A Request for Proposals from CESMII - The Smart Manufacturing Institute that funds projects to scale and deploy Smart Manufacturing (SM) technologies and solutions across manufacturing sectors and supply chains.

Up to $9.2M in total investment commitment: $4.6M in federal funding matched by $4.6M in participant cost share.

Projects should show how a proven SM solution can spread across multiple sites, production lines, companies, industry segments, or supply chains in a cost-effective, scalable, and interoperable way. The focus is broad implementation, not early-stage research on a single line. For example:

• Scaling SM from unit process step, to factory, to enterprise

• Replicating SM solutions from one factory to another in the same industry

• Scaling SM across the supply chain – manufacturer, tier suppliers, and small and medium manufacturers (SMMs)

• Functional scaling – from data acquisition and visualization to AI and Digital twin based predictive and proactive control

• Proliferating SM solutions nationally – across new industry verticals and small, medium, and large companies

CESMII use cases across 15 industry verticals have shown 10 to 35% impact in economic value for small, medium, and large manufacturers. This RFP aims to multiply that impact by proliferating solutions nationwide in an interoperable and cost-effective manner.

The RFP aligns with DOE's Genesis Mission, a national initiative to harness AI to double American science and engineering productivity within a decade. It also supports the goals and mission of DOE's Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Office of Critical Minerals, Materials, and Manufacturing (CM3).

Four areas of interest:

1. Manufacturing & Energy Productivity: Boost productivity, improve quality, optimize energy use, and increase competitiveness through scaled SM implementation at multiple production sites, lines, or participating companies.

2. Supply Chain Resiliency: Predict and mitigate supply chain disruptions with real-time visibility, agility, and data exchange. Outcomes include process optimization, reduced waste, and better energy productivity across the supply chain.

3. Battery Manufacturing: Improve battery production yield, throughput, and quality using real-time process monitoring, predictive analytics, digital twins, and AI & Advanced Control. Reduce energy intensity and strengthen domestic battery and critical-minerals supply chains.

4. Digital Twins & AI: Apply Digital Twins and AI to improve manufacturing decisions, performance and quality prediction, anomaly detection, constraint analysis, energy optimization, and production efficiency.

Yes. The concept paper form lets applicants select all areas that apply. However, we prefer you identify one topic area as primary.

Select every area that applies, then make the primary fit clear in the Problem Statement & Project Goals section. CESMII reviewers may choose to assign one primary area depending on the proposal approach and content.

Yes. The program is structured as a 1:1 match: every federal dollar requested should be matched by at least one dollar of participant cost share.  Check the full RFP for allowable sources and in-kind rules.

Typically labor, materials, equipment, and software contributed by project participants. Check the full RFP for allowable sources and in-kind rules. 

A high-level breakdown of labor, material/equipment/software, and travel, each split into federal funding and cost share. A full detailed budget is not required at this stage.  A table is provided in the concept paper template. 

The maximum federal funding for a project is $1.2M.

The project duration can be between 12-24 months.

January 8, 2027 by 11:59 PM ET.

Through the online concept paper submission form. Each section of the concept paper template has its own field on the form.

Up to five pages. The online form sets a character limit for each section.

1. Contact and lead organization
2. Project overview: title, partners and their roles, area(s) of interest, and start and end dates
3. Project summary: overview, background, and technology
4. Problem statement & project goals
5. Technical approach to the challenges in the Problem Statement
6. Potential impact: commercial impact and advancement over current practice or incumbent technology
7. CESMII benefits: relevance to CESMII goals and broader impact
8. Key milestones, written as SMART milestones (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound)
9. Budget summary: labor, material/equipment/software, and travel, split by federal funding and cost share

Yes, optionally. Applicants can upload diagrams or a PDF of the concept paper. The narrative must still be entered in the form fields.

Yes. However, each concept paper should be a separate form submission.

Selected concept paper teams will be  invited to submit a full proposal. Timeline and selection criteria should be confirmed against the full RFP.

The concept paper may be submitted by any industry or academic organization.  Only one organization can be a lead, with the partners listed as team members. Organizations do not need to be CESMII members at the time of proposal submission, but must become members if their project is selected, before a formal contract is in place.

Project partners are highly recommended for all projects.  Supply chain projects require one large manufacturer and 6-10 small manufacturers in their supply chain. 

Yes. They can also participate in Supply chain projects that require one large manufacturer and 6-10 small manufacturers in their supply chain.

The technical point of contact for the proposal.

Yes. The Scale & Deploy Informational Webinars will take place during the week of October 23, 2027.  Registration link and whether a recording will be posted on the CESMII RFP website.

Please refer to all FAQ's and send questions to roadmapprojects.info@cesmii.org.