The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is interested in receiving applications for cooperative agreements for pre-competitive research in homebuilding innovations. Under this announcement, pre-competitive research is an effort that is sufficiently in its early stages such that competitors are working together collaboratively. Applications should not include trade secrets or other confidential information. However, the applicant should describe the technology in sufficient detail so that HUD can decide on the strength of the application.

HUD is interested in developing and deploying knowledge that provides the homebuilding industry with new, innovative construction products or practices that may lead to more affordable, energy efficient, resilient (i.e., durable, disaster resistant, adaptable for future requirements, and maintainable), and healthier housing while at the same time reducing the cost of construction. Specifically, applications are encouraged to focus on aspects of residential construction related to factory-built housing and components and/or resilience. Both topics were central to the recent Innovative Housing Showcase event (https://www.hud.gov/Innovative_Housing) that HUD hosted on the National Mall, June 1-5, 2019, in which Secretary Carson remarked that there is a need for lowering the cost of production of American homes while increasing their resilience.

HUD is particularly interested in cooperative agreements where the results would be widely available for application in the industry, as opposed to being deployed in a proprietary manner. In that regard, HUD has had significant success in the past working with trade or industry associations to generate advances that are broadly available.

In support of the objectives listed in the section above, applicants are being asked to undertake a variety of research and evaluation activities, including articulating research questions and establishing appropriate testing and data analysis, implementing the testing and data analysis, communicating research findings, and producing informational tools and resources that improve practice and policy.

Deadline: June 18, 2020