Submit a Project

Some challenges need outside help

We don’t always have all the answers.

The HHS Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program enables:

• Access to a pool of unique skill sets difficult to identify in government
• Project support and visibility from the highest levels of HHS leadership
• Access to a network of internal and external innovators affiliated with HHS IDEA Lab programs
• Support and freedom to incorporate new approaches to reduce time, lower cost and improve customer satisfaction for your program/process
• A suite of tools typically not available to staff including a secure cloud environment for app development and testing as well as GitHub access
• Assistance with the hiring and on-boarding process for the EIR

Who can submit a project idea?

Any HHS employee, or team of HHS employees, who want to test new methodologies to solve problems can submit a project idea.

We do ask that each team designates a Project Lead and that she or he be able to dedicate approximately 25% of her or his time to the project. She or he should also be prepared to continue project implementation following the departure of the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) if the pilot is deemed successful or otherwise document the lessons learned.

How do I submit a project idea?

Before you jump into the submission, we ask that you and your team reach out to us to have a brief conversation about your project. We will work together to decide if an EIR would be a good fit for the program.

What projects do we support?

Any idea or identified problem can be the subject of a project. But alas, we do have a limited number of projects that we can support during the year.

Projects that are a good fit for the HHS EIR Program typically have the following characteristics:

• High priority for the participating office, HHS Operating Division, or Staff Division with the potential to affect major change within the organization
• Ability to be implemented in about a year
• Can uniquely benefit from input from entrepreneurial talent, and/or expertise in areas such as open innovation, agile development or lean startup
• Strong support from leadership within the HHS Operating / Staff Division
• Participation of outstanding employees from within HHS Operating / Staff Division
• Committed funding from the HHS Operating / Staff Division to support the EIR (salary and project expenses) and project implementation

Projects that are a good fit for the HHS EIR Program typically have the following characteristics:

• High priority for the participating office, HHS Operating Division, or Staff Division with the potential to affect major change within the organization,
• Ability to be implemented in about a year,
• Can uniquely benefit from input from entrepreneurial talent, and/or expertise in areas such as open innovation, agile development or lean startup,
• Strong support from leadership within the HHS Operating / Staff Division,
• Participation of outstanding employees from within HHS Operating / Staff Division, and
• Committed funding from the HHS Operating / Staff Division to support the EIR (salary and project expenses) and project implementation

I want to hire an EIR, what does the selection process look like?

We (you and us) talk. If you are interested in applying, please reach out to us so that we may have a brief conversation about your project and to explore if it may be a good fit for the program.

In the application, we will ask you to share the following information (so you may want to have it ready):

• Please identify an Executive Sponsor, project lead and internal project participants.
• Please provide a short summary about each internal project team member, their track record of working on challenging/risky projects, experience working on cross-functional teams and their role in the proposed project.
• Please estimate the amount of time that each internal project team member can dedicate to the project.
• What is the main problem this project is attempting to solve? Why is this project important and why is it a high priority for your agency?
• What will be the impact of completing this project? Which ( internal and external stakeholders) will benefit from completing this the project?
• What is your proposed approach for completing this project? What is the desired outcome for this project in about a year?
• What specific skill sets are desired for an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) and what is the proposed role of the EIR? Explain why the project cannot be completed without an EIR.
• What support do you have from Operating /Staff Division leadership to complete this project?
• Do you have an FTE and funding available to support an EIR for this project? Please describe and estimate the resources and budget needed to complete the project (please assume that the EIR will be paid at the same level as internal project team members and consider possible travel costs for the EIR).
• If the first year is successful, what would be the plan for continuing to implement the project after the EIR departs?

Here’s our project evaluation criteria, in case you were wondering.