F02 STEM NFO Amd 02 MEEP 3Apr23.pdf

FEDERAL AWARDING AGENCY: Washington Headquarters Services Acquisition Directorate

(WHS/AD)

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE: Department of Defense (DoD) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) National Defense

Education Program (NDEP) Notice of Funding

Opportunity (NFO)

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Amendment 02: Manufacturing Engineering Education

Program (MEEP)

NOTICE OF FUNDING

OPPORTUNITY (NFO) NUMBER:

HQ003423NFOEASD01

ASSISTANCE LISTING: 12.006 National Defense Education Program

KEY DATES: Amendment Posted: 9 February 2023

White Papers: 6 March 2023, 2359 Eastern

Invitations for Full Technical Applications: 3 April 2023

Technical Applications Due: 8 May 2023, 2359 Eastern

Notification of Award (Tentative): 28 June 2023

Award Finalized (Tentative): 1 August 2023

AGENCY CONTACT: Jonathan Bertsch

Grants Officer, WHS/AD

E-mail: jonathan.e.bertsch.civ@mail.mil mailto:jonathan.e.bertsch.civ@mail.mil

I. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The DoD National Defense Education Program (NDEP) is seeking to establish new or to enhance existing programs (or collections of programs) to better position the current and next-generation manufacturing workforce to produce military systems and components that assure technological superiority for the DoD. For example, proposed programs may support innovative approaches to precision optics workforce development.

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017 established the

“Manufacturing Engineering Education Program,” (MEEP) (10 U.S.C. § 4843) which authorizes the Department of Defense (DoD) to support industry-relevant, manufacturing-focused, engineering training at United States institutions of higher education, industry, nonprofit institutions, and consortia of such institutions or industry.

DoD seeks a broad range of consolidated and integrated multidisciplinary programs of education with an emphasis on the following components:

(1) Multidisciplinary instruction that encompasses the total manufacturing engineering enterprise and that may include—

a. manufacturing engineering education and training through classroom activities, laboratory activities, thesis projects, individual or team projects, internships, cooperative work-study programs, and interactions with industrial facilities, consortia, or such other activities and organizations in the United States and foreign countries as the Secretary considers appropriate;

b. faculty development programs;

c. recruitment of educators highly qualified in manufacturing engineering to teach or develop manufacturing engineering courses;

d. presentation of seminars, workshops, and training for the development of specific manufacturing engineering skills;

e. activities involving interaction between students and industry, including programs for visiting scholars, personnel exchange, or industry executives;

f. development of new, or updating and modification of existing, manufacturing curriculum, course offerings, and education programs;

g. establishment of programs in manufacturing workforce training;

h. establishment of joint manufacturing engineering programs with defense laboratories and depots; and

i. expansion of manufacturing training and education programs and outreach for members of the armed forces, dependents and children of such members, veterans, and employees of the Department of Defense.

(2) Opportunities for students to obtain work experience in manufacturing through such activities as internships, summer job placements, or cooperative work-study programs.

(3) Faculty and student engagement with industry that is directly related to, and supportive of, the education of students in manufacturing engineering because of—

a. the increased understanding of manufacturing engineering challenges and potential solutions; and

b. the enhanced quality and effectiveness of the instruction that result from that increased understanding.

All proposals should outline how the proposed initiatives directly engage and attract future generations of talent to support manufacturing defense missions, and thus supporting the U.S. military to strengthen its technical advantage over strategic competitors.

Interested parties should submit a white paper in response to this amendment no later than 6 March 2023 at 11:59pm ET, following the instructions and template outlined in

Sections III.A., IV, and XII of the NFO. The white paper should be emailed to osd.dodstem@mail.mil with the subject line, “NFO White Paper Submission, Amendment 02: MEEP.” Applicants will be selected from the white paper submissions to be invited by the Government via email to submit a full technical application on

Grants.gov for evaluation and possible award consideration.

At a minimum, selection criteria will be evaluated per 10 U.S.C. § 4843, item (g).

II. FEDERAL AWARD INFORMATION

The Department intends to award multiple grants with a maximum grant award of $3.5M for a period of three (3) years, subject to the availability of funds. Applications with a proposed budget exceeding maximum grant may be considered, subject to the overall merit of proposed activity, and availability of funds. However, this does not bind the

Government to award grants beyond the maximum grant award described above.

III. TECHNICAL APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Technical applications are accepted by invitation only and must adhere to all application guidelines and page limits, found in NFO Section IV. Note the turnaround time between invitations sent by the Government to submit full technical applications and when technical applications are due. Refer to timeline on the cover page.

The Project Narrative page limit is 28 pages, and is broken out as follows. Descriptions of each section are outlined in the NFO (Section IV.F.b.).

Cover Page – 1 page

Table of Contents – 1 page

Technical Approach and Justification – no more than 8 pages

Project Schedule and Milestones – no more than 2 pages

Financial Breakdown – no more than 2 pages

Reports – no more than 1 page

Management Approach – no more than 1 page

Metrics and Evaluation – no more than 2 pages

Qualifications – no more than 1 page

Responsibility – no more than 2 pages

Facilities & Equipment – 1 page

Work Plan – no more than 6 pages

IV. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Awards under this NFO will be made to Applicants on the basis of the evaluation criteria listed below. The weight or relative importance of each criterion is included in parentheses.

1) Overall technical merits (60%):

Overall technical merits of the applicant’s proposal shall clearly describe its creativity, innovation, feasibility, and efficacy to achieve the NFO objectives. Also considered is:

a) The quality of the program’s plan to execute proposed activity and assess effectiveness of the program and participant outcomes;

b) The Applicant’s capabilities, related experience, facilities, techniques or unique combinations of these which are integral factors for achieving the application objectives; and

c) The qualifications, capabilities and experience of the proposed Project Director /

Principal Investigator, team leader and key personnel who are critical to achieving the application objectives.

2) Relevance and Alignment (20%):

Application must address programs and capabilities listed in this Amendment.

Manufacturing activities, industrial sectors, or regional interests should be relevant to national security and economic competitiveness.

3) Cost Analysis (20%):

A cost analysis will be performed to determine reasonableness of the proposed budget. Long-term sustainability plan will also be evaluated under this criterion. The availability of funds to support the effort and long-term sustainability of the project will also be considered.