The Tight Clock for Reopening the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program

Earlier this month, we reported that the Department of Commerce told a federal court it would reinstate the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program and was targeting a December 2026 opening. Three things have happened since. The parties agreed to pause the litigation and put their remaining disagreements on the record. Judge John D. Bates set the dates by which the government must report its progress. And on August 25, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comment on the application forms for the reopened program, the first evidence outside the courtroom that the work is actually underway. Together, the three developments establish the schedule for reopening the grant program, but the paperwork step NTIA began complicates that timeline.