Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program Overview and Assessment

The Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program is a national network of centers established by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act. The programs objectives are to enhance productivity and technological performance and to strengthen the global competitiveness of target manufacturing firms, namely small and medium-sized U.S.-based firms. Under this program, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) partners with 60 nonfederal organizations called MEP centers. The centers, located in 50 states and Puerto Rico, help target firms develop new customers and expand capacity, among other things. NIST awards federal funding to centers under annually renewed cooperative agreements, subject to the centers providing matching funds and receiving a positive performance evaluation. This book describes, over the past 5 years, how NIST spent federal MEP program funds and examines the basis for NISTs cooperative agreement award spending.