OpenOpportunity O-BJA-2026-172680

BJA FY26 DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR)—Competitive Grants Program

Bureau of Justice Assistance · Department of Justice

At a glance

BJA FY26 DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR)—Competitive Grants Program is an open federal grant opportunity from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (Department of Justice). Applications are due November 3, 2026. Individual awards are listed as up to $4.9M. Applicant types listed as eligible include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments and others (see notice). Cost sharing is not required. It is funded under Assistance Listing 16.036 (Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program).

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

Key facts

Sep 23, 2026Posted
Nov 3, 2026Application deadlinenext date

Posted: Sep 23, 2026
Close date: Nov 3, 2026
Award floor: Not specified
Award ceiling: $4,900,000
Est. total funding: Not specified
Expected awards: Not specified
Cost sharing: Not required
Funding instrument: Grant
Opportunity category: Discretionary

Who can apply

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Others (see notice)

Additional information on eligibility (from the notice)

Other units of local government: For the purposes of this notice of funding opportunity, other units of local government include towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, or other general purpose political subdivisions of a state.

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.

This is a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for the BJA FY 2026 DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR) — Competitive Grants Program. This opportunity will increase capacity of states and units of local government with existing crime laboratories to process DNA samples for entry into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The purpose of the CEBR Competitive Program is to maximize the effective utilization of DNA technology to strengthen evidence-based criminal justice responses. The priorities of the CEBR Competitive Program are (1) to use DNA technology to increase the capacity and/or efficiency of publicly funded forensic DNA laboratories to conduct analysis of DNA samples for entry into CODIS and (2) implementing Rapid DNA in the booking station(s) in eligible jurisdictions. The program is designed to fairly and efficiently prioritize jurisdictions facing operational challenges by considering key performance measures reported by publicly funded forensic DNA laboratories.

This program is for Competitive funding only. The BJA FY 2026 DNA Capacity Enhancement for Backlog Reduction (CEBR) — Formula Grants Program for formula funding will post at a later date. Eligible agencies may apply for both Competitive and Formula CEBR Funding.

Additional information from the agency ↗

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 O-BJA-2026-172680 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.
Ask the agency contact any questions earlyBureau of Justice Assistance · OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov Open ↗
Submit before November 3, 2026Submit a few days early and keep your Grants.gov confirmation and validation emails.

Assistance Listing

What is an ALN?

16.036Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant ProgramProgram →

Reported obligations under ALN 16.036

Historical data · not a prediction

FY24

$105M

FY25

$254K

FY26

— est.

Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listing 16.036. Program-wide totals, not awards from this specific opportunity.

Who was funded under ALN 16.036

Historical data · not a prediction

Since October 1, 2023, 174 grant awards had funding actions under Comprehensive Forensic DNA Analysis Grant Program, with 8 sub-awards passed on to other organizations. These are program-wide awards, not awards from this specific notice.

TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY$3.24M
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF LAW ENFORCEMENT$3.14M
GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION$2.81M
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CALIFORNIA$2.67M
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPT OF JUSTICE$2.46M

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

Agency contact (as published)

Bureau of Justice Assistance
OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov
202-514-9354

Quick answers

When is the deadline for this opportunity?

According to the official notice, applications are due November 3, 2026. 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: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments and 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 up to $4.9m.

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 O-BJA-2026-172680), 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.

OpenALN 16.036