Member profiles have been modified to reflect a reliability factor for the last 15 component design and 15 development competitions. The reliability factor is calculated as the percent of the last 15 projects that a member registers for in which that same member presents a timely submission that scores at least a 75 in review.

Separate reliability ratings will be kept for design and development projects.

When figuring out the reliability bonus for a project, the reliability rating used will take into account those projects that were signed up for prior to the current project. A participant with no previous projects is considered to have no reliability rating, and therefore gets no bonus.

TopCoder will not reset reliability statuses for projects posted prior to October 5th, 2005. Projects prior to this date will be marked reliable, if the user submitted a solution that passed screening. Additionally, for those that had never submitted prior to October 5th, 2005 they will not be given a reliability rating until they submit a project that scores at least a 70 in review. As of January 12th 2006, TopCoder has increased the minium score to 75.

Members will be eligible to receive a bonus on top of any prize money won if their Reliability Ratings are equal to or exceed 80%. Winning members with Reliability Ratings equal to or exceeding 80% and less than 90% will receive a bonus equal to 10% of the prize. For Reliability Ratings equal to or exceeding 90% and less than 95%, winning members will receive a bonus equal to 20% of the prize. And winning members with a Reliability Rating equal to or exceeding of 95% will receive a bonus equal to 50% of the prize. The new pay outs go into effect for projects launched after 9 am on 5/24/2007. The following is an example of payouts based on the member's Reliability Rating:

0% - 79%	80% - 89%	90% - 94%	95 - 100%
$5,000	$5,500	$6,000	$7,500
$2,000	$2,200	$2,400	$3,000
$500	$550	$600	$750
$200	$220	$240	$300
$100	$110	$120	$150

Please note: reliability bonuses do not apply to Digital Run winnings.