Defense Manufacturing Technologies Education and Workforce Development

*28 July Update: please list the RFI number in the subject line of the email submission “Notice ID: 20230721.” OSD-ManTech wishes to consider input from industry, academia, prospective non-profit leads, and other stakeholders as part of an effort to select and scope the focus areas to satisfy the strategic objectives for manufacturing technology education and workforce development (EWD) within the OSD-ManTech Portfolio, which also includes the Manufacturing Science & Technology Program (MSTP) w/DoD research laboratories and 9 DoD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (MII). This includes information on operation and structure for policy development, research and development innovations, and project execution potentially leading to toolsets/solutions in support of advanced manufacturing workforce initiatives for capability and capacity in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), the Organic Industrial Base (OIB), and/or the Commercial Industrial Base (CIB). This should include collaborations with regionally based economic ecosystems as necessary. Further requirements include information on methods and potential tool-based solutions for collaborations with existing EWD initiatives of the DoD MIIs in the current technical areas of Additive Manufacturing, Digital Design and Manufacturing, Lightweight Metals, Integrated Photonics, Flexible Hybrid Electronics, Revolutionary Fibers and Textiles, Regenerative Tissue Manufacturing, Advanced Robotics and AI, and Bioindustrial Manufacturing. It is anticipated that new initiatives and technologies will be considered, as the OSD ManTech portfolio of programs expands, which will include additional MII technology areas, as well as projects. With this information, OSD-ManTech envisions a third-party to structure and execute an EWD partnership under a desirable Assistance Agreement (2 CFR § 200.24). A negotiated and mutually acceptable system of governance will be established for this public-private partnership to assist the USG in execution of the M-EWD Program.