Manufacturing USA®

Pandemic Response and NIIMBL Update

Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology

June 9, 2020

Mike Molnar Kelvin Lee

NIST Office of Advanced Manufacturing National Institute for Innovation 

in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals
Competitiveness Leadership Scale 

Technology

Shared 

Resources

Workforce 

Development

Knowledge 

Transfer

Partnership Manufacturing 

Employment

Innovation 

Ecosystems

Delivering on Manufacturing USA Purposes

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Current Institutes

Bio 

Manufacturing

Digital / Automation Electronics Materials Energy / 

Environment

Manchester, NH

Newark, DE

Regenerative 

Manufacturing

Chicago, IL

Digital 

Manufacturing

Albany, NY

Rochester, NY

Integrated 

Photonics

New York, NY

Modular 

Chemical Process 

Intensification

Detroit, MI

Cambridge, MA

Advanced Fibers 

and Textiles

Rochester, NY

Sustainable 

Manufacturing

Biopharmaceutical 

Manufacturing

Raleigh, NC

Wide Bandgap 

Semiconductors

Knoxville, TN

Advanced 

Composites

Youngstown, OH

Additive 

Manufacturing

Los Angeles, CA

Smart 

Manufacturing

San Jose, CA

Flexible

Hybrid 

Electronics

Pittsburgh, PA

Advanced 

Robotics

NEW: 

New – 2021 

Bioindustrial

Mfg. Institute

Lightweight 

Materials

San Antonio, TX

Cybersecurity
COVID-19 webpage curates 

institutes’ efforts 

NIST Manufacturing USA 

National Emergency Assistance 

Program

NIST Request for Application

Manufacturing USA’s Pandemic Response
March 27: 

$10M for Manufacturing 

USA (CARES Act)

+$2.3M (base budget)

March 30: 

NIST Manufacturing 

USA National 

Emergency 

Assistance Program

April 3: 

Request for Funding 

Application for 

NIIMBL

Waives the 1:1 

non-federal cost 

match

First Awards from 2020 CARES Act + base 

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• Strategy: Augment CARES Act funding with all 

available funding from base office budget. 

• Use $12.3M total amount to fund best projects, 

selected on merit

• Make additional awards immediately to 

prioritized “hopper” of proposals should 

additional emergency funding be appropriated
Used new public service 

grant authorities to fund 

non-NIST institutes

Requested high-impact 

projects to respond to 

COVID-19 pandemic

Proposals reviewed on a 

rolling basis

$92.4 M 

projects proposed

26 eligible proposals 

from 10 institutes (6/2)

$3.4M in Awards being 

processed

Manufacturing USA 

National Emergency Assistance Program (NEAP)
$3.4M NIST Awards in process for first round NEAP

Technology 

roadmap for 

pandemic 

response and 

recovery

Automated 

COVID-19 

Testing

Institute TBA

Virtual 

Workforce

development 

& training

Institute TBA

Biomedical 

equipment 

and supplies –

development 

& 

manufacturing 

Institute TBA

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$400,000

BioFabUSA
o March 30: CARES Act passed

o April 4: Request for Application issued 

o April 5: NIIMBL issued project call

o April 7: Over 200 technical proposals 

submitted to NIIMBL

o April 21:NIIMBL submitted proposal

o April 22: 48 hour reviewer turnaround

o May 22: Award approved

Request for Funding Application to NIIMBL

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$8,982,496 NIST Award for NIIMBL Projects

Provide virus 

proteins to 

improve blood 

testing 

capabilities

Assist regional 

hospital 

systems with 

validation of 

rapid in-house 

diagnostic 

testing 

capabilities

Identify 

alternative 

domestic 

supply chains 

to reduce 

foreign 

dependence 

for respirators 

and masks

Validate the 

use of 

environmental 

decontamination

approaches for 

clinical spaces

Develop 

automated 

contact tracing 

technology w/i

facilities to 

limit the 

spread of 

coronavirus in 

essential 

workers

Accelerate 

development 

of more 

flexible 

manufacturing 

platforms of 

biologic 

therapies and 

rapid release 

testing

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