The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine shall appoint an ad hoc committee to plan and organize a fast-track consensus study that addresses selected issues associated with DOD’s engagement with its Manufacturing USA Innovation Institutes (MIIs). In particular, the committee will provide general strategic advice in four topical areas, as follows:

• Protocols for conducting long-term engagement assessments of the MIIs, including evaluation criteria;
• Best practices in education and workforce development (EWD) for the MIIs, including scale-up methodologies for collaborative efforts by the MIIs in EWD; and
  
• Steps for improving MII linkages with other parts of the DOD and with the broader federally funded research enterprise;

The output of this fast-track project will be a short interim consensus report addressing the first bullet of the SOT and a final consensus report addressing the remaining two bullets of the SOT that draws from the information gathered by the committee and other public information sources, as needed, and provides findings, options, and, if the information gathered justifies them, recommendations for DOD to consider in developing its long-term role with existing and potential future MIIs sponsored by DOD in the three areas identified.