OpenResearch announcementOpportunity NOFOAFRLAFOSR20260004

FY26 DEFENSE ESTABLISHED PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (DEPSCoR) – RESEARCH COLLABORATION (RC)

Air Force Office of Scientific Research · Department of Defense

At a glance

FY26 DEFENSE ESTABLISHED PROGRAM TO STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (DEPSCoR) – RESEARCH COLLABORATION (RC) is an open federal grant opportunity from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Department of Defense). Applications are due April 5, 2027. Individual awards are listed as $200K – $600K, with about 24 awards expected and $14.4M in total estimated funding. Applicant types listed as eligible include others (see notice). Cost sharing is not required. It is funded under Assistance Listing 12.431 (Basic Scientific Research).

Summary assembled from the official notice's fields. The official notice governs.

Key facts

Aug 10, 2026Posted
Apr 5, 2027Application deadlinenext date
May 5, 2027Archived

Posted: Aug 10, 2026
Close date: Apr 5, 2027
Archive date: May 5, 2027
Award floor: $200,000
Award ceiling: $600,000
Est. total funding: $14,400,000
Expected awards: 24
Cost sharing: Not required
Funding instrument: Grant
Opportunity category: Discretionary

Who can apply

Others (see notice)

Additional information on eligibility (from the notice)

This funding opportunity aims to create basic research collaborations between a pair of researchers, namely 1) Applicant/Principal Investigator (PI), henceforth referred to as Applicant, a full-time faculty member who has never served as a PI on a prior DoD directly funded research Prime award and 2) Collaborator/co-Principal Investigator (co-PI), henceforth referred to as Collaborator, an investigator who will provide mentorship to the Applicant and has served as a PI on a DoD directly funded research Prime award actively between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2026. This structure is aimed at introducing potential applicants to the DoD’s unique research challenges and its supportive research ecosystem. Tenured or tenure-track faculty members with appointments at IHE, in the following States/Territories are eligible to apply for DEPSCoR opportunities under this announcement: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming see eligibility table in III A.

Also named in the notice's eligibility text

Public colleges & universities
Private colleges & universities

Matched from the wording above by GrantsJunction — confirm in the full announcement.

Can your organization apply?

A quick check against the listed applicant types — other requirements in the notice still apply.

Based on the published notice. Review the official notice for complete eligibility requirements.

What it funds

Official synopsis as published by the agency, formatted for readability.

The Department of Defense (DoD) announces the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Defense Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR) – Research Collaboration (RC) opportunity. The program is sponsored and managed by the Basic Research Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD [R&E]), awarded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The DoD plans to award FY26 DEPSCoR appropriations through this announcement.

DEPSCoR's objectives are to:

(1) increase the number of university researchers in eligible States/Territories capable of performing science and engineering (S&E research responsive to the needs of the DoD; and

(2) enhance the capabilities of institutions of higher education (IHE) in eligible States/Territories (listed below) to develop, plan, and execute (S&E) research that is relevant to the mission of the DoD, and competitive under the peer-review systems used for awarding Federal research assistance;

(3) increase the probability of long-term growth in the competitively awarded financial assistance that IHE in eligible States receive from the Federal Government for S&E research.

Consistent with these long term objectives of building research infrastructure, the DoD intends to competitively make, and fund from fiscal year 2026 appropriations, multiyear awards for S&E research in areas relevant to the DoD’s mission and important to national security.

The Basic Research Office anticipates up to $14.4 million in total funding will be made available for this program to fully fund and award up to twenty four (24) grants up to $600,000 (total cost) each. Each grant award will be funded up to $200,000 (total cost) per year for three (3) years.

Awards are subject to funding availability. There is no guarantee of an award.

Additional information from the agency ↗

Full announcement & documents

The full announcement has the complete rules — page limits, required attachments, evaluation criteria and any letter-of-intent dates. Files download directly from Grants.gov.

How to apply

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Read the full announcement (NOFO)Eligibility, evaluation criteria, page limits and required attachments are in the full notice on Grants.gov. Open ↗
Confirm eligibility and fitCheck your organization type above; no cost sharing is required.
Register (or renew) in SAM.gov and get a UEIFree. New registrations can take several weeks; registrations must be renewed every year. Open ↗
Set up Grants.gov accessCreate a Grants.gov account and make sure someone has the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) role. Open ↗
Open the application packageUse opportunity number NOFOAFRLAFOSR20260004 on Grants.gov (Grants.gov Workspace). Open ↗
Prepare narrative, budget and attachmentsFollow the notice's format exactly — page limits and required forms are common reasons applications are rejected.
Submit before April 5, 2027Submit a few days early and keep your Grants.gov confirmation and validation emails.

Assistance Listing

What is an ALN?

12.431Basic Scientific ResearchProgram →

Reported obligations under ALN 12.431

Historical data · not a prediction

FY24

$764M

FY25

$751M

FY26

$800M est.

Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listing 12.431. Program-wide totals, not awards from this specific opportunity.

Who was funded under ALN 12.431

Historical data · not a prediction

Since October 1, 2023, 2,745 grant awards had funding actions under Basic Scientific Research, with 993 sub-awards passed on to other organizations. These are program-wide awards, not awards from this specific notice.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK$74.9M
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY$62.3M
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM, THE$49.1M
OAK RIDGE ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INCORPORATED$43.4M
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE$39.8M

Recipients, states, recent awards and sub-awards →Source: USAspending.gov.

Agency contact (as published)

Denise M Johnson Grantor
7036965968

Quick answers

When is the deadline for this opportunity?

According to the official notice, applications are due April 5, 2027. Confirm the deadline and submission time on Grants.gov before applying.

Who is eligible to apply for this opportunity?

The official notice names these applicant types as eligible: Others (see notice). Additional restrictions may apply; review the full notice.

How much funding is available through this opportunity?

Per the notice, individual awards are listed as $200k – $600k, total estimated program funding is $14,400,000 and the agency expects to make about 24 awards.

How do I apply for this opportunity?

Applications are submitted through the official source, not through GrantsJunction. Open the official notice on Grants.gov (opportunity NOFOAFRLAFOSR20260004), and review the full announcement and application package. Organizations applying through Grants.gov generally need an active SAM.gov registration and a Grants.gov account, which can take several weeks to set up.

Matched on shared Assistance Listings, agency, categories and eligible applicant types.

OpenResearchALN 12.431