Federal Announcements

The Department of Defense announced an award of $11.7 million via the Defense Production Act Investment Program to Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense (EBAD) that will provide additional printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) production capacity at their Simsbury, CT location. EBAD will increase existing capacity and manufacturing processes to reduce cost and accelerate PCBA production.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced the appointments of 30 members to serve on the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship to advise the Secretary of Labor on issues related to the national apprenticeship system. Through their work on the committee, members will leverage their knowledge and experience to provide advice and recommendations on ways to use the apprenticeship training model to improve equitable access to career pathways for America’s workers and jobseekers.

The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $9.75 million to advance novel solutions for complex societal and economic challenges inspired by biological systems. NSF's investment awards 15 multidisciplinary teams to Phase 1 of the NSF Convergence Accelerator's Track M: Bio-Inspired Design Innovations.

The Department of Defense announced seven awards totaling $192.5 million through the Defense Production Act Investments Program to establish domestic manufacturing capabilities for critical chemicals.

The Department of Defense awarded $46.2 million to GreenSource Fabrication LLC (GreenSource) via the Defense Production Act Investment Program. The award will enhance existing production capabilities at a manufacturing facility of state-of-the-art integrated circuits substrate, high-density interconnect and ultra-high-density interconnect, and advanced packaging.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology has awarded nearly $3 million to 15 small businesses in nine states under the Small Business Innovation Research Program. The funding will go to research and development and commercialization projects to support a variety of technology-based programs such as advances in semiconductors, drug development and flexible electronics manufacturing.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense Manufacturing Technology Program showcased technologies that will keep servicemembers combat effective in extreme temperatures. The event featured technologies generated by the U.S. Department of Defense's Manufacturing Innovation Institute member companies that won the Point-of-Need Manufacturing Challenge held in March 2023 by proposing solutions to the Department's operational constraints in extreme cold temperatures.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to enhance the National Apprenticeship System by modernizing regulations for Registered Apprenticeships.

The U.S. Department of Energy released a notice of its proposed guidance and a request for public comment on its proposed interpretation of the statutory definition of “foreign entity of concern” (FEOC) in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is designed to limit the participation of FEOCs within domestic battery supply chains, particularly within government-supported programs, and bolster the growth of domestic and friend-shored battery materials processing and manufacturing.

The Department of Defense's Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MII) met with stakeholders to discuss how the manufacturing innovation ecosystem can support the services' modernization efforts at the Organic Industrial Base (OIB) Modernization workshop Oct. 25-26, 2023, in Chicago. Representatives from MIIs attended the workshop to get a better understanding of the current critical needs for modernizing the OIB and the subsequent opportunities to propose technology projects.