Department of Defense Grant for Defense Manufacturing Community Support

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program, authorized under Section 846 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is designed to undertake long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, research and development, and small business support in order to strengthen the national security innovation and manufacturing base in designated defense manufacturing communities. The program also seeks to ensure complementarity of those communities so designated with existing defense manufacturing institutes. DoD Manufacturing Institutes are manufacturing ecosystems established since 2014, with common manufacturing and design challenges revolving around specific technologies. So far, the DoD has established eight (8) Manufacturing Institutes. (For complete roster of existing defense manufacturing institutes see link at: https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes.)

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program is designed to recognize communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding defense manufacturing by 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 and that are fundamental in promoting the defense sector’s development but which are otherwise not adequately addressed by the private sector. 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 broad-based increase in manufacturing resilience and regional prosperity across the sector, the region and the nation. 

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program, authorized under Section 846 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is designed to undertake long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, research and development, and small business support in order to strengthen the national security innovation and manufacturing base in designated defense manufacturing communities. The program also seeks to ensure complementarity of those communities so designated with existing defense manufacturing institutes. DoD Manufacturing Institutes are manufacturing ecosystems established since 2014, with common manufacturing and design challenges revolving around specific technologies. So far, the DoD has established eight (8) Manufacturing Institutes. (For complete roster of existing defense manufacturing institutes see link at: https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes.)

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program is designed to recognize communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding defense manufacturing by 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 and that are fundamental in promoting the defense sector’s development but which are otherwise not adequately addressed by the private sector. 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 broad-based increase in manufacturing resilience and regional prosperity across the sector, the region and the nation. 

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program, authorized under Section 846 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is designed to undertake long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, research and development, and small business support in order to strengthen the national security innovation and manufacturing base in designated defense manufacturing communities. The program also seeks to ensure complementarity of those communities so designated with existing defense manufacturing institutes. DoD Manufacturing Institutes are manufacturing ecosystems established since 2014, with common manufacturing and design challenges revolving around specific technologies. So far, the DoD has established eight (8) Manufacturing Institutes. (For complete roster of existing defense manufacturing institutes see link at: https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes.)

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program is designed to recognize communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding defense manufacturing by 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 and that are fundamental in promoting the defense sector’s development but which are otherwise not adequately addressed by the private sector. 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 broad-based increase in manufacturing resilience and regional prosperity across the sector, the region and the nation. 

Proposals for designation as a Defense Manufacturing Community must be submitted by a “Lead Organization” on behalf of a regional manufacturing consortium as part of the proposal being invited.

A “lead organization” may be any of the entities identified in the attached FFO (Section A). For the purposes of this announcement a “consortium” is a collection of associated assets focused on common challenge in defense manufacturing or defense-related technology.

These consortia represent active networks of similar, synergistic or complementary organizations engaged in a particular defense manufacturing industry sector or vertical, with active channels for business transactions, communications, dialogue and workforce development, that share specialized infrastructure, labor markets and services.

While consortia are generally located within a specific and geographically-bounded region, this does not preclude the inclusion of a member or organization with significant and relevant capabilities and capacities which are outside of the geographic region of the majority of the consortia members, but which nevertheless complement the work of the consortia.

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program, authorized under Section 846 of the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, is designed to undertake long-term investments in critical skills, facilities, research and development, and small business support in order to strengthen the national security innovation and manufacturing base in designated defense manufacturing communities. The program also seeks to ensure complementarity of those communities so designated with existing defense manufacturing institutes. DoD Manufacturing Institutes are manufacturing ecosystems established since 2014, with common manufacturing and design challenges revolving around specific technologies. So far, the DoD has established eight (8) Manufacturing Institutes. (For complete roster of existing defense manufacturing institutes see link at: https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes.)

The Defense Manufacturing Community Support Program is designed to recognize communities that demonstrate best practices in attracting and expanding defense manufacturing by 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 and that are fundamental in promoting the defense sector’s development but which are otherwise not adequately addressed by the private sector. 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 broad-based increase in manufacturing resilience and regional prosperity across the sector, the region and the nation.