CHIPS Programmatic Legal Services

Sections 9902 and 9906 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (NDAA) authorized semiconductor manufacturing and research and
development activities (the CHIPS Program). The CHIPS Act of 2022 enhanced the CHIPS
program with new authorities and appropriated $50 billion to the Department of Commerce (the
Department) to implement it. Section 9902 of the 2021 NDAA authorizes the Department to
provide funding to eligible applicants to incentivize investment in facilities and equipment in the
United States for the fabrication, assembly, testing, advanced packaging, production, or research
and development of semiconductors, materials used to manufacture semiconductors, or
semiconductor manufacturing equipment. The Department may provide funding in various
forms, including grants, cooperative agreements, loans, and loan guarantees. The CHIPS Act of
2022 appropriates $39 billion for these purposes. With these funds, the Department will establish
an incentives program to support the expansion of manufacturing capacity for mature nodes and
to attract large-scale investments in advanced technologies such as leading-edge logic and
memory. Section 9906 of the 2021 NDAA authorizes the Department to establish a National
Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) to conduct research and prototyping of advanced
semiconductor technology and to establish a National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing
Program led by the Director of the Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Section 9906 also authorizes NIST to establish up to three Manufacturing USA institutes to
advance research and commercialization of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, and to
carry out an R&D program to advance measurement science, standards, material
characterization, instrumentation, testing, and manufacturing capabilities. The CHIPS Act of
2022 appropriates $11 billion for these purposes.

The Department’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC) has determined that it requires
programmatic legal support services to advise and assist OGC on legal aspects of the CHIPS
Program.

See attached solicitation for specific details.