Commerce Department Launches $93.5M Grant Program to Support Underserved Businesses; Donald Cravins Jr. Quoted
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Commerce Department Launches $93.5M Grant Program to Support Underserved Businesses; Donald Cravins Jr. Quoted

The Department of Commerce is giving away $93.5 million in grants to support services for minority and other underserved businesses as part of its new Capital Readiness Program.

DOC announced Wednesday that its Minority Business Development Agency launched the grant competition in search of business incubators and accelerators who can aid women, minority and disadvantaged entrepreneurs in launching or growing their business.

The awardees will provide technical assistance, training, tools and resources to the target business owners in sectors such as health care, climate resilient technology, asset management and infrastructure. Incentives will be given to proposals that address socioeconomic challenges, including child care for women in the workplace.

The program will also help the entrepreneurs get capital and financing through the Department of Treasury, as well as connections to subject matter experts, vendors and networks, said MBDA Undersecretary Donald Cravins, Jr.

The agency will hold pre-application webinars on Jan. 10, 17 and 24 for eligible private sector entities, educational institutions, non-profit organizations and consortia.

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Report: China’s Imports of Chip Manufacturing Equipment Fell 40%
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Report: China’s Imports of Chip Manufacturing Equipment Fell 40%

China’s imports of semiconductor-making machinery dropped 40 percent from November last year to $2.3 billion following the October release of U.S. restrictions on the export of advanced chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to the nation, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

In October, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security implemented new export controls on advanced computing chips and semiconductor production items as part of efforts to safeguard U.S. national security by restricting China’s access to such technologies that could advance its military modernization efforts and surveillance activities.

China’s purchase of American-made chip-making equipment plunged to $349 million in November, reflecting a nearly 50 percent drop from a year earlier and a decline of nearly 30 percent from September, according to data supplied by Beijing.

Shipments of chip manufacturing machines from Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands to China also dropped in November following the issuance of the new U.S. rules, according to the report.

The data showed that the November figure was the lowest since May 2020 and reflected a sharp drop from China’s chip equipment imports of $4 billion in June 2021.

The new export restrictions have resulted in some chip-manufacturing equipment organizations’ withdrawing their personnel and pausing work at Chinese facilities.

Policy Think Tank Founder Richard Revesz Confirmed as Head of Federal Regulatory Office
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Policy Think Tank Founder Richard Revesz Confirmed as Head of Federal Regulatory Office

Richard Revesz, a New York University law professor who founded the Institute for Policy Integrity, was confirmed by the Senate to serve as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, through a voice vote Wednesday.

His confirmation follows an announcement from President Joe Biden in September, in which Revesz was nominated to lead the office responsible for conducting reviews of agencies’ proposed and finalized regulations and collections of information from the public.

OIRA operates within the Office of Management and Budget.

Revesz most recently served as Dean Emeritus at the New York University School of Law and director of the Institute for Policy and Integrity think tank focused on promoting policies related to the environment, consumers and public health.

He has authored more than 80 articles about environmental policies and the institutional conditions influencing the creation of regulatory policy.

Born in Argentina, Revesz immigrated to the U.S. when he was 17 and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University.

He holds a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.

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Jay Bonci: Air Force Looks at 5G Tech for Military Utility
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Jay Bonci: Air Force Looks at 5G Tech for Military Utility

Jay Bonci, chief technology officer of the Department of the Air Force, thinks fifth generation communication networks could be a valuable, but not exclusive, means of connectivity in future military operations, C4ISRNET reported Thursday.

He said at a recent livestreamed event that DAF is responding to the Department of Defense’s “special emphasis” on 5G capabilities and likened it to the significance of fiber optics and WIFI in battlefields.

“It’s got some interesting technologies, in future tranches, that we’re looking at for military utility,” the former Akamai Technologies executive was quoted as saying by C4ISRNET.

The Pentagon’s fiscal 2023 budget request includes $250 million for 5G-related projects, according to the report.

Bonci noted the DOD’s work with wireless service and infrastructure providers to facilitate military adoption of 5G applications.

Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell Technologies, General Dynamics Information Technology, Splunk and T-Mobile formed a coalition in November with the goal of helping government customers and other sectors deploy wireless and edge technology platforms.

OSTP Seeks Input on National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative
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OSTP Seeks Input on National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy is inviting public input on the potential benefits of biotechnology and biomanufacturing advancements to the U.S. government’s sustainability targets.

The request for information notice posted on Federal Register is part of the Biden administration’s National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, which aims to stimulate innovations in multiple sectors from agriculture to national security.

The federal government intends to explore the use of biotech and bioprocessing to advance technologies in health, food and agriculture, supply chain, climate change, energy, and national and economic security.

To that end, OSTP is seeking expert opinion from the industry, scientific community and academia on matters such as the creation of a data ecosystem to support U.S. bioeconomy breakthroughs.

OSTP issued the RFI on Tuesday and will accept feedback until Jan. 20.

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MIT Professor Evelyn Wang Confirmed as ARPA-E Director; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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MIT Professor Evelyn Wang Confirmed as ARPA-E Director; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

Evelyn Wang, former Ford Professor of Engineering and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has been confirmed by the Senate to serve as director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

Wang, who was nominated for the position in March, told lawmakers during her Senate confirmation hearing that she would prioritize efforts related to carbon capture and storage and the commercialization of technologies funded by the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E once confirmed, ARPA-E said Thursday.

“Now more than ever, we rely on ARPA-E to support early-stage energy technologies that will help us tackle climate change and strengthen American competitiveness,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“Dr. Wang’s experience and expertise with groundbreaking research will ensure that ARPA-E continues its role as a key engine of innovation and climate action,” she continued.

At MIT, Wang served as associate director of the Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center. She has worked as a consultant for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s defense science study group and as a technology expert and researcher for advanced technologies and projects at Google.

Wang holds over 15 patents, has published more than 180 journal papers and has received over two-dozen awards and honors in her field. She is best known for her work on solar-power technologies able to extract drinkable water from the air in dry climates.

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GE Aviation to Help Facilitate US, Foreign Military Aircraft Maintenance Training
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GE Aviation to Help Facilitate US, Foreign Military Aircraft Maintenance Training

The U.S. Air Force has awarded General Electric’s aviation subsidiary a three-year, $29.3 million contract to provide contractor engineering and technical support through the training of military and civilian personnel on aircraft systems maintenance.

The firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award will cater to the Air Force, Air National Guard and Navy as well as to numerous foreign military sales customer locations, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

GE Aviation is expected to complete the delivery of these services by the end of December 2025. The contract involves unclassified foreign military sales to Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

The contracting activity is the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, which will use fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance funds to obligate over $13 million at the time of the award.

House Passes $1.7T Omnibus Spending Package for FY23
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House Passes $1.7T Omnibus Spending Package for FY23

A $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package for fiscal year 2023 has been passed by the House of Representatives in a 225-201 vote.

The House vote on Friday follows approval from the Senate on Thursday, and the omnibus package — composed of 12 separate bills — is now headed to the President’s desk, where it is expected to be signed before the short-term measure to extend government funding expires at midnight Friday.

Congress has also passed a one-week stopgap bill that will fund the federal government through Dec. 30 while the omnibus bill awaits the President’s signature.

The bill increases defense spending for 2023 to $858 billion — a 10 percent increase from fiscal year 2022 — and increases non-defense discretionary spending by six percent for a total of $773 billion.

Also included in the bill is an allocation of $40.6 billion for nationwide disaster relief efforts and another $44.9 billion for U.S. emergency assistance to Ukraine.

For service members and civilian employees at the Pentagon, the measure includes a 4.6 percent increase in pay. 

The House vote on the omnibus bill comes on the heels of the National Defense Authorization Act being signed into law by President Biden on Friday afternoon. 

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President Biden Signs NDAA Into Law, $817B Allocated to DOD
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President Biden Signs NDAA Into Law, $817B Allocated to DOD

President Joe Biden has signed the Fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act into law, allocating billions in funds to multiple federal agencies.

Under the NDAA, $817 billion will be allocated to the Department of Defense, $30.3 billion will be given to the Department of Energy for its national security programs and $378 million will be set aside for other “defense-related activities,” the DOD announced on Friday.

The act also authorizes $12.6 billion in funding to address inflation impacts on purchases, $3.8 billion to account for inflation in military construction and $2.5 billion for inflation effects on DOD fuel purchases.

Additionally, the act includes $45 billion more than the amount initially requested to tackle the effects of inflation and accelerate the adoption of the National Defense Strategy, which was publicly released in October.

The NDAA also completely funds the U.S. Special Operations Command’s budget and includes approximately $250 million for requirements that have not yet received funding. 

On a global scale, the act will extend the Pacific Deterrence Initiative into the fiscal year with approximately $11.5 billion in investments toward its objectives.

Other portions of funding under the act are allotted to various military initiatives, including Navy shipbuilding and aircraft procurement.

The act will also result in a 4.6 percent pay increase for military and civilian members of the department as well as other benefits for military personnel and their families.

The signing of the NDAA coincides with the passing of the $1.7 trillion Omnibus bill by the House of Representatives on the same day to fund federal agencies through September.

Top 3 Government Contracts Won by Merck & Co. Inc
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Top 3 Government Contracts Won by Merck & Co. Inc

Merck & Co. Inc, or Merck, has been a leading technology and science corporation making high-quality medicines and vaccines for over a century. The company is known for innovating and developing medicines and vaccines and delivering them worldwide through contracting. Read this to learn more about Merck & Co.’s contracts with the government.

1. Merck & Co. wins U.S. Government COVID-19 Drug Molnupiravir Procurement, $1.2 Billion

COVID-19 Drug Molnupiravir 1.7 million courses

The U.S. government contracted Merck & Co for testing and manufacturing molnupiravir. The MOVe-OUT Phase 3 clinical trial tests molnupiravir in non-hospitalized individuals with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and at least one risk factor for poor disease outcomes.

In this contract, Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Merck will develop molnupiravir. Merck will receive roughly $1.2 billion to provide approximately 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir to the government once the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approval for molnupiravir. With risk capital invested in the development and increased production of molnupiravir, Merck anticipates having more than 10 million therapy courses accessible by the end of 2021.

covid 19 treatment,

About Molnupiravir

Investigational oral antiviral candidate molnupiravir has been shown to inhibit the replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. According to the Phase 3 MOVe-OUT clinical trial, the suggested dosage of molnupiravir, once authorized or approved, will be 800 mg twice daily for five days.

However, there are precautions with Molnupiravir. It is still not approved for Covid-19 patients 18 years old and below. The medication is also not advised to take as prevention for COVID-19 or take more than five consecutive days.

2. U.S. Government Additional 1.4 Million Courses of Molnupiravir, $2.2 Billion

collaboration with ridgeback biotherapeutics, hospitalized patients

The FDA granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or approved Molnupiravir; the United States government will exercise two options to buy an additional 1.4 million courses from Merck worth $1 billion in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

The purchasing activity will happen between authorization and early 2022. The U.S. government can buy more than 2 million more courses through other options in the contract. Adults at high risk who have mild to moderate COVID-19 are the primary receiver of this developing medication.

3. Merck clinched a U.S. Government Contract to Build a New Lateral Flow Membrane Production Facility, $136.7

emergency use authorization eua, investigational oral antiviral candidate

In Darmstadt, Germany, Merck’s Life Science business sector, MilliporeSigma, received a contract award worth €121 million or approximately $136.7 million last December 29, 2021. The U.S. Department of Defense, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), requested to secure the local supply and production capacity of lateral flow membrane to ensure pandemic preparedness.

Since the epidemic began, the global demand for quick diagnostic manufacturers’ lateral flow membranes test has increased. The Nasal Swab Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Antigen Test or Lateral Flow Method is a quick test for identifying the N protein antigen of novel coronaviruses in a nasal swab sample.

Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will build a lateral flow membrane production plant, providing its customers with a greater supply of Hi-FlowTM Plus lateral flow membranes.

About Merck & Co. Inc

merck plans, non hospitalized patients

Merck & Co., Inc. is a research-focused biopharmaceutical corporation in the world. The company innovates new medical solutions to help hospitalized patients and offers widespread access to people to cure modern diseases.

Rob Davis is the current Merck & Co Inc chief executive officer and president. Rob also serves on the board of Project Hope, which empowers medical practitioners to provide better healthcare.

Merck is headquartered in Kenilworth, New Jersey, and has 110 locations in the United States.

Merck & Co. Inc FAQs

What do Merck & Co. do?
Merck develops novel pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biological therapies, and animal health products. The company aims to increase access to medicines and vaccines and improve the health and well-being of individuals and animals globally.

What other medicines does Merck make?
In the pharmaceutical industry, Merck has had several hugely successful new medicines. Some of the most notable drugs produced by the company are Clarinex, Fosamax, Implanon, and NuvaRing.

Is Merck & Co an American company?
Merck is an American pharmaceutical firm known worldwide for providing medical care services and products. The corporation is called Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) outside the United States.

Merck’s Continual Dedication to the COVID-19 Project

Since the beginning of the epidemic, Merck has been dedicated to researching SARS-CoV-2 infection and developing a comprehensive COVID-19 treatment. Merck’s leadership is continuing to produce excellent antiviral medicines through advanced research.

 

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