPA) BPA. In this role Kaptivate provides the Department and the Office of the Secretary with support services for their advanced research projects.

Information Architecture, Web Development & Deployment: Our work also included the design of Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success’ web presence (Feb 2023)—a project launched and completed within a single month. All code was validated for WCAG and ADA compliance through multiple validation tools. Kaptivate developed page layout templates using capabilities of the currently deployed version of Croogo CMS (v 2.0.0) / CakePHP (2.4.5). We created page mockups using these templates and content provided by the client. We created a sitemap showing the relationship between the various pages and made usability recommendation for content page placement/integration within the site. We developed a content integration plan and tested all pages once content integration was complete.

User Interface & Accessibility: Our work included the design, development, and 508 compliance of Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success’ website (Feb 2023)—a project launched and completed within a single month. This prior experience is relevant to the proposed work in event planning for high visibility, priority events. Our ED ARPA work has also demonstrated our extraordinary capability to source and scout an array of SMEs in education and at national scale. Finally, our work on behalf of ED ARPA has demonstrated our team’s agility and dedication to quality assurance.

Collaboration and Partnerships: Our work on behalf of ED ARPA has demonstrated our team’s agility and dedication to quality assurance. Despite pertinent late breaking news and condensed timelines, Kaptivate executed on high quality experiences and delivered on agency priorities such as video scripts, social media content, and talking points for U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Impact and Outcomes: The Raise the Bar website has served as home base for the Unlocking Career Success communications and campaigns. The U.S. Department of Education's who worked with Kaptivate were impressed by the quick turnaround, thoughtful design with accessibility first and foremost, and it remains a solid platform of resource for the nationwide initiative. Read more about the success and impact in the following U.S. Department of Education press releases:

• Secretary Cardona Announces the U.S. Department of Education Raise the Bar Initiative 
• Raise the Bar: Pathways for Global Engagement
• Career Z Challenge Launch, supporting Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success Initiative 

Federal Government Requirements with Innovative IT Solutions
Creative & Digital Services

Introduction: S2i2, Inc. is an 8(a) information technology (IT) integrator and solutions provider based in Fairfax, VA. Established in 2016, S2i2 specializes in meeting Federal Government requirements with innovative IT solutions. Their core IT support services include system architecture, system engineering, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, application development and information security management, IT strategy and help desk support. We leverage leading commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and government off-the-shelf (GOTS) technologies that help clients manage risk and meet their mission.

Website: The website was given a complete visual overhaul leveraging the Capabilities Statement, research and our conversations with key staff--conveying key messages on S2i2 capabilities, offerings, personnel and expertise, and past performance. Given that prospective employees may be a key audience in a tight labor market, we will also develop key messaging that identifies S2i2 as a great workplace and an ideal opportunity for launching a career. We will develop this third deliverable in collaboration with S2i2 so that the messaging accurately reflects your organization and its values. Kaptivate excelled in aligning the S2i2 brands across various channels and all marketing assets, including business cards, stationery, and redesigning and developing a new website. We also provided exceptional support in copywriting and content development throughout the website and blog articles.

Social Media: To support the messaging on the Capabilities Statement and website, Kaptivate refined and relaunched two Social Media Assets for S2i2. These assets, specifically a LinkedIn page and Twitter feed,  serve to communicate with prospective employees, current employees, and government buyers where they network. This foundational social media footprint will broaden S2i2’s outreach and credibility with a simple and manageable set of channels. Kaptivate also writes blog posts for S2i2 on an ongoing basis to nurture the audience.