State Manufacturing Leadership Program

‍

‍

Informational Webinar/ Objective Strategic Session: Join ENERGYWERX and the SMLP team for an in-depth informational webinar about the State Manufacturing Leadership Program (SMLP) on January 29, 2025 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET. This session will provide valuable insights into the program’s objectives, benefits, and how potential applicants can leverage it to drive growth, innovation, and sustainability in their operations.

We encourage you to register in advance to secure your spot and ensure you don’t miss out on this informative session.

• Registration link for 1/29 OSS Session

ENWX will be employing the CAPTCHA-enabled feature on our meetings, and webinar participants may receive a CAPTCHA challenge in order to join the Sessions. 

For a best webinar experience, we recommend downloading the Microsoft Teams software to your computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Informational Office Hours: DOE will be hosting two Informational Office Hours Session on February 26, 2025 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET and March 19, 2025 from 3:00-4:00 PM ET. These sessions are aimed to provide potential applicants with detailed information about the State Manufacturing Leadership Program (SMLP). During these sessions, participants will have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the program's scope, objectives, and the overall intent of the funding opportunity.

These sessions will also offer an interactive forum for attendees to ask specific questions, clarify any uncertainties, and receive guidance on how to navigate the application process. Whether you are exploring this opportunity for the first time or looking for further clarification on program requirements, the office hours sessions will provide the necessary insights to ensure your application is ready for submission.

We encourage you to register in advance to secure your spot.

• ‍Registration link for 2/26 Office Hours Session
• Registration link for 3/19 Office Hours Session

ENWX will be employing the CAPTCHA-enabled feature on our meetings, and webinar participants may receive a CAPTCHA challenge in order to join the Sessions. 

For a best webinar experience, we recommend downloading the Microsoft Teams software to your computer, smartphone, or tablet.

Submission Window: January 15, 2025 - April 21, 2025 (3:00 PM ET)

Click Here to Start Your Application

Complete submission and upload here: Click Here to Submit (Submissions are due April 21, 2025 by 3:00 PM ET)

‍

DOE is seeking applications for projects under this opportunity from state entities, state-funded universities, and state funded community and technical colleges to establish new or expand existing programs that (1) provide assistance to SMMs to implement smart manufacturing technologies and practices and (2) facilitate access to high-performance computing (HPC) resources for SMMs.

Please review the Solicitation Overview for more detailed information about this opportunity and eligibility and review criteria.

Every prime recipient and any sub-recipient(s) must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Must be domestic entities
• Must be in good standing for Federal program participation

Prime Recipients (applicants) are limited to:

• State entities;
• State-funded university; or
• State-funded community or technical college

Applications for projects under this opportunity must include support to SMMs that are focused within the following five key areas:

• Outreach: Promoting the benefits of smart manufacturing technologies among SMMs based on national and regional economic development and supply chain priorities;
• Training and Workforce Development: Educating the current and future workforce on smart manufacturing technologies, to include through apprenticeship, internship, certification, or degree programs.
• Facility, Product, or Process Assessments: Evaluating SMM facilities for potential smart manufacturing technology improvements or leveraging HPC resources to identify product or process improvements.
• Roadmapping: Building executable plans to implement smart manufacturing improvements for SMMs.
• Direct Technology Implementation: Identifying and/or directly providing financial assistance to facilitate SMMs’ access to and/or implementation of smart manufacturing and high-performance computing resources and technologies.

Applicants are bound by the cost share proposed in their applications if selected for award negotiations. The cost share must be at least 23.1% of the total project costs.^1,2,3 The cost share must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.

• For example: For a project seeking the maximum $2 million federal award size, the minimum non-federal funds would need to be $600,781 (rounded up to the nearest dollar) in order to meet the 23.1% cost share requirement for this opportunity.

‍

¹Total project costs are the sum of the government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of project costs.

²BIL Section 40534(3) requires that an entity receiving financial assistance under that section contribute matching funds in an amount equal to not less than 30 percent of the financial assistance (cost match). For consistency with other Doe programs, this 30 percent cost match was converted to a 23.1 cost share, rounded up to the nearest decimal.

³Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-58, sec. 988. Also see 2 CFR 200.306 and 2 CFR 910.130 for additional cost sharing requirements

‍

Applications will be evaluated using the technical review criteria shown below. All sub-criteria are of equal weight.

Technical Merit, Innovation, and Impact (35%)

• Project Design:  The project model as designed is a reasonable approach to address and fulfill the objectives of the opportunity, with a focus on the five key areas listed above
• Project Engagement Strategy: The project has a clear engagement plan to reach SMMs and is partnering, whether targeting SMMs across the state/region broadly or focusing on specific industries, geographies, or demographics.
• Project Impact: The project will have a tangible, quantifiable impact on expanding access to smart manufacturing technologies and practices and HPC resources for SMMs, such as:
  • Number of incumbent or new workforce trained
  • Number of degrees or other credentials conferred
  • Number of facility assessments, Roadmapping, or other technical assistance provided
  • Quantity and type of direct implementation assistance provided
  • Quantity of emissions reduced

Project Workplan and Budget (35%)

• Project Workplan:  The tasks and descriptions are clear, detailed, timely, and reasonable, resulting in a high likelihood that the proposed project will succeed
• Project Budget: The budget is reasonable and realistic, meets the program’s cost share requirements, and – with alternative funding sources – has the potential to sustain the project beyond the federal funding

Community Benefits Plan (20%)

• Community and Labor Engagement:  The project will be accountable to affected workers and community stakeholders, including those most vulnerable to project activities, with a plan to publicly share SMART Community Benefits Plan commitments
• Investing in Quality Jobs: The project will either directly or indirectly create and/or retain high quality, good-paying jobs with employer-sponsored benefits
• Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility: The Community Benefits Plan includes specific and high-quality actions to meet DEIA goals as well as quality partnerships and agreements to address workers facing systematic barriers to employment
• Justice40 Initiative:  The project identifies specific, measurable benefits for disadvantaged communities, how benefits will flow to disadvantaged communities, and how negative environmental impacts affecting disadvantaged communities will be mitigated.

Technical Qualifications and Resources (10%)

• Key Project Team: The project manager(s) and other key project team members have the appropriate experience in areas such as smart manufacturing technologies, technical assistance for SMMs, training and workforce development to make the project successful
• Project Partners: The project is leveraging valuable national, state, regional, or local organizations that will result in a more robust and integrated ecosystem to support SMMs in vicinity of the project
• Project Facilities, Equipment, and Resources: The project’s facilities, equipment, and other resources are sufficient to support the work

‍What are Smart Manufacturing and high-performance computing?

For the purposes of this opportunity:

“Smart Manufacturing” means advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computation, sensing, modeling, artificial intelligence, analytics, and networking that can -

• simulate manufacturing production lines;
• operate computer-controlled manufacturing equipment;
• monitor and communicate production line status; and
• manage and optimize energy productivity and cost throughout production;
• model, simulate, and optimize the energy efficiency of a factory building;
• monitor and optimize building energy performance;
• model, simulate, and optimize the design of energy efficient and sustainable products, including the use of digital prototyping and additive manufacturing to enhance product design;
• connect manufactured products in networks to monitor and optimize the performance of the networks, including automated network operations; and
• digitally connect the supply chain network.¹⁶

“High-Performance Computing” means the use of supercomputers, sophisticated models, and/or large data sets to study and solve complex scientific and technological challenges.

‍

What exactly is a “small- and medium-sized manufacturer”?

The term “small- and medium-sized manufacturer” (SMM) means manufacturing firms:

• classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as any of sectors 31 through 33;
• with gross annual sales of less than $100,000,000;
• with fewer than 500 employees at the plant site; and
• with annual energy bills totaling more than $100,000 and less than $3,500,000

‍

Who is eligible to receive funding?

Refer to Section III.G.2. Eligibility Requirements in the Solicitation Overview.

An application’s prime recipient must be one of the following eligibility entities, else the application will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation:

• State entity;
• State-funded university; or
• State-funded community or technical college

‍

Are applicants required to provide cost share?

Yes, cost sharing is required under this solicitation. Applicants are required to provide at least a 23.1% cost share, i.e. applicants need to fund a minimum of 23.1% of the total project cost. Cost share can come from any non-federal source, i.e. cash on hand, philanthropy, corporate investment, etc.

‍

What is the difference between “cost share” and “cost match”?

Refer to the Cost Share handout for more detail and examples.

• While the terms “cost sharing” and “cost matching” are sometimes used interchangeably, there is an important distinction between them. DOE uses “cost sharing” to indicate that the non- federal share is calculated as a percentage of the Total Project Cost. On the other hand, for “cost matching”, the non-federal match is calculated as a percentage of the federal funds only, rather than the Total Project Cost.
• The statutory language that authorizes the State Manufacturing Leadership Program requires proponents to provide at least 30 percent cost match. For the purposes of this solicitation, the 30 percent cost matching requirement has been converted to an equivalent 23.1 percent cost sharing requirement.

‍

What are the acronyms SMM, HPC, SMLP, BIL?

• SMM = small- and medium-sized manufacturers
• HPC = high-performance computing
• SMLP = State Manufacturing Leadership Program
• BIL = Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
• IAC = Industrial Assessment Center
• ITAC = Industrial Training and Assessment Center
• TA = Technical Assistance

‍

For additional questions, please contact info@energywerx.org

‍