Commerce Targets December 2026 to Reopen Digital Equity Competitive Grants

Cities, counties, nonprofits, libraries, community colleges, and workforce organizations waiting to learn whether the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is coming back now have a glimmer of hope, albeit a soft one. In a joint status report filed in a federal court on August 3, 2026, the Department of Commerce said it "presently targets a December 2026 opening date for the Competitive Grant Program application." The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the Commerce agency that runs the program, is "currently preparing a new Notice of Funding Opportunity," the document that announces a federal grant competition, sets the rules, and opens the application window. Three things in that sentence matter to anyone who applied in 2024 or plans to apply next time. The date is a target, not a court-ordered deadline. The NOFO will be new, not a revival of the 2024 process. And nothing in the filing addresses what happens to the more than 700 applications NTIA already has in hand.