NCMS Capabilities

National Center for Manufacturing Sciences

NCMS offers a flexible, agile model for consortium management that builds on decades of experience and success providing performance certainty. We recruit, organize, and manage teams of industry, academia, and government to conduct research and technology development for our members and federal partners.

NCMS has expertise with utilizing two types of federal funding instruments: Cooperative Agreements (CAs) and Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs). Our well-established, streamlined, rapid processes contribute a significant value-add for our government, industry, and academic partners.  

Program and Project Management 

Since our founding in 1986, NCMS program and project managers have successfully managed nearly 1,000 public-private technology development collaborations. With over 500 R&D projects completed and a streamlined approach to project and program management, NCMS has received national recognition as a significant resource for excellence in collaborative project management.

As a neutral third party, NCMS protects intellectual property, manages outreach and communication, ensures project timelines and task deliverables are met, and drives ensures toward successful completion of project goals. NCMS has expertise in:

  • Consortium and partnership building
  • IP protection
  • Federal contracting
  • Federal compliance
  • Accounting
  • Business-to-business networking and team-building
  • Technology demonstration and transition

Consortium Management

NCMS has decades of experience with guiding the development and management of new consortia for demonstrating and transitioning manufacturing technologies. Using our proven, award-winning collaboration model, we establish new consortia quickly and effectively. Our established  relationships with industry, academic, and government partners, coupled with our massive network of technology innovators of all types, makes NCMS the ideal solution for startup consortia eager to guide the future of technological innovation.

Consortium Administrative Organization (CAO) Services

Consortium Administrative Organizations (CAOs) organize collaborative activities on behalf of public initiatives. As an experienced CAO, NCMS serves as a neutral third party, handling the challenging operational components of collaborative relationships. We protect intellectual property, facilitate communication, manage programs, handle contracts, and provide accounting expertise.

Funding Vehicles

Cooperative Agreements (CAs)

NCMS’s experience with CAs dates back to 1998 with the establishment of the Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) Program. The Federal Government uses CAs as the legal instrument for funding projects with a public purpose where public-private collaboration is required. CAs:

  • Establish partnerships that leverage the combined expertise of federal entities and innovators in industry and academia, with non-government partners retaining intellectual property rights
  • Provide partners with access to shared personnel, services, facilities, equipment, and other resources in conducting demonstration and evaluation efforts
  • Accelerate technology development and transition

Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs)

The OTA is an expedited funding mechanism the federal government uses to streamline research and development, prototype development, and other projects. The OTA is designed to be flexible, responsive, and extremely collaborative. OTAs:

  • Enable and encourage a wide range of experts—from start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and academia—to form public-private partnerships
  • Accelerate technology development, demonstration, and transition by reducing administrative requirements
  • Allow for flexibility in negotiating terms, including intellectual property protection