[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]
 BILLING CODE 3510-13-P