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Year: 2014

New Deadline on RFI for National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI)

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Last year, President Obama launched a major, new initiative focused on strengthening the innovation, performance, competitiveness, and job-creating power of U.S. manufacturing called the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI). Key design elements for the NNMI are captured within National Network for Manufacturing Innovation: A Preliminary Design, a report issued by the White House National Science and Technology Council on January 16, 2013. The NNMI is comprised of Institutes for Manufacturing Innovation (IMIs). The President has proposed up to 45 IMIs around the country. Congress is currently considering bills in both houses similar to the President’s proposal.

A Request for Information (RFI) was published June 2, 2014 on FedBizOps. Responses were originally due October 24, 2014 but that deadline has been moved up to October 10, 2014. The RFI seeks information about the following Technical Focus Areas:

  • Flexible Hybrid Electronics
  • Photonics
  • Engineered Nanomaterials
  • Fiber and Textiles
  • Electronic Packaging and Reliability
  • Aerospace Composites

IMIs will bring together industry, academia (four- and two-year universities, community colleges, technical institutes, etc.), and federal and state agencies to accelerate innovation by investing in industry-relevant manufacturing technologies with broad applications. Each Institute will have a specific technology or market focus and will serve as a regional hub of manufacturing excellence in that focus area, providing the critical infrastructure necessary to create a dynamic, highly collaborative environment spurring manufacturing technology innovations and technology transfer leading to production scale-up and commercialization. When established, each IMI will be a public-private partnership via a Cooperative Agreement and key part of the NNMI network of institutes.

Action Delayed on FY 2015 CR

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The House has postponed consideration of their FY 2015 continuing resolution (CR) to give members more time to review a White House request to arm Syrian rebels. It appears that they will not take action on the CR until next Wednesday, which could push the final action on the spending measure right up to the October 1st deadline. In addition to concerns about whether to authorize administration action against the Islamic State terrorist group, there are also concerns about a planned extension of the Export-Import Bank and a dispute over the length of the continuing resolution.

By delaying the vote until midweek, GOP House leaders may be seeking the upper hand over the Democrat-controlled Senate in shaping the final bill. With the House adjourning at the end of next week until after the mid-term elections, the Senate would have almost no time to make changes to the legislation and send the revisions back to the House before the chamber’s lawmakers adjourn. It could leave the Senate with little choice but to accept the deal, or be seen as forcing a government shutdown when the new fiscal year begins October 1st.

It is still too early to know if any shutdown threat actually exists, but lawmakers will need to work quickly in a short period of time to avoid that situation. The House appears to be sticking (for now) to their scheduled break at the end of next week. The Senate had hoped to adjourn by September 23rd but the delay may require them to come back in the last few days of September to take final action.

FY 2015 Continuing Resolution Released

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Last night, the House of Representatives released their version of the FY2015 Continuing Resolution to fund federal government through December 11, 2014.

The CR would fund the government at its current rate of $1.012 trillion annually with only a few changes in spending. Those changes include the Administration’s $88 million request to fight the Ebola crisis, providing money to both speed up the development and manufacturing of Ebola drugs and to support medical specialists on the ground in West Africa. The measure does not include any new funding for the child migrant crisis, or any extra funding for fighting the Islamic State terrorist group known as ISIS. The measure would, however, extend the Internet access tax moratorium, boost spending for disability claims processing at the VA, and continue heightened funding for certain eastern European-related programs at the State Department. Finally, and probably the most controversial change, the CR would extend authorization of the Export-Import Bank through June 2015, something that Congress was unable to agree on prior to their August recess.

The CR is expected to move through the House Rules Committee on today and come to the floor under a closed rule without the chance for amendments tomorrow. Meanwhile, Senate appropriators are working through the details of their own CR proposal. We expect to see that proposal once the House approves their CR and sends it to the Senate for consideration. And all of this is expected to be complete before September 23rd when Congress is scheduled to break until after the mid-term elections.

Congress back to work but only for two weeks

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Congress returns to the Capitol today after a month-long recess period. The top order of business this month is passing a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on October 1st – and they have as little as two weeks in the current work schedule to get that done. House Republican leadership wants to move a stopgap funding bill, also known as a continuing resolution (CR), that lasts through early December. The Senate is expected to follow shortly afterward. Such a stopgap is expected to do little more than extend fiscal 2014 spending levels and policy directives (PL 113-76) through December 11th or 12th. Reaching a final agreement on FY15 spending will be work for the lame-duck session of Congress in November.

Senators Introduce America COMPETES

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Senators Jay Rockefeller, (D-UW and Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Ed Markey (D-MA) have introduced the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2014.

The Senators’ bill would authorize stable and sustained increases in federal research and development (R&D) funding for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The bill would also promote the economic benefits of promising R&D and address agency efforts, including at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to increase participation in STEM fields, including among women and minorities.

The House has considered several contentious measures to reauthorize America COMPETES over the last year. The measure introduced by the Senate is in direct competition to the House versions.

The Senate version can be viewed here.

The Office of Federal Relations will continue to monitor the legislation and update the progress of the measure.