Open Project Call – August 2022

Team members receiving federal funding must be America Makes members.

Yes, teams may submit more than one Project Proposal.

Questions should be emailed to projectcall@americamakes.us. Questions will be posted to the America Makes website according to the schedule. Questions asked AFTER the scheduled Q&A session will NOT be addressed.

Yes, but only if they are members. The approval process for foreign-owned entities can take up to 4 weeks to complete, so non-members would not have sufficient time to apply and be approved prior to this deadline.

Federal dollars cannot be spent outside of the United States. It is the Lead / team’s responsibility to ensure compliance with all applicable export control laws and regulations.

Yes. The proposals will only be reviewed by the evaluation team and each team member signs a confidentiality agreement.

The owning organization should list anything that they are leveraging that is not going to be made available to the membership at the completion of the project. This could be a patent number or a description of the background IP that is being leveraged.

The IP is owned by the organization that developed the IP, however that IP is subject to the rules outlined in the membership agreement.

Yes, however the Government has a right to the equipment once the project has ended. It would need tagged, stored and dispositioned appropriately. Please see CFR 200 for more details.

High throughput refers to more samples in less time with valid results

We can not answer questions about scope or approach.

From the RFP
-Responses which clearly explain why funding is required based upon historical evidence, perceived value of outcomes, technical merit, likelihood of success, and including a discussion of other sources of funding that have been attained or being pursued, and how this funding will provide specific benefits to all America makes Members. You may also take advantage of the Project Strategic Relevance Appendix: The Project Strategic Relevance Appendix should contain explicit examples of how the proposed work is integral to the vested interests of the proposing team, as well as how the successful outcomes of the proposed project will integrate into potential follow-on efforts.  There is no guarantee of follow-on funding.  Details should be included that highlight follow-on approach, milestones, deliverables, approximate timeline to achieve TRL 7, and associated relevant KPPs.

Yes, In kind cost share is allowed.

The intent is for high temperature, high stress processing of metal. Note: projects that suggest using additively manufactured product in lieu of wrought materials are out of scope.

In this case a “chain” is referring to a sequence of processes

From the RFP:

-Offerors are encouraged to propose approaches that use a novel additive manufacturing process chain to manufacture tooling for the manufacture of wrought product.
-The intent is for high temperature, high stress processing of metal.  If useful, it may include conformal cooling and temperature controls. Technical approaches addressing this project may vary but may include any process or series of processes in combination with the material(s) of choice that could reasonably be expected to address this problem.  Note: projects that suggest using additively manufactured product in lieu of wrought materials are out of scope.

The intent is for high temperature, high stress processing of metal.  If useful, it may include conformal cooling and temperature controls. Technical approaches addressing this project may vary but may include any process or series of processes in combination with the material(s) of choice that could reasonably be expected to address this problem.  Note: projects that suggest using additively manufactured product in lieu of wrought materials are out of scope.