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NOTICE OF INTENT (NOI)1

FEDERAL AGENCY. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

United States Department of Commerce (DoC)

TITLE. National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Institute Awards Competition

1. GENERAL INTENT. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends 

to announce a competition that will seek applications for new National Network for 

Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) Institute2awards. The expected competition will seek to 

establish up to two additional NNMI Institutes operating within the NNMI Program 

established by the Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act of 2014 (15 

U.S.C. § 278s). 

The competition for the new NIST funded NNMI Institutes is expected to be announced on 

Grants.gov in January 2016.

The Federal Funding Opportunity will be posted on Grants.gov at http://www.grants.gov.

More information about the expected NIST NNMI competition will be available from the 

NIST website: www.nist.gov/amo/nnmi.

2. BACKGROUND.

a. Objectives

NNMI Institutes bring together industry, universities and community colleges, federal 

agencies, and state organizations to accelerate innovation by investing in industriallyrelevant pre-competitive manufacturing technologies with broad applications. They are 

intended to bridge the gap between basic research and product development, provide 

shared assets allowing access to cutting-edge capabilities and equipment, and create an 

environment that will provide workforce and student training in advanced manufacturing. 

Each NNMI Institute also serves as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence, 

providing the innovation infrastructure to reinforce the competitiveness of the U.S. 

manufacturing sector as a whole. 

b. Design and Operations 

NNMI Institutes address the full spectrum of manufacturing challenges associated with 

an identified area of focus including the associated technology, manufacturing process, 

novel material, enabling technology, supply chain integration methodology, or another 

relevant aspect of advanced manufacturing. Their role is to mature advanced 

 

1 A Federal Register Notice announcing this Notice of Intent (NOI) will be published. 

Publication in early January 2016 is expected.

2 The terms “Centers for Manufacturing Innovation,” “Manufacturing Innovation Institutes 

(MIIs),” “Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs),” and “Clean Energy Manufacturing 

Innovation Institutes” have all been used in different framing documents to refer to Institutes 

participating in the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). For consistency, 

an individual Institute is here referred to as a “NNMI Institute”.
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manufacturing technologies from Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs) 4 to 7. 

Institutes bring together a community of small, medium and large businesses from across 

the supply chain to work on industry priorities and big challenges that are solvable only 

by collaboration. Institutes also incorporate workforce development opportunities 

through targeted training and curriculum programs. Through their work, NNMI Institutes 

enable academic institutions and the government to participate in and benefit from 

advances in manufacturing technology. NNMI Institutes leverage non-Federal sources of 

support to promote a stable and sustainable business model without the need for longterm Federal funding and are designed to become sustainable within the time period of 

the federal award.

c. Open Topic Competition 

The competition process will allow for consideration of all applications relevant to 

advanced manufacturing regardless of technology area. To address national advanced 

manufacturing needs identified by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and 

Technology (PCAST) Advanced Manufacturing Partnership,3 NIST is especially 

interested in receiving applications for NNMI Institutes within the following two areas of 

focus:

1. Collaborative Manufacturing Robots. Due to their tireless flexibility and 

reusability, robotic systems are an essential tool in strengthening U.S. manufacturing 

competitiveness by enabling dramatically greater responsiveness and innovation. A 

concerted effort is needed to advance robotics beyond current limited applications to 

widespread adoption by a broader set of sectors and manufacturers of all sizes. To 

achieve this, advanced robotic systems need to be highly-capable, perceptive, 

dexterous, mobile, and relocatable. Advanced robotic systems must operate safely in 

collaboration with humans or other robots, be tasked and re-tasked easily, and be 

integrated into the rest of the enterprise seamlessly and quickly. 

2. Biopharmaceuticals Manufacturing. The economic and medical success of the 

pharmaceutical industry was built on drugs made by chemical processes. The 

pharmaceutical landscape, however, has dramatically shifted over the last 40 years, 

with the emergence of ‘biologic’ therapies that are manufactured using living cells 

instead of conventional chemistry. Stimulating critical innovation in manufacturing 

for biologic therapies will increase quality, flexibility and efficacy, reduce costs, and 

solidify the domestic competitiveness of the US biopharma industry. Innovation in 

the development and adoption of advanced biopharmaceutical manufacturing 

technologies will enhance national economic security and improve our quality of life. 

 

3 President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Report To The President On 

Capturing Domestic Competitive Advantage In Advanced Manufacturing, Executive Office of 

the President, 2012 

(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast_amp_steering_committee_

report_final_july_17_2012.pdf) and associated Annexes 1-10 – Manufacturing Technologies 

(https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/PCAST/amp2.0-annex1-10-

manufacturingtechnologyareas.pdf).
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Examples include development and usage of: continuous manufacturing approaches 

instead of large ‘batch’ processes; single-use technologies that reduce capital costs 

and enable flexible ‘plug-and-play’; more energy and environmentally efficient 

manufacturing approaches; and ‘real-time’ product quality evaluation tools instead of 

time-consuming and high cost post-manufacture product testing. 

d. Award Information. The U.S. Government intends to enter into a five-year cooperative 

agreement with the possibility of a renewal for up to an additional two (2) years and 

provide federal funding of up to $70 million per Institute distributed across (7) seven 

fiscal years. This funding is to be matched or exceeded by funding from private industry 

and other non-federal sources, with a minimum 1:1 cost share. A Federal Funding 

Opportunity announcement is expected to be released in January 2016. To provide the 

public with an opportunity to learn more about the solicitation before submitting a 

proposal, a Proposer's Day will follow shortly thereafter, with details regarding date and 

location to be announced to the public. This event will be for informational purposes 

only. Attendance is not a prerequisite for submitting a proposal.

e. Pre-Applications. NIST envisions that a two-step process will be used for soliciting 

NIST NNMI Institute Applications and that Pre-Applications will be required. To limit 

burden on applicants and the federal government, NIST will only consider only one PreApplication per applicant. NIST anticipates that the due date for Pre-Applications will be 

60 days from the date the FFO is released. Beyond a singular SF-424 form, NIST 

expects that Pre-Applicants will be required to submit a preliminary Rough Order of 

Magnitude (ROM) budget that reflects the anticipated expenses for a potential Institute 

award and an Abbreviated Project Narrative. Only an applicant whose Pre-Application 

has been selected by NIST and who has been invited to submit a Full Application will be 

permitted to submit a Full Application to NIST. 

In anticipation of the FFO being released, potential applicants are encouraged to 

complete the following steps, which are required to submit applications for Federal 

assistance:

 Obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number 

(including the plus 4 extension, if applicable) at http://fedgov.dnb.com/webform.

 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 FFO are posted. 

3. FURTHER INFORMATION. 

General Information - Frank Gayle, Advanced Manufacturing Office, National Institute of 

Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Mail Stop 4700, Gaithersburg, Maryland 

20899-4700, telephone number (301) 975-6161, email: frank.gayle@nist.gov. 
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Questions - Questions may be directed via email to NNMIfund@nist.gov. All questions 

received and answers will be posted on the NIST NNMI competition website at 

www.nist.gov/amo/nnmi. 

Competition Information - Once the competition has been announced, further information 

may be found at www.nist.gov/amo/nnmi. 

DISCLAIMER

This NOI does not constitute a solicitation. No applications may be submitted in response to this

NOI. Any inconsistency between information within this Notice and the expected Federal

Register Notice announcing NIST’s NNMI Awards Competition shall be resolved in favor of the 

Federal Register Notice. NIST also 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 Federal Funding Opportunity will supersede any information provided within the 

Federal Register Notice.

END