10x is making big changes to solve even bigger problems.

10x is in the business of investing in new ideas. Typically each year we evaluate ideas submitted from public servants across the federal government, but this year we are doing things a little differently. We will not be evaluating ideas this fall. Instead, we will be investing in our existing pipeline of ideas crowdsourced by public servants, and we are also investing in new structures in order to go after the government's hardest problems.

As with any healthy product, program and/or organization, evolution is necessary for us to succeed, grow, and meet future challenges. We are excited to formally introduce our new framework, called 10x Concepts. While we will continue to investigate ideas using our traditional process, 10x Concepts is the next step in our maturation to better align with our guiding principle, to "take on more 'moonshot' investments." Moonshots are what we call the big, risky, and promising ideas that can lead to transformative breakthroughs.

What's a Concept Area?

Every idea that we invest in at 10x follows this hypothesis: Developing a proposed solution to a specific problem will create a positive outcome for the American public. Until now, all 10x investments have gone through our four-phased model to get to this intended outcome.

The Concept Area differs because it enables us to commit to a single problem area over a period of time. Each Concept Area will be a portfolio of investments that will persist beyond the length of any individual project. As projects pivot and we reprioritize our individual investments, the ongoing commitment to the problem space will enable us to establish long-term relationships with stakeholders, experts, and agency partners that will enable us to deliver sustainable solutions.

Working within a specific problem area will enable our teams to build expertise over time. Because each of the investments share a common goal, we can apply what we learn in one investment and carry those insights forward into parallel and future investments. Each investment we make creates knowledge and learning, and each failure creates acceleration to learning. Concept Area project teams will have more freedom to continually try new approaches, iteratively develop and test hypotheses, pivot quickly, and work to find the problem and solution combination that delivers the greatest impact.

10x's new Tell Us Once team

In addition, to better address our new concept areas, we developed the 10x Tell Us Once team which will explore ways to eliminate the administrative burden of repeatedly providing the same information to the government. The Tell Us Once team is starting with three prioritized Phase 1 investments:

  • Information Collection Index - What if… We could know what information someone had already provided, where it was stored, and could make it easy to import and share?
  • Death Notification Service - What if… In the tragic moment of someone's death, reporting, applying for benefits, and stopping payments was done in a single form?
  • Income Verification for Housing Benefits – What if… When someone applies for housing benefits, all relevant information that came from government sources was automatically gathered and submitted for the applicant?

We are excited to start with these three investments because each has the potential to make a real difference in people's lives. We are also excited to announce that one of our first partners is USAGov; with them, we will be exploring the launch of new products and services.

What's next?

The work Tell Us Once is doing today will enable 10x to take on increasingly ambitious problems in the future. We believe that by focusing on moonshots, that we will be able to deliver value to the public along the way. We also know that as we learn more, we will need to pivot and reprioritize to ensure we're delivering maximum value to the public and our government partners. This pilot program is going to help us establish the foundation for future Concept Areas, new ways of working, and new models for building with the public and our partner agencies.

How federal employees can contribute

We are looking for those opportunities to connect with teams that have the same goals or have experience in this space. We want to learn from what you're doing, share our work with you, and maybe even find places to work together. Email us at: 10x@gsa.gov.

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