In August 2024, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services launched the Business Integrity Challenge to invite innovative teams to submit solutions that address fraud and improve access to state benefits for residents and communities of Washington state.

The Business Integrity Challenge will award one winner for each of the four solution categories who will each receive a contract of up to $250,000 for the development of their solutions over a maximum 12-month project period. Review About to learn more about the initiative.

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DSHS has identified four categories under which submissions can fall. Review the page for each solution category to learn more.

• Automated Solutions to improve performance outcomes – Move from a manual review of applications for benefits for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and create a solution that automates the process for thousands of applications. 
• Language Services to support benefits access – Create a seamless experience accessing public benefits like food, cash and medical assistance and related workload processes through a language translation solution. 
• Customer-Centric Technology Solutions for Public Benefits – Support enhancement of anomaly detection in food and cash benefits using AI while maintaining a human-centered focus before taking proactive fraud prevention action.   
• Customer-Centric Technology Solutions for Behavioral Health  – Create a solution that completes more efficient and targeted data-matching queries to reduce overpayments and fraudulent benefits. 

Eligible Lead Participants may submit a proposal for more than one solution category. You will need to create an account and register using a different username/email for each submission, and only one application for each solution category from the same entity is allowed – submitting more than one application for a solution category may deem your application ineligible. You may not submit for more than one solution category in one application.

Please contact us with any challenge-related questions, requests for help with accessibility and special accommodations, and technical support. 

Once you have registered and throughout the challenge, we will send important notifications to the email address associated with your account, as well as the primary and secondary contacts listed on your registration form. You can take three critical steps to make sure these messages are received promptly:

1. Add our email address to your contacts.
2. Whitelist our email address. Here are instructions to add to your whitelist in most major email providers.
3. Update your registration form right away if one of your contacts changes. If you need to make a contact change after the application window has closed, please email us, and we will assist you.

The Business Integrity Challenge welcomes applications from United States-based bidders and individuals over the age of 18, 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: 

• Nonprofit organization located in a state or territory of the United States that is exempt from tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code 
• An entity organized under the laws of a state or territory of the United States other than a 501(c)(3) organization 
• Individual or team of individuals who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are 18 years of age or older
• Federal, state, and/or local government agencies, including a tribal government or tribal-owned enterprise

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. 

Refer to the Rules for a complete set of eligibility requirements.

Eligible projects should be able to demonstrate proof of concept, evidence of scaling, or current operations at scale. Early-stage, untested projects in the research or ideation phase are not eligible to apply. Review the submission requirements for more information about the three eligible stages.