The Department of Defense (DoD) today announced an additional five awards totaling $9 million for the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP) to expand the domestic supply of ingredients and materials for U.S. supply chains by building bioproduction infrastructure.
The awardees include ARCTOS Technology Solutions in Beavercreek, Ohio; CleanJoule in Salt Lake City; Lygos in Berkeley, California; Synonym in New York City; and Visolis, in Hayward, California.
The awards are some of more than 30 expected to be conferred as part of the White House's Executive Order 14081, "Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Innovation for a Sustainable, Safe, and Secure American Bioeconomy," aimed at bolstering America's bioeconomic strengths while helping the Department achieve advanced defense capabilities.
"These awards represent exciting steps toward fulfilling President Biden's vision of a robust American bioeconomy and vibrant industrial base," said Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu, whose office leads the Pentagon's research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation efforts. "The bioindustrial manufacturing industry is primed and ready for investments that will ultimately boost national and economic security as well as strengthen our position at the forefront of the global bioeconomy."
Through these agreements, companies will receive funding to produce business and technical plans that detail construction of domestic bioindustrial manufacturing production facilities under the Defense Industrial Base Consortium (DIBC) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), a contract vehicle awarded and overseen by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. Successful projects that were selected under the competitive announcement can receive follow-on awards that would provide access to up to $100 million to build a U.S.-based bioindustrial manufacturing facility.
"These awards further demonstrate action against the long-term strategic goals in the National Defense Industrial Strategy," said Dr. William LaPlante, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. "Biomanufacturing is a great example of how the Department is using the DIBC OTA to enable faster execution of high priority efforts."
