Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center for Florida

Announcement of Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO)

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NIST invites applications from eligible applicants for funding one (1) MEP center to provide manufacturing extension services to primarily small- and medium-sized manufacturers in the state of Florida. The MEP center will become part of the MEP national system of extension service providers, currently comprised of more than 400 centers and field offices located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.

The objective of an MEP center is to provide manufacturing extension services that enhance productivity, innovative capacity, and technological performance, and strengthen the global competitiveness of primarily small- and medium-sized U.S.-based manufacturing firms in its service region. Manufacturing extension services are provided by utilizing the most cost effective, local, leveraged resources for those services through the coordinated efforts of a regionally-based MEP center and local technology resources. The management and operational structure of an MEP center is not prescribed, but should be based upon the characteristics of the manufacturers in the region and locally available resources with demonstrated experience working with manufacturers.

It is not the intent of this program that the centers perform research and development. Information regarding MEP and these centers is available at www.nist.gov/mep.

The statutory authority for the MEP Program is 15 U.S.C. 278k, as implemented in 15 C.F.R. part 290.

Who is Eligible: The eligibility requirements given in this section will be used for this competition only in lieu of those published in the MEP regulations found at 15 CFR part 290, specifically 15 CFR § 290.5 (a)(1). Each award recipient must be a U.S.-based nonprofit institution or organization. For the purpose of this funding opportunity, nonprofit organizations include universities and state and local governments. An eligible organization may work individually or include proposed subawards or contracts with others in a project application, effectively forming a team. Existing MEP awardees who meet the eligibility criteria set forth in this section may apply. However, as discussed in Section III.3.b. below, NIST will generally not fund applications that propose an organizational or operational structure that, in whole or in part, delegates or transfers to another person, institution, or organization the applicant's responsibility for core MEP management and oversight functions.

To view full Federal Funding Opportunity, click here.

Please submit your proposals via www.grants.gov under Funding Opportunity number 2014-NIST-MEP-FL-01

Florida Competition Time-line:

Below is an outline of the key steps along with the target timing of each. These actions will take place over the next several months. Updates and changes will be posted to this site as needed.

• February 28, 2014 – Announcement of Federal Register Notice (FRN)/Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) (75 Day Posting)
• March 19, 2014 Informational Webinar
• May 14, 2014 – Due Date for Proposals (please refer to FFO for specific deadlines for electronic and paper submissions)
• May – June 2014 – Review Process Continues and Selection of Proposed Awardees
• Late June - August 2014 – Preparation/Review and Execution of Official Award Package

Information Webinar:
An information webinar was held on Wednesday, March 19, 2014. The presentation slides and

are available online. 

Resources

MEP General Terms & Conditions
MEP Operating Plan Guidelines

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Please submit questions regarding this funding Opportunity to Diane Henderson @ diane.henderson [at] nist.gov (diane[dot]henderson[at]nist[dot]gov).

Get the latest Questions and Answers by downloading the FAQ document.