The Small Business Administration announced a new funding opportunity offering up to $50 million in grants to as many as ten organizations that provide training and technical assistance to small manufacturers, according to a May 6 SBA announcement. The Manufacturing in America Empower to Grow Grant Initiative, known as E2G, is designed to expand support for small manufacturers operating in industries the administration has identified as critical to domestic supply chain resilience and national industrial capacity.

Program Structure and Eligible Activities

The E2G grant program will award up to $50 million across a maximum of ten recipient organizations, with individual awards sized based on the scope and reach of the applicant's proposed technical assistance program. Eligible applicants include for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, trade and professional associations, and educational institutions that have operated continuously for at least three years and can demonstrate a track record of providing manufacturing-related technical assistance, tools, or training on a regional or national basis. The emphasis on demonstrated regional or national reach distinguishes the E2G program from locally focused small business assistance programs and signals SBA's intent to fund organizations with the infrastructure to serve manufacturers across multiple states or geographic markets.

Grantee organizations will use E2G funds to deliver technical assistance directly to small manufacturers. This includes hands-on manufacturing training, technology adoption support, workforce development programs, and supply chain integration assistance that helps small manufacturers connect with prime contractors and government procurement opportunities in their sectors. The program architecture positions the E2G grantees as intermediary organizations that package and deliver capability-building services to manufacturers who lack the resources to independently access the specialized expertise that larger competitors retain in-house.

Applications are accepted through grants.gov with a deadline of June 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. SBA has scheduled informational webinars on May 27 and June 3, 2026 to assist prospective applicants in understanding the program requirements. Questions can be submitted directly to SBA at [email protected].

Targeted Industries

The E2G announcement identifies twelve industry sectors as priority focus areas for the technical assistance programs the grants are intended to support. These include aerospace, shipbuilding, rail equipment, mining, industrial machinery and equipment, construction equipment, metal fabrication, electrical equipment, food processing, medical and precision manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, and robotics. The list reflects the industries that federal industrial policy under the current administration has prioritized as central to national security supply chain resilience, domestic job creation, and the manufacturing capacity needed to support both commercial and defense production requirements.

Several of the targeted industries have direct relevance to defense industrial base requirements. Aerospace manufacturing produces components and assemblies used in military aircraft, missiles, and space systems alongside commercial aviation products. Shipbuilding capacity supports naval vessel construction and repair, an area where the administration has expressed concern about atrophy in the U.S. industrial base relative to foreign competitors. Metal fabrication and precision manufacturing underpin the production of weapons system components, vehicle parts, and the tooling and fixtures needed to manufacture complex defense products at scale. Technical assistance programs that improve the productivity and technology adoption of small manufacturers in these sectors address defense readiness concerns alongside the broader economic development goals SBA has historically pursued through its programs.

Relationship to Broader Manufacturing Policy

The E2G grant announcement accompanied additional SBA policy changes also announced in early May that collectively represent an expansion of federal support for domestic manufacturing. SBA separately announced a new 90 percent Made in America loan guarantee for small manufacturers, increasing the federal guarantee percentage for qualifying manufacturing loans to a level that reduces lender risk and expands the pool of small manufacturers that can access conventional financing for equipment and facility investments. The agency also announced loan fee waivers for manufacturing-sector NAICS codes in fiscal year 2026, reducing the upfront cost of accessing SBA loan programs for businesses that have historically faced higher transaction costs relative to loans in less capital-intensive sectors.

SBA also announced the Make Onshoring Great Again Portal, described as a platform connecting businesses with more than one million domestic suppliers, intended to support supply chain localization by helping manufacturers identify domestic sources for inputs they have historically sourced from foreign suppliers. The combination of technical assistance grants, expanded loan guarantees, fee waivers, and supply chain connectivity tools represents a coordinated package of industrial policy measures structured around expanding domestic manufacturing capacity without relying on direct federal procurement of manufactured goods.

What It Means for Contractors

Defense subcontractors and small manufacturing firms in the twelve targeted industries should assess whether the E2G program creates opportunities to access technical assistance that addresses gaps in their production capabilities, technology adoption, or workforce training. Organizations that receive E2G grants will be incentivized to maximize the reach of their programs and may actively recruit eligible small manufacturers to participate in training offerings funded by the grant. Small manufacturers with existing relationships with trade associations, manufacturing extension partnerships, or industry coalitions in the targeted sectors are well positioned to benefit early from E2G-funded programs as grantee organizations build out their delivery infrastructure.

Organizations that provide manufacturing training and technical assistance — including nonprofit manufacturing extension partnerships, trade associations with technical education programs, community colleges with advanced manufacturing programs, and private firms with manufacturing consulting practices — should evaluate the E2G grant opportunity before the June 15 deadline. The program's structure rewards organizations with regional or national networks and demonstrated track records of manufacturer outreach, making the grant most competitive for established technical assistance providers rather than newly formed entities. Trade associations representing defense-focused manufacturing sectors may find the E2G program particularly well aligned with their existing member service portfolios and should assess whether a grant application would allow them to expand programming that their membership has identified as a priority need.

Contractors

The E2G grant program is open to for-profit businesses, nonprofits, trade and professional associations, and educational institutions with at least three years of continuous operation and documented experience in manufacturing technical assistance. Small manufacturers in the twelve targeted industry sectors are the intended end beneficiaries of the program's training and assistance activities.

Sources

SBA — Manufacturing in America E2G Grant Initiative announcement, May 6, 2026