America Makes Announces Project Call Worth $6.4M in Funding 

The National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining (NCDMM) and America Makes have announced a new open project call funded by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Manufacturing Technology Office (OSD (R&E)), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) worth a total of $6.4M. The number of anticipated awards and maximum funding will vary depending on the topic area being addressed.
 
The request for proposal (RFP) for this project call is separated into two documents:

• Open Project Call 2023 includes Topics 1-6 worth $1.2M in federal funding; and
• Methods and Approaches for Sustainable Additive Manufacturing (AM) Operations are addressed in Topics 7-8 worth $5.2M in funding.

The six topical areas for the Open Project Call 2023 are a direct result of the actions of the Institute and its membership. Efforts to establish these topics were initiated at AM Technology Roadmap workshops in 2021 and 2022 and focused on needs prioritized for the five swimlanes: Design, Materials, Process, Value Chain and AM Genome. Additionally, several workshops have been conducted by America Makes and its members to address the needs of the domestic AM supply chain for education and workforce development (EWD). Topic areas include:

• Topic 1—Design for Dimensional Inspection of Internal Features via In-Situ Process Monitoring
• Topic 2—Thermal Manipulations for Processing Improvements
• Topic 3—In-Process Sensor Calibration, Characterization Methods, and Operating Limits to Yield Reliable Process Data 
• Topic 4—Frameworks for Utilizing Process Monitoring In Conjunction with Ex-Situ Inspection for Qualification 
• Topic 5—AM Process Pre-Qualification
• Topic 6—“Should vs. Could” Tool and Training

Topics 7 and 8 of the Methods and Approaches for Sustainable AM Operations project call aim to develop and demonstrate sustainable practices and products through design, material selection and development, material handling, and/or recycling. The RFP also seeks responses that detail methods and approaches delivering validated objective evidence to substantiate robust AM manufacturing operations (operational qualification). Topic areas include:

• Topic 7 – Analysis of AM Sustainability and Environmental Benefits
• Topic 8 – Methods for Demonstrating Operational Qualification 

Project call timeline:

• Launched: Monday, July 10
• Kickoff Webinar: Thursday, July 27 at Virtual TRX (Registration Required)
• Membership Eligibility Deadline: 
• Thursday, August 10 for those receiving federal funding (Topics 1-6)
• Thursday, August 10 for proposal lead (Topics 7-8).
• Submission Deadline: Friday, August 25 by 5 p.m., ET
• Anticipated Awards Announcement: Monday, September 25

 For full details and guidelines, click HERE. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.

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