This notice announces an opportunity to obtain Defense Manufacturing Community designation and funding under the Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program for Fiscal Year 2021. This notice includes proposal submission requirements, instructions, eligibility and selection criteria that will be used to evaluate proposals. The Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment approved this program on April 14, 2021. This notice outlines the first of a two-step process to potentially receive funding under this program.
This notice includes proposal requirements for only for the initial step of seeking designation as a Defense Manufacturing Community. First, regional consortia will compete to receive designation as a Defense Manufacturing Community. The second step (invitation to submit a grant application for funding) is separate from this notice and instructions will be provided to the most competitive consortia designated as Defense Manufacturing communities. $25 Million is available for this program in Fiscal Year 2021. This is a Final Federal Funding Opportunity notice, and interested responders must submit a proposal based on the instructions provided in Section D., paragraphs 1-3 of this notice.
The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program is designed to recognize communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding defense manufacturing. Best practices include bringing together key local stakeholders and using long-term planning that integrates targeted public and private investments across a community’s entire defense industrial ecosystem. Interactions within and between these elements can create assets upon which many firms can draw. While such assets are fundamental in promoting defense sector development, many are otherwise not adequately addressed by the private sector alone. Thus, well-designed public investment is crucial to building a self-sustaining ecosystem that attracts private investment from new and existing manufacturers and leads to a broadbased increase in manufacturing resilience and regional prosperity across the sector, the region and the nation.
To be designated as a “Defense Manufacturing Community,” consortia composed of members of academia, defense manufacturers, workforce organizations, defense industry and association-led organizations, non-profit organizations, State and local government organizations and various combinations thereof, may apply under this notice. This designation of “Defense Manufacturing Community” will be awarded on a competitive basis subject to the criteria in Section E below, and is a pre-requisite for funding.
Deadline: June 15, 2021
