Commerce Working on New Round of Digital Equity Act Funding
The agency is planning to take applications in December
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2026 – The Commerce Department is preparing a new round of Digital Equity Act funding, the agency told a federal judge Monday.
The agency said in a status report it was working on a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) under the Digital Equity Competitive Grant program, a $1.25 billion program that supported broadband adoption efforts by nonprofits and local governments.
Applicants should be able to seek funding in December 2026, according to the agency.
“Although DOC fully intends to meet this deadline, unforeseen variables could occur, as with any grantmaking process,” wrote Brett Shumate, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil division.
The Commerce Department canceled most of its Digital Equity Act funding last year, aside from a $250 million portion for Tribal entities.
The day prior, President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick considered the law’s programs “a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway” that he was ending “IMMEDIATELY.”
The law provided $2.75 billion in total, mostly the competitive program and a similar $1.44 billion program aimed at state governments. It supported projects aimed at increasing broadband adoption, like digital skills training and device subsidies.
Under the law, those projects should have been targeted at “covered populations” in which broadband adoption is below average. That included the elderly, veterans, low-income households, and racial minorities, among others.
The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a nonprofit that won funding under the competitive program, sued to have the funding reinstated.
Last month U.S. District Judge John Bates said he agreed with the Trump administration that the provision directing funding at racial minority communities was unconstitutional race-based discrimination.
He struck that provision, saying that he expected the competitive program to be reinstated.
Still, NDIA said in the status report that it was debating how to proceed. The organization disagreed that the provision Bates struck was unconstitutional.
The Commerce Department told NDIA about the new NOFO in a Monday, July 27 meeting, the status update said.
NDIA “is still evaluating” Commerce’s “proposed timeline for the revised NOFO and proposed stay and respectfully requests additional time to confer with its attorneys on a position,” the document read.
The group asked for an extra two weeks to file another update with Bates that would lay out a path forward.
