In 2021–2022, Greater St. Louis, Inc. (GSL) and the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership (STL Partnership) co-led a regional coalition to win a U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration's Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) award. The collection of awarded grants will be used to develop the St. Louis region's globally significant advanced manufacturing industry cluster, to construct the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center St. Louis (AMICSTL), and develop programming on workforce development, community revitalization , innovation, and entrepreneurship. A link to the region's overarching narrative submission can be found here. See a press release announcing the St. Louis grant award here.

Under the St. Louis BBBRC award, GSL, STL Partnership, and AMICSTL are seeking professional services to conduct a landscape analysis of advanced manufacturing workforce programming and providers that are building the talent pipeline for the St. Louis region. This project will be complemented by a larger advanced manufacturing baseline assessment and strategic action plan that is under development. The project will also inform the build-out of AMICSTL's Workforce pillar.

There are many successful manufacturing education, training, and STEM efforts and programs underway or in planning across the St. Louis metro. The goal of this RFP is to understand the current landscape and the capabilities and capacities of organizations and current/planned programs in order to align stakeholders, strengthen collaboration and coordination, and guide follow-on policy and programmatic recommendations to strengthen the talent pipeline for advanced manufacturing in St. Louis.

The term "advanced manufacturing" is broadly encompassing, recognizing that nearly all manufacturing is now technologically advanced. For this RFP, particular focus should be placed on the talent landscape for the aerospace, automotive, defense, geospatial, life sciences, and agriculture related manufacturing industries given their outsized presence in the St. Louis economy.