[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18373-18375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05228]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket Number: 240305-0070]


Manufacturing USA Institute Competition: AI for Resilient 
Manufacturing

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of Intent (NOI).

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SUMMARY: The Office of Advanced Manufacturing within the National 
Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the U.S. Department 
of Commerce, intends to announce an open competition for a new 
Manufacturing USA institute. The expected competition will seek to 
establish a Manufacturing USA institute focused on the use of 
Artificial Intelligence to improve resilience of U.S. manufacturing. 
This NOI is provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to 
develop meaningful collaborations among industry, academia, Federal 
laboratories and state/local government.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All inquiries may be directed to Ms. 
Cheryl Leonard via email to [email protected] or by phone at 
(301) 975-4350, with a subject line stating: `AI for Manufacturing 
Resilience.' NIST will respond to questions received with answers to 
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) posted on the NIST competition 
website at https://www.nist.gov/oam/funding-opportunities.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Purpose. This Notice serves to announce the U.S. Department of 
Commerce's intention to initiate a competition to establish a new 
Manufacturing USA institute to strengthen U.S. industrial capabilities 
in advanced manufacturing sectors. The new institute will be sponsored 
by the Department of Commerce (DOC), through the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology (NIST). For this competition, NIST will 
solicit proposals for a Manufacturing USA institute to accelerate the 
use of artificial intelligence (AI) for resilient manufacturing.
    NIST will broadly compete the new institute, allowing applicants to 
focus on the use of AI to improve resilience of manufacturing within 
industries and sectors of national interest. The Manufacturing USA 
authorizing statute includes in the definition of a

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Manufacturing USA institute that an institute has a predominant focus 
on a manufacturing process, novel, material, enabling technology, 
supply chain integration methodology or another relevant aspect of 
advanced manufacturing such as nanotechnology applications, advanced 
ceramics, photonics and optics, composites, biobased and advanced 
materials, flexible hybrid technologies, tool development for 
microelectronics, food manufacturing, superconductors, advanced battery 
technologies, robotics, advanced sensors, quantum information science, 
supply chain water optimization, aeronautics and advanced materials, 
and graphene and graphene commercialization.\1\
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 278s(d)(1)(B), as amended. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:15%20section:278s%20edition:prelim).
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    The newly awarded AI institute will join a network of 17 existing 
Manufacturing USA institutes sponsored by the U.S. Departments of 
Defense, Energy, and Commerce.\2\ NIST intends that the new institute 
will both contribute to and benefit from the expertise within the 
existing network of institutes. As required by the Manufacturing USA 
authorizing statute, NIST will ensure that the AI institute to be 
established will not substantially duplicate the work of the existing 
network of institutes.\3\
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    \2\ www.manufacturingusa.com.
    \3\ 15 U.S.C. 278s(e)(4)(A), as amended. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=(title:15%20section:278s%20edition:prelim).
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    The competition is expected to be announced in early Spring 2024 
with a formal announcement on Grants.gov as well as on the NIST Office 
of Advanced Manufacturing website (www.nist.gov/oam) and Manufacturing 
USA website (https://www.manufacturingusa.com/).
    Note that this NOI for an AI Manufacturing USA institute is 
separate from any planned solicitations for the Manufacturing USA 
semiconductor institute funded through the CHIPS Act \4\ and is 
separate from NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute (USAISI). Interested 
parties should monitor https://www.nist.gov/chips/chips-rd-funding-opportunities for information regarding CHIPS-funded semiconductor 
institutes, and https://www.nist.gov/artificial-intelligence/artificial-intelligence-safety-institute for updates on the USAISI.
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    \4\ Title XCIX--Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce 
Semiconductors for America of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Pub. L. 
116-283, often referred to as the CHIPS Act).
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Background

    Program Background: The Manufacturing USA Program: Manufacturing 
USA exists to secure U.S. global leadership in advanced manufacturing. 
The nine federal agencies \5\ participating in Manufacturing USA bring 
a whole-of-government approach to innovation, one that springboards 
U.S.-based inventions to the forefront of advanced manufacturing 
technologies, created and utilized by a skilled American workforce.
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    \5\ The federal agencies engaged in Manufacturing USA are the 
three sponsoring agencies, U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, and 
Defense, plus the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and 
Human Services, and Labor, NASA, and the National Science 
Foundation.
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    Each Manufacturing USA institute is a public-private partnership 
that brings together industry of all sizes, universities and community 
colleges, federal agencies, and state organizations to accelerate 
innovation by investing in industrially relevant pre-competitive 
advanced manufacturing technologies to advance specific technology 
sectors and develop the current and future workforce in those 
technologies. Manufacturing USA institutes are tasked to mature 
advanced manufacturing technologies from laboratory prototypes to 
industrial readiness, focusing on major industry challenges that can be 
addressed collaboratively but are generally beyond the reach of 
individual organizations. Institutes bridge the gap between basic 
research and commercial product development, provide shared assets 
allowing access to cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create 
accessible training resources to ensure that students and workers, 
including rural and underserved populations, have skills needed for 
careers in advanced manufacturing. Each Manufacturing USA institute 
also serves as a regional hub of manufacturing innovation, providing 
the innovation infrastructure to reinforce the competitiveness of the 
U.S. industrial base while strengthening our national and economic 
security.
    Manufacturing USA institutes may address the full spectrum of 
advanced manufacturing challenges, such as innovation for manufacturing 
processes, novel materials, cross cutting enabling technology, supply 
chain integration methodology and education and workforce development. 
Manufacturing USA institutes' federal funding catalyzes co-investment 
from non-federal sources for institute projects, promoting stable and 
sustainable business models.

Competition Information

    Upcoming Manufacturing USA AI Institute Competition: Adoption of AI 
in manufacturing has the potential to increase productivity and 
efficiency, increase worker safety, allow for predictive maintenance to 
reduce or eliminate factory floor downtime, improve quality control and 
reduce waste and defects. AI adoption has the potential for efficient 
utilization of other digital technologies in optimizing product design 
and process flow, and energy management. Furthermore, adoption of AI 
technologies will also positively impact manufacturing supply chain 
management and resilience and has potential for scalable implementation 
of workforce development for all. Through the planned competition, NIST 
expects to select an applicant team most capable of establishing and 
leading a Manufacturing USA institute to accelerate the use of AI for 
strengthening resilience of manufacturing processes for the nation's 
manufacturers. The resulting institute is expected to integrate 
expertise in AI, manufacturing and optimization of supply chain 
networks to strengthen the resilience of domestic manufacturing. The 
institute will conduct applied R&D projects and establish employer-led 
sectoral partnerships to develop accessible, effective, scalable 
training resources and credentialling pathways for the skilled 
workforce needed to move innovation into industrial practice. The work 
of the institute will also support the growth of an AI service 
provision infrastructure that will provide focused AI solutions to 
manufacturers by leveraging manufacturing data at national scale. 
Through these initiatives, the work of the institute will boost 
resilience to the benefit of individual companies and the overall U.S. 
manufacturing base. NIST anticipates that applicants for this upcoming 
funding opportunity will be permitted to choose an industrial sector of 
focus for the proposed institute, or to focus on cross-cutting tools 
that may be tailored for more than one industrial sector. Regardless of 
the applicant's choice, applicants will be required to define clear 
time-bounded deliverables and identify key partners needed to 
accomplish the work proposed and provide the non-federal co-investment 
that will be required to match the federal award (see Section 3 below). 
Applicants must also define the scope of the new institute to avoid 
substantive duplication with the existing network of Manufacturing USA 
institutes.
    It is anticipated that the awardee selected from the upcoming 
competition will lead the institute partners in activities such as 
establishing a trusted

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manufacturing-centric AI data commons, developing standards for AI risk 
assessment tools, creating validated and interoperable AI manufacturing 
and/or supply chain network models, and building shared testbeds to 
support the integration between software and hardware needed for 
deployment by U.S manufacturers. The institute will also be expected to 
support market transition of institute-developed technologies, 
ultimately supporting technology maturation into scale-up and industry 
use and to facilitate AI-related education and workforce development 
partnerships and programs.
    NIST expects the institute to achieve time-bound outcomes for 
technical applications that support manufacturing resilience, such as, 
but not limited to:
     Accelerating qualification of new production technologies, 
facilities, or processes;
     Performing predictive maintenance of structures and 
equipment to eliminate down-time due to equipment failure;
     Optimizing manufacturing processes to reduce resource 
inputs and quality failures;
     Optimizing working capital to predict inventory needs; 
and/or;
     Predicting and mitigating risks from manufacturing supply 
chain network disruptions stemming from factors such as extreme climate 
events, while increasing visibility of potential domestic suppliers.
    NIST intends that applications will be evaluated for merit and for 
alignment with program purposes and statutory requirements according to 
the authorizing legislation for Manufacturing USA, 15 U.S.C. 278s, and 
in 42 U.S.C. 18971, Expanding opportunities through the Manufacturing 
USA Program and 42 U.S.C. 18972, Promoting domestic production of 
technologies developed under Manufacturing USA Program.
    Award Information: The U.S. Government intends to enter into a 
five-year agreement with the possibility of a non-competitive extension 
for up to an additional two (2) years and provide federal funding of up 
to $70 million. This funding is to be matched or exceeded by funding 
from private industry and other non-federal sources, with a required 
minimum 1:1 cost share. To provide the public with an opportunity to 
learn more about the solicitation before submitting a proposal, NIST 
will host a webinar and at least one in-person Proposer's Day. The 
exact date and location for the webinar and Proposer's Day(s) will be 
confirmed upon the release of the solicitation, anticipated to occur in 
early Spring 2024. In addition, a preliminary high-level webinar 
following the release of this Notice of Intent is planned. NIST also 
expects to post and update answers to Frequently Asked Questions in 
support of this NOI and the future competition. Interested applicants 
should monitor https://NIST.gov/oam for updates.
    Application Process: NIST plans to use a two-stage process for 
soliciting applications for this directed-topic Manufacturing USA 
institute. Concept Papers will be considered in the first stage of 
competition, and applicants submitting the most meritorious concepts 
will be invited to submit full proposals in the second stage of the 
competition. To limit burden on applicants and the Federal Government, 
only a single concept paper may be submitted from a lead applicant 
entity. However, entities may be partners on multiple proposals 
submitted. NIST anticipates that the due date for submission of concept 
papers will be a minimum of 45 days from the publication of the funding 
opportunity announcement.
    In anticipation of the release of the funding opportunity, 
potential applicants are encouraged to complete the following 
preparations required for application submission:
     Ensure that your organization has a Unique Entity 
Identifier (UIE) with SAM.gov. The UIE has replaced the previous Dun 
and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number. More 
information may be found at: https://sam.gov/content/entity-information.
     Register with the System for Award Management (SAM) at 
https://www.sam.gov. Designating an Electronic Business Point of 
Contact (EBiz POC) and obtaining a special password called an MPIN are 
important steps in SAM registration. Please update your SAM 
registration annually.
     Register for a Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/) 
account. It is advisable also to go to ``manage subscriptions'' on 
Grants.gov and sign up to receive automatic updates when Amendments to 
a NOFO are posted.
    Disclaimer. This NOI does not constitute a solicitation. No 
applications may be submitted in response to this NOI. NIST will post a 
future announcement to Grants.gov that will provide the full 
requirements for applying for an assistance award. When published, 
information within the Notice of Funding Opportunity will supersede in 
its entirety any information provided by this Notice. Any inconsistency 
between information within this Notice and the expected Notice of 
Funding Opportunity announcing NIST's AI for Manufacturing Resilience 
award competition shall be resolved in favor of the Notice of Funding 
Opportunity.
    Authority. Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 
2015, Public Law 113-235, Title VII--Revitalize America Manufacturing 
Innovation Act of 2014, codified at 15 U.S.C. 278s, as amended.

Alicia Chambers,
NIST Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2024-05228 Filed 3-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P