Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program

The purpose of the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is to support efforts to achieve digital equity, promote digital inclusion activities, and spur greater adoption of broadband among certain covered populations defined by the Digital Equity

In May 2025, the Administration announced the termination of certain awards made under this assistant listing number due to lack of alignment with the Administration's priorities.

The following entities are eligible to apply for grants under this Program if the entity is not serving, and has not served, as the administering entity for a State under 47 U.S.C. §1723(b): (1) A political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of a State, including an agency of a State that is responsible for administering or supervising adult education and literacy activities, or for providing public housing, in the State. (2) An Indian Tribe, an Alaska Native entity, or a Native Hawaiian organization. (3) A foundation, corporation, institution, or association that is - a. A not-for-profit entity; and b. Not a school. (4) A community anchor institution. (5) A local educational agency. (6) An entity that carries out a workforce development program. (7) A partnership between any of the entities described in paragraphs (1) through (6). U.S. Territories may apply for the territorial set aside provided for at 47 U.S.C. §1724(j)(3) by submitting an application consistent with the NOFO.

An Eligible Entity or U.S. Territory to which a Competitive Grant is awarded must use the grant funds to support not less than 1 of the following activities: (a) To develop and implement digital inclusion activities that benefit one or more of the Covered Populations. (b) To facilitate the adoption of broadband by Covered Populations to provide educational and employment opportunities to those populations. (c) To implement training programs for Covered Populations that cover basic, advanced, and applied skills or other workforce development programs, including, for example, digital inclusion projects that address online safety, and work to prevent online harassment and abuse. (d) To make available equipment, instrumentation, networking capability hardware and software, or digital network technology for broadband services to Covered Populations at low or no cost. (e) To construct, upgrade, expend, or operate new or existing public access computing centers for Covered Populations through community anchor institutions. (f) To undertake any other project or activity that the Assistant Secretary finds to be consistent with the purposes for which the Program is established.

Please refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Applications from Eligible Entities must be received within 60 days of issuance of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (120 days for U.S. Territories). Grant recipients must expend the grant amounts during the four (4) year period after the date on which the entity is awarded the grant. Grant recipients may continue to measure and evaluate the activities supported with the grant amounts for a period of one (1) year after the initial four (4) year Period of Performance.

The application review process will be conducted in three stages: (1) Initial Eligibility and Administrative Review, (2) Merit Review, and (3) Programmatic Review. The Initial Eligibility and Administrative Review serves as the initial screening of all applications to determine if the applicant is eligible, the application materials are complete, and the applications were timely submitted. Merit review will consider: (A) Project need, purpose, and benefits; (B) Strength of the applicant's organizational capability; (C) Strength of project implementation plan and budget; (D) Project results and evaluation. Programmatic Review will consider factors such as sustainability, innovation, and matching funds.

The application review process will be conducted in three stages: (1) Initial Eligibility and Administrative Review, (2) Merit Review, and (3) Programmatic Review. Following the conclusion of the Programmatic Review, the OICG Associate Administrator will recommend a final list of ranked applications to the NTIA Assistant Secretary, who is the Selecting Official for this program. The NTIA Assistant Secretary will submit the applications recommended for funding, along with the bases for the selection decisions, to the NIST Grants Officer, who serves as the Grants Officer for the Competitive Grant Program. The final approval of selected applications and the issuance of awards will be made by the NIST Grants Officer. Awards will be made in the form of a grant.

Please refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity

NTIA expects to begin issuing awards to applicants pursuant to the Notice of Funding Opportunity within 270 days after issuance of the Notice of Funding Opportunity. NTIA expects to make additional awards on a rolling basis.

Unsuccessful applicants will be notified in writing by email and will have the opportunity to receive a debriefing. Applicants must make a request within 10 business days of the email or written notification to receive a debrief from NTIA. NTIA will then work with the unsuccessful applicant to arrange a date and time for the debrief.