[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 112 (Friday, June 11, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33268-33269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14115]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
[Docket Number: 100407180-0225-02]
Technology Innovation Program (TIP) Notice of Availability of
Funds; Amendment
AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST),
Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of availability of funds; amendment.
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SUMMARY: On April 19, 2010, the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing
the solicitation of proposals for the fiscal year 2010 Technology
Innovation Program (TIP) competition. NIST is issuing this notice to
correct the award start date, to correct the description of a
nonresponsive proposal listed under Element 3 of the Manufacturing Area
of Critical National Need addressed in the notice, and to clarify the
function of the white paper referenced in the notice.
DATES: The due date for submission of proposals for the fiscal year
2010 TIP competition is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, Thursday, July 15,
2010.
ADDRESSES: Proposals must be submitted to TIP as follows:
Paper submission: Send to National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Technology Innovation Program, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 4750,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4750.
Electronic submission: http://www.grants.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Wiggins via e-mail at
[email protected] or telephone 301-975-5416.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 19, 2010, NIST published a notice
announcing the solicitation of proposals for the fiscal year 2010 TIP
competition (75 FR 20326-34). NIST is issuing this notice to make two
corrections and one clarification to that notice. NIST corrects the
start date for funding projects. In the April 19, 2010 notice, NIST
erroneously indicated in the section entitled Funding Availability that
the anticipated start date is January 1, 2010. The correct anticipated
start date for funding of proposals under this solicitation is January
1, 2011. The revised Funding Availability section is stated below in
its entirety for the public's convenience.
Funding Availability: Fiscal year 2010 appropriations include funds
in the amount of approximately $25 million for new TIP awards. The
anticipated start date is January 1, 2011. The period of performance
depends on the R&D activity proposed. A single company can receive up
to a total of $3 million with a project period of performance of up to
3 years. A joint venture can receive up to total of $9 million with a
project period of performance of up to 5 years. Continuation of funding
after the initial award is based on satisfactory performance,
availability of funds, continued relevance to program objectives, and
is at the sole discretion of NIST.
In addition, NIST revises the April 19, 2010 notice to correct an
example of a nonresponsive proposal listed under Element 3 of the
Manufacturing Area of Critical National Need. Due to a drafting error,
NIST incorrectly indicated that projects with a primary focus on device
development are considered nonresponsive projects. NIST's intent was to
indicate that projects without a primary focus on addressing specific
process bottlenecks are considered nonresponsive. This error is
corrected by replacing the last bullet under the examples of proposals
addressing critical process advances that will be considered
nonresponsive. The language ``Projects with a primary focus (people,
equipment, time and/or funds) on device development.'' is replaced with
``Projects that do not have a primary focus (people, equipment, time
and/or funds) on addressing specific process bottlenecks.'' The entire
revised bulleted list under the examples of proposals addressing
critical process advances that will be considered nonresponsive is
restated below for the public's convenience.
Examples of proposals addressing critical process advances that
will be considered nonresponsive are:
Any manufacturing process that offers only incremental
improvement over existing processes;
Processes that are intended primarily for military/
weaponry applications (e.g. warhead manufacture, chemical/biological
warfare materials production);
Manufacturing processes that cannot be performed in the
U.S. due to existing laws or regulations;
[[Page 33269]]
Projects primarily focused on production of non-engineered
cells or tissues as therapeutics;
Projects involving straightforward scale-up of
biopharmaceuticals with incremental improvements in the manufacturing
processes;
Projects that involve incremental improvements in
traditional processes for biomolecule production (e.g. vaccine
production in chicken eggs, hormones such as insulin extracted from pig
tissue);
Biomanufacturing projects that primarily focus on
processes for production of non-biopharmaceutical products (e.g.
production of biofuels or small molecule drugs);
Projects that primarily focus on drug discovery or design
of new biomaterials;
Projects that primarily focus on discovery of new
production cell systems;
Projects that use living genetically modified vertebrate
animals, invertebrate animals, or plants as bioreactors for
biopharmaceutical production;
Production or scale up of scaffolds or biomaterials used
in scaffold design that are not a part of the manufacturing of
engineered tissues; and
Projects that do not have a primary focus (people,
equipment, time and/or funds) on addressing specific process
bottlenecks.
Finally, NIST is clarifying that the white paper ``Manufacturing
and Biomanufacturing: Materials Advances and Critical Processes''
referenced in the description of Area of Critical National Need:
Manufacturing (75 FR 20327) only provides background information
related to the selection of this Critical National Need and the
associated societal challenges; it does not specifically describe the
scope of the Notice of Availability of Funds.
Administrative Procedure Act and Regulatory Flexibility Act: Prior
notice and comment are not required under 5 U.S.C. 553, or any other
law, for rules relating to public property, loans, grants, benefits or
contracts (5 U.S.C. 553(a)). Because prior notice and an opportunity
for public comment are not required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any
other law, the analytical requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory
flexibility analysis is not required and has not been prepared.
E.O. 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review): This notice has been
determined to be not significant under Executive Order 12866.
Dated: June 7, 2010.
Katharine B. Gebbie,
Director, Physics Laboratory.
[FR Doc. 2010-14115 Filed 6-10-10; 8:45 am]
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