GOBiz details $125M Regional Investment Initiative RFP, sets March–May 2025 deadlines

A presenter from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development outlined the Regional Investment Initiative implementation-phase request for proposals (RFP) in a webinar, saying the phase is intended to move 13 regional Jobs First plans from planning into action and to “support the creation, attraction, and access to good paying jobs for all Californians.”

The presenter described the RFP as a two‑phase competition: Phase 1 selects regional coalitions and project clusters; Phase 2 invites competitive, individual project applications from selected clusters. She said there is a $125,000,000 fund for the implementation phase and that “there is no cap on the amount of money that clusters can ask for in this grant program.”

Why it matters: the initiative targets projects designed to grow tradable sectors that can create and attract near‑term good‑paying jobs across California. Officials urged coalition building across regions and encouraged applicants to stack capital from other sources, including state agencies, community development financial institutions, local governments and private investors.

Eligible focus and structure Applicants must select one tradable sector or subsector from the state economic blueprint’s accelerate or bet buckets; sectors in the blueprint’s strengthen bucket are explicitly not eligible to be the prime tradable sector for a cluster. Examples the presenter listed in the accelerate bucket include aerospace and defense, life sciences (med tech/pharma/biotech), clean‑economy projects (batteries, onshore wind, solar, zero‑emission vehicles) and high‑tech (hardware, semiconductors, software). Bet sectors included carbon management, critical minerals, hydrogen, offshore wind and advanced AI, quantum and robotics research.

Project clusters must contain between three and eight aligned projects organized under a single vision to grow one tradable sector. Each cluster must include two or more project categories drawn from ecosystem support, infrastructure (construction), workforce development, or anchor projects such as childcare, healthcare or broadband; non‑tradable/local‑serving sectors (childcare, education, health care, housing and certain infrastructure subsectors) may be included only as supporting projects and cannot be the cluster’s primary tradable sector.

Readiness and feasibility requirements The presenter said projects must be implementable within a 24‑month period of performance from contract signature. Construction projects should have completed feasibility and environmental studies and generally possess permits or a realistic permitting path; some permit timing flexibility is allowed to account for local processing timelines.

Application steps and deadlines The RFP follows three steps: a notice of intent (NOI), a lead‑entity pre‑application, and a closed full‑application phase for invited projects. The presenter gave the following Round 1 deadlines: “The first notice of intent deadline is due by 5PM on 03/26/2025.” Pre‑applications from lead entities are due by 5PM on 04/23/2025, and individual projects invited from selected clusters must return full application materials by 5PM on 05/28/2025. The NOI must include four points: lead entity, organization name, primary point of contact (name and email), and the identified tradable sector and regions to be served.

Coalition rules and convener letters NOI entries will be published and shared so organizations with similar sector/region interests can coordinate or merge proposals before the pre‑application phase. The lead entity named in the NOI must remain the lead moving forward. Pre‑applications must be accompanied by a letter from the regional convener(s) that confirms the chosen tradable sector was identified in the region’s adopted plan; clusters serving multiple regions need conveners’ letters from each region.

Selection, funding outcomes and capital stacking Pre‑applications will be reviewed and the strongest cluster submissions will be invited to the full, closed solicitation. Individual project leads within selected clusters will be invited to submit full applications and will be considered both within the cluster context and statewide. The presenter cautioned that the program may not fund every project in a coalition and could award as few as one or two projects from a coalition; applicants were encouraged to pursue additional funders to increase the chances of advancing projects.

Next steps Further full-application instructions will be emailed directly to invited applicants; the presenter directed applicants to jobsfirst.ca.gov for regional plans and additional materials.