The Department of Defense announced new opportunities for American businesses to advance biotechnology as part of President Biden's efforts to strengthen and build the resiliency of America's defense industrial base and secure its supply chains. Biomanufacturing has the potential to support the U.S. military and our allies and partners by generating needed materials — from fuels and chemicals to food and medical supplies — where and when our forces need them has significant implications for our military.
This Request for White Papers (RWP) for the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Investment Program (DBMIP) seeks to strengthen domestic supply chains and sustain America's global prominence in biotechnology. The DBMIP will execute investments through the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), which helps lower barriers to allow DoD to work more expeditiously with small, non-traditional, and large businesses.
"President Biden called on the Department of Defense to assess how the agency can use biotechnology to make our supply chains more resilient, create jobs at home, and strengthen America's bioeconomy," said Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. "These major investments will help answer his charge to harness the full potential and power of biotechnology to advance national and economic security."
This RWP lays the foundation for a new era in U.S. bioindustrial manufacturing industry, as directed by President Biden's Executive Order 14081, "Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy." It is the first of many opportunities that support the Department's planned investments over the next five years to catalyze the establishment of a bioindustrial manufacturing base, which were announced in September 2022 following President Biden's Executive Order.
"This partnership with R&E exemplifies the collaboration called for in the National Defense Industrial Strategy—collaboration that's required to build the modernized defense industrial ecosystem we need," said Dr. William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. "The DIBC OTA helps enable more rapid execution of Defense Production Act funding and can also allow for other federal agencies with similar investments to separately or jointly invest in projects awarded by DoD."
The Department expects to announce awards in May for approximately 30 proposals, which will each receive up to $2 million to deliver a business and technical plan detailing how they intend to build a U.S. bioindustrial manufacturing production facility. Selected proposals will be eligible for follow on efforts as part of the OUSD A&S five year investment plan for the Department's bioindustrial manufacturing base.
The DIBC OTA is unique in that it allows DoD to rapidly execute prototypes under the authority of 10 U.S.C. § 4022, research projects under 10 U.S.C. 4021, and production OTs under 10 U.S.C. § 4022(f). These non-medical investments will build domestic capabilities across the U.S. and will mitigate supply chain risks in five defense material priority areas: Food, Fuel, Fitness, Fabrication, and Firepower.
To submit a white paper, please visit https://www.dibconsortium.org/
