DFOP0018449 ​Mitigating Proliferation Risks Posed by Artificial Intelligence Enabled Molecular Models and Leveraging Nonproliferation Opportunities​

The Department of State’s Office of the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund (ACN/NDF) is pleased to announce an open competition for assistance awards through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). ACN/NDF invites U.S.-based non-profit/non-governmental organizations to submit proposals for projects that will advance the mission of NDF’s event management project for the 2027 Multilateral Action on Sensitive Technologies (MAST) Plenary. MAST provides a coordinating forum for key foreign countries, which are producers and suppliers of sensitive technologies, to develop the tools and procedures needed to safeguard sensitive technologies possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and enable capabilities from foreign diversion, exploitation, and potential misuse. These activities will reduce the potential for diversion of weapons-applicable sensitive goods and technologies, including through integration of data collection, development of response options, and coordinated multilateral execution. Working groups operate to regularize communication among the partners between plenary sessions and examine technology-related issues in greater detail. The successful applicant will support appropriate State Department offices with the planning, logistics, and execution of multiple events during the 2027 MAST Plenary hosted at the Harry S. Truman Building.

This NOFO addresses evolving nonproliferation threats across key nodes of the global strategic trade and technology ecosystems in Asia and Europe. In the Philippines, Cambodia, and Malaysia, the program responds to the risk that weak or incomplete export control and foreign direct investment screening systems could allow diversion of dual‑use goods, advanced technologies, and critical minerals to proliferators or malign actors. In Taiwan, it tackles the threat that persistent, sophisticated networks will exploit gaps in supply chain, financial, and logistics controls to obtain the world’s most advanced AI‑relevant semiconductors and other dual‑use technologies. In Türkiye, the program confronts documented diversion and transshipment risks posed by intermediary‑dependent trade routes and the absence of widespread private‑sector internal compliance programs that meet international expectations. In Ukraine, it addresses the heightened risk that rapidly expanding defense and dual‑use innovation, combined with intense foreign interest and limited oversight mechanisms, could lead to unauthorized tangible and intangible technology transfers and diversion of U.S.‑origin or sensitive items. Collectively, the LOEs seek to close these vulnerabilities by strengthening legal and regulatory frameworks, institutional and industry compliance, and data‑driven enforcement capabilities to prevent the proliferation of WMD‑related, defense, and other sensitive technologies to end‑users and activities of concern.

This NOFO seeks to enhance protective measures for the supply chain of critical minerals, which are commodities of proliferation concern due to their prevalence in countless dual-use items. ACN/EXBS seeks an implementer to bolster export controls, customs screening, and investment screening across key critical mineral producers and transit states worldwide to mitigate their acquisition by U.S. adversaries, while securing supply chains from predatory and illicit practices to bolster U.S. national and economic security.