PART 290—REGIONAL CENTERS FOR THE TRANSFER OF MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY Authority: 15 U.S.C. 278k. Source: 55 FR 38275, Sept. 17, 1990, unless otherwise noted. § 290.1 Purpose. This rule provides policy for a program to establish Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology as well as the prescribed policies and procedures to insure the fair, equitable and uniform treatment of proposals for assistance. In addition, the rule provides general guidelines for the management of the program by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as well as criteria for the evaluation of the Centers, throughout the lifecycle of financial assistance to the Centers by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. § 290.2 Definitions. (a) The phrase advanced manufacturing technology (b) The term Center Regional Center (c) The term operating award (d) The term Director (e) The term NIST (f) The term Program Centers Program (g) The term qualified proposal (h) The term Secretary (i) The term target firm § 290.3 Program description. (a) The Secretary, acting through the Director, shall provide technical and financial assistance for the creation and support of Regional Centers for the Transfer of Manufacturing Technology. Each Center shall be affiliated with a U.S.-based nonprofit institution or organization which has submitted a qualified proposal for a Center Operating Award under these procedures. Support may be provided for a period not to exceed six years. The Centers work with industry, universities, nonprofit economic development organizations and state governments to transfer advanced manufacturing technologies, processes, and methods as defined in § 290.2 to small and medium sized firms. These technology transfer efforts focus on the continuous and incremental improvement of the target firms. The advanced manufacturing technology which is the focus of the Centers is the subject of research in NIST's Automated Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF). The core of AMRF research has principally been applied in discrete part manufacturing, including electronics, composites, plastics, and metal parts fabrication and assembly. Centers will be afforded the opportunity for interaction with the AMRF and will be given access to reasearch projects and results to strengthen their technology transfer. Where elements of a solution are available from an existing source, they should be employed. Where private-sector consultants who can meet the needs of a small- or medium-sized manufacturer are available, they should handle the task. Each Center should bring to bear the technology expertise described in § 290.3(d) to assist small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms in adopting advanced manufacturing technology. (b) Program objective. (1) The transfer of manufacturing technology and techniques developed at NIST to Centers and, through them, to manufacturing companies throughout the United States; (2) The participation of individuals from industry, universities, State governments, other Federal agencies, and, when appropriate, NIST in cooperative technology transfer activities; (3) Efforts to make new manufacturing technology and processes usable by United States-based small- and medium-sized companies; (4) The active dissemination of scientific, engineering, technical, and management information about manufacturing to industrial firms, including small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies; and (5) The utilization, when appropriate, of the expertise and capability that exists in Federal laboratories other than NIST. (c) Center activities. (1) The establishment of automated manufacturing systems and other advanced production technologies based on research by NIST and other Federal laboratories for the purpose of demonstrations and technology transfer; (2) The active transfer and dissemination of research findings and Center expertise to a wide range of companies and enterprises, particularly small- and medium-sized manufacturers; and (3) Loans, on a selective, short-term basis, of items of advanced manufacturing equipment to small manufacturing firms with less than 100 employees. (d) Center organization and operation. (e) Leverage. (f) Regional impact. § 290.4 Terms and schedule of financial assistance. The Secretary may provide up to 50 percent of the capital and annual operating and maintenance funds required to establish and support an MEP Center. [82 FR 28995, June 27, 2017] § 290.5 Basic proposal qualifications. (a) NIST shall designate each proposal which satisfies the qualifications criteria below as “qualified proposal” and subject the qualified proposals to a merit review. Applications which do not meet the requirements of this section will not receive further consideration. (1) Qualified organizations. (2) Proposal format. (i) Be submitted with a Standard Form 424 to the above address; (ii) Not exceed 25 typewritten pages in length for the basic proposal document (3) Proposal requirements. (i) A plan for the allocation of intellectual property rights associated with any invention or copyright which may result from the involvement in the Center's technology transfer or research activities consistent with the conditions of § 290.9; (ii) A statement which provides adequate assurances that the host organization will contribute 50 percent or more of the proposed Center's capital and annual operating and maintenance costs for the first three years and an increasing share for each of the following three additional years. Applicants should provide evidence that the proposed Center will be self-supporting after six years. (iii) A statement describing linkages to industry, government, and educational organizations within its service region. (iv) A statement defining the initial service region including a statement of the constituency to be served and the level of service to be provided, as well as outyear plans. (v) A statement agreeing to focus the mission of the Center on technology transfer activities and not to exclude companies based on state boundaries. (vi) A proposed plan for the annual evaluation of the success of the Center by the Program, including appropriate criteria for consideration, and weighting of those criteria. (vii) A plan to focus the Center's technology emphasis on areas consistent with NIST technology research programs and organizational expertise. (viii) A description of the planned Center sufficient to permit NIST to evaluate the proposal in accordance with § 290.6 of these procedures. (b) [Reserved] § 290.6 Proposal evaluation and selection criteria. (a) In making a decision whether to provide financial support, NIST shall review and evaluate all qualified proposals in accordance with the following criteria, assigning equal weight to each of the four categories. (1) Identification of target firms in proposed region. (i) Market analysis. (ii) Geographical location. (2) Technology resources. (3) Technology delivery mechanisms. (i) Linkages. (ii) Program leverage. (4) Management and financial plan. (i) Organizational structure. (ii) Program management. (iii) Internal evaluation. (iv) Plans for financial matching. (v) Budget. § 290.7 Proposal selection process. Upon the availability of funding to solicit applications to establish a new Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Center or to operate a pre-existing MEP Center, the Director shall publish a notice of funding opportunity on www.Grants.gov [86 FR 56183, Oct. 8, 2021] § 290.8 Reviews of centers. (a) Overview. (b) Annual reviews of centers. (c) Third year review of centers. (d) Criteria for annual and third year reviews. (1) The program objectives specified in § 290.3(b) of these procedures; (2) Funds-matching performance; (3) The extent to which the target firms have successfully implemented recently developed or currently developed advanced manufacturing technology and techniques transferred by the Center; (4) The extent to which successes are properly documented and there has been further leveraging or use of a particular advanced manufacturing technology or process; (5) The degree to which there is successful operation of a network, or technology delivery mechanism, involving the sharing or dissemination of information related to manufacturing technologies among industry, universities, nonprofit economic development organizations and state governments. (6) The extent to which the Center can increasingly develop continuing resources—both technological and financial—such that the Centers are finally financially self-sufficient. § 290.9 Intellectual property rights. (a) Awards under the Program will follow the policies and procedures on ownership to inventions made under grants and cooperative agreements that are set out in Public Law 96-517 (35 U.S.C. chapter 18), the Presidential Memorandum on Government Patent Policy to the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Dated February 18, 1983, and part 401 of title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as appropriate. These policies and procedures generally require the Government to grant to Centers selected for funding the right to elect to obtain title to any invention made in the course of the conduct of research under an award, subject to the reservation of a Government license. (b) Except as otherwise specifically provided for in an Award, Centers selected for funding under the Program may establish claim to copyright subsisting in any data first produced in the performance of the award. When claim is made to copyright, the funding recipient shall affix the applicable copyright notice of 17 U.S.C. 401 or 402 and acknowledgment of Government sponsorship to the data when and if the data are delivered to the Government, are published, or are deposited for registration as a published work in the U.S. Copyright Office. For data other than computer software, the funding recipient shall grant to the Government, and others acting on its behalf, a paid up, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license for all such data to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. For computer software, the funding recipient shall grant to the Government, and others acting on its behalf, a paid up, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license for all such computer software to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government.