Federal Announcements

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced that the Economic Development Administration (EDA) intends to award $24.8 million in Disaster Supplemental funding to the Additive Manufacturing and Advanced Materials (AM2) coalition to support advanced manufacturing workforce development in southwest Virginia. This award will support the development of an advanced manufacturing certification program and provide new equipment for optimizing manufacturing processes.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) kicks off Cybersecurity Awareness Month today. CISA updated our Cybersecurity Awareness Month page with additional information, tips, and resources, including for business and government organizations—if you haven’t done so yet, be sure to check out this year’s toolkit.

resident Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday establishing America.gov, an AI-powered government portal through which users can access public services and search thousands of federal databases. The order, “Streamlining access to government services through America.gov,” establishes the website and directs all agencies to integrate their public-facing services into the platform within 90 days.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for 14 Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers to improve U.S. industrial competitiveness by helping small and medium-sized manufacturers adopt advanced manufacturing technologies.

The Department of War's Economic Defense Unit (EDU) in partnership with the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSW(A&S)) announced a $25 million investment with ReElement Technologies Corp. to expand domestic refining capacity for rare earth elements and other defense-critical minerals at the company's Marion, Indiana facility. This investment will strengthen the U.S. industrial base.

The Office of Advanced Manufacturing (OAM) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a notice of intent (NOI) that it will announce a competition for Manufacturing USA Institutes to develop roadmaps for transitioning technologies to market.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has issued notice that it will announce a competitive pilot program for existing MEP Centers to accelerate the adoption and commercialization of advanced manufacturing technologies that enhance the competitiveness of the domestic industrial base in the critical sectors of advanced manufacturing for aerospace components, and the domestic critical minerals supply chain.

STRIDE Ventures – a joint effort between the U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP) and the Start2 Group to rapidly fund U.S. innovation – recently launched the AI Efficiency Challenge. The challenge invites proposals that accelerate the commercial adoption of translation-ready solutions to dramatically improve the efficiency of at-scale AI/Machine Learning systems and data centers.

The DoW announced today the latest in a series of investments in the solid rocket motor industrial base: an April 20, 2026, investment of $27.3 million in DPA Title III funds to Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company (PacSci EMC), in Chandler, Arizona. It supports DoW's objectives to expand the munitions industrial base, bolster supply chain resiliency, and increase domestic production in strategic priority areas.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will travel to Denver, CO, to visit True Anomaly and Sierra Space. He will also administer the oath of enlistment to the next generation of American warfighters at Buckley Space Force Base. The Arsenal of Freedom tour's call to action to revitalize America's manufacturing might is aimed at ensuring the United States dominates not only on land, sea, and air, but in the future of warfare, space.