Federal Announcements

The U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has made one cooperative agreement award totaling $1,000,000 as part of its 2021-NIST-MEP-CAP-01 Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). GENEDGE Alliance (GENEDGE), the MEP Center in Virginia, will lead a project, the Medical Manufacturer MedAccred Accreditation Pathway (MedMMAP Phase III).

Through the Future Manufacturing program, the U.S. National Science Foundation makes targeted investments in the future of manufacturing research and helps grow the manufacturing workforce. It is one of several NSF programs that support advanced manufacturing. The Future Manufacturing program's purpose is to discover manufacturing solutions that overcome current scientific, technological, educational, economic, and social barriers to provide new manufacturing capabilities for U.S. companies.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the availability of $100 million in grants to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution linked to the manufacturing of construction materials and products, which account for 11% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $22 million to 12 state-run programs to accelerate smart manufacturing at small- and medium-sized facilities. The State Manufacturing Leadership Program aims to make smart manufacturing technologies and high-performance computing more accessible across the domestic manufacturing sector. This funding will help states remove barriers that inhibit the ability of small- and medium-sized manufacturers to use innovative, data-driven tools and technologies.

The U.S. National Science Foundation announced the first Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) investment of $18.8 million to 27 teams at U.S. institutions of higher education. The ExLENT program aims to expand practical learning opportunities for individuals interested in entering or gaining more experience in key technologies, such as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum information science and semiconductors and microelectronics.

The Department of Defense awarded six Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program (DMCSP) grants totaling approximately $30 million from the Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation. The DMCSP makes long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, workforce development, research and development, and small business support to strengthen the national security innovation base.

The U.S. Department of Commerce released the final rule implementing the national security guardrails of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act. The rule elaborates on two core provisions of the statute: the first, prohibiting CHIPS funds recipients from expanding material semiconductor manufacturing capacity in foreign countries of concern for ten years; and the second, restricting recipients from certain joint research or technology licensing efforts with foreign entities of concern.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $72 million for projects that will innovate manufacturing processes for wind and water technologies and accelerate the equitable and sustainable deployment of offshore and land-based wind energy. This funding includes $27 million to support research, development, and community engagement to accelerate the equitable and sustainable deployment of offshore and land-based wind energy; $45 million to make domestic manufacturing for these technologies quicker an

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services invested $600 million across 12 domestic COVID-19 test manufacturers and the reopening of COVIDTests.gov to deliver COVID-19 tests for free to households across the country. These investments in U.S. manufacturing will improve preparedness for COVID-19 and other pandemic threats of the future, strengthen the nation’s capacity to manufacture tests, and secure approximately 200 million new over-the-counter COVID-19 tests for future federal use.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, through its Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization (MCEIP) office, issued an award to E-VAC Magnetics, LLC (E-VAC) to establish a domestic rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing capability. E-VAC is part of VAC Group, a manufacturer of rare earth permanent magnets.