The Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Exchange Network (EN) Grant Program Solicitation Notice (SN) has been published to Grants.gov and is available here: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=331293. Applications are due to EPA by 11:59 PM Eastern Time, Wednesday, March 31, 2021. Additional guidance tools, including optional fillable templates, are available for applicants both on Grants.gov and on the EPA Exchange Network website. Applicants are encouraged to review the new FY21 SN in full, as significant updates have been made since the FY20 version. Information on applicant webinars will be provided shortly.

The purpose of Exchange Network (EN) grants are to foster better environmental management and decision-making through increased access to timely, high quality, environmental information. An applicant’s proposed project goals and outputs should align with one or more funding areas in the SN and EPA’s FY 2018-21 Strategic Plan Goal 3: Greater Certainty, Compliance, and Effectiveness, Objective 3.4: ‘Streamline and Modernize’.

EPA expects to award 25-35 grants of up to $400,000 each, totaling approximately $8,000,000 in FY21. Most awards will be in the $50,000 to $200,000 range. The exact number of grants will depend on the number of applications submitted to EPA by the application deadline, the amounts of proposed project budgets, and the quality of proposals.

EPA only accepts project proposals for EN grants submitted electronically through Grants.gov, unless applicants have a waiver. EPA anticipates that it will announce selection decisions around August 2021, and tentatively plans to issue awards by September 30, 2021.

For more information, please contact:

Erika Beasley
EN Grants Program Manager
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
E: [email protected]