[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 90 (Monday, May 11, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26898-26899]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-11256]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket Number: 150501413-5413-01]
Manufacturing Extension Partnership State Competitions and
Regional Forums
AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
announces that the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program
(MEP) intends to publish and post two (2) separate announcements of
funding availability for MEP Centers in calendar year 2016. The list of
specific states that will be involved in the competitions will be
posted on the NIST MEP Web site at: http://www.nist.gov/mep/. The
funding announcements will be provided both in the Federal Register and
on Grants.gov. Prior to or in conjunction with each publication, MEP
will conduct approximately two to three Regional Forums.
DATES: The two separate announcements of funding availability are
expected to be published and posted in January 2016 and July 2016,
respectively. The Regional Forums will take place prior to or in
conjunction with each publication, with notification to the public
posted at: www.nist.gov/mep/.
ADDRESS: The FRNs will be published in the Federal Register at https://www.federalregister.gov/, and the FFOs will be posted on http://www.grants.gov. More information about MEP and past funding
opportunities may be obtained from the MEP Web site: www.nist.gov/mep/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diane Henderson, Manufacturing
Extension Partnership, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 4800, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-4800,
telephone number (301) 975-5105, email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST MEP, through a state-federal network of
60 centers and 1,200 manufacturing experts, helps small and medium-
sized manufacturers across the country to improve their production
processes, upgrade their technological capabilities, and bring new
products to market. MEP helps small and medium-sized manufacturers
compete, thereby increasing employment and investment across the
country and generating a high return on public investment.
Every dollar of federal investment in the MEP translates into $19
of new sales for small and medium-sized manufacturers, or almost $2.5
billion annually across the 30,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers
that MEP serves. See http://www.nist.gov/mep/about/index.cfm and http://www.nist.gov/mep/about-impact.cfm. Since it was founded in 1988, MEP
has worked with nearly 80,000 manufacturers, leading to $88 billion in
sales and $14 billion in cost savings, and helping small manufacturers
create more than 729,000 new jobs. See http://www.nist.gov/mep/about/index.cfm.
The MEP program is in the process of a multi-year effort to conduct
full and open competitions to select operators for MEP centers. On
August 1, 2014, NIST launched the first round of competitions for MEP
centers in 10 states, focusing on states where the MEP investment in
terms of dollars per manufacturing establishment was below its national
average, making them the most underfunded of MEP's 60 centers. See 79
FR 44746 (Aug. 1, 2014). In February 2015, NIST MEP awarded cooperative
agreements with start dates of July 1, 2015, to winning applicants in
each of the 10 states.
On March 9, 2015, NIST announced funding opportunities in 12
states, with
[[Page 26899]]
an application deadline of June 1, 2015. See 80 FR 12451 (March 9,
2015); http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=NIST MEP. The primary objective of these
competitions is to optimize the impact of the Federal investment on
U.S. manufacturing and to allocate additional funds to areas with
higher concentrations of manufacturers. Non-profit organizations,
including public and private nonprofit organizations, nonprofit or
State colleges and universities, public or nonprofit community and
technical colleges, and State, local or Tribal governments, are
eligible to apply for a NIST cooperative agreement for the operation of
an MEP Center. In turn, MEP Centers work directly with small and
medium-sized manufacturers to expand the range of growth, innovation,
lean production, supply chain innovation, technology acceleration and
workforce development offered to small and medium-sized manufacturers.
In addition to a continued focus on growing all sectors of U.S.
manufacturing, it is expected that an increased emphasis will be given
to offering these services to very small firms, rural firms, and start-
up firms. The competitions provide an opportunity to expand the number
of small and medium-sized manufacturers served by the network and to
align the program activities with the strategic goals of the states.
The benefits of competition include:
[cir] Opportunity to realign MEP center activities with State
economic development strategies;
[cir] Resetting of NIST MEP funding levels by State to reflect the
regional importance of manufacturing and the national distribution of
manufacturing activities;
[cir] Reduction and simplification of reporting requirements; and
[cir] Five-year awards reducing the annual paperwork burden.
It should be noted that the MEP Program is not a Federal research
and development program. It is not the intent of the program that
awardees will perform systematic research. To learn more about the MEP
Program, please go to http://www.nist.gov/mep/.
NIST MEP anticipates announcing the competitions for approximately
eleven (11) states in January 2016, with new MEP Center cooperative
agreement awards anticipated to start in October 2016. NIST MEP
anticipates announcing the competitions for an additional eleven (11)
states in July 2016, with new MEP Center cooperative agreement awards
anticipated to start in April 2017. The proposed list of states for the
January 2016 and July 2016 announcements of funding availability will
be posted on the MEP Web site at http://www.nist.gov/mep/. The list of
specific states may change from time to time until finalized in the
announcements of funding availability.
This notice contains information based on the current planning for
NIST MEP's activities in calendar year 2016, with the competitions
expected to be completed by December 2016. NIST reserves the discretion
to add and/or remove states from the list of states participating in
the MEP competitions. The final list of states participating in each of
the MEP Center competitions and the funding amounts available will be
published in the announcements of funding availability that will be
published in the Federal Register and posted simultaneously on
www.grants.gov.
In addition to issuing the two announcements of funding
availability described above, NIST MEP intends to conduct approximately
two to three regional forums prior to or in conjunction with each
publication of these announcements. These forums will provide general
information regarding MEP and offer general guidance on preparing
proposals. NIST/MEP staff will be available at the forums to answer
general questions. During the forums, proprietary technical discussions
about specific project ideas will not be permitted. Also, NIST/MEP
staff will not critique or provide feedback on any project ideas during
the forums or at any time before submission of a proposal to MEP.
However, NIST/MEP staff will provide information about business model
approaches, developing proposals and sharing lessons learned from the
2015 MEP competition. NIST/MEP staff will also discuss the MEP
eligibility and cost-sharing requirements, evaluation criteria and
selection factors, selection process, and the general characteristics
of a competitive MEP proposal.
Once specific dates, locations and agendas have been identified for
each of these Regional Forums, NIST MEP will post this information on
its public Web site, http://www.nist.gov/mep/.
Kevin Kimball,
Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 2015-11256 Filed 5-8-15; 8:45 am]
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