Innovative Traffic Safety Enforcement (ITSE) Grant Program
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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- Posted
- Aug 3, 2026
- Amount
- $500,000 to $2 million anticipated per award
- Phase 1 cutoff
- Sep 3, 2026 (in 30 days)
Classification and identifiers
- Solicitation number
- NHTSA-693JJ926R000024-FY26
- Assistance listing (CFDA)
- 20.614
FundingLandscape analysis
Innovative Traffic Safety Enforcement (ITSE) Grant Program
The NOFO sets September 3, 2026 for Phase 1 and summarizes later cutoffs on March 1 and September 1, 2027. Its detailed deadline section applies only to Phase 1 and says future deadlines will be publicly announced, so verify the later phases on Grants.gov. It also says one application per applicant per phase on page 1 but one per applicant per fiscal year on page 11. Because those instructions conflict, use the stricter one-per-fiscal-year reading unless NHTSA resolves the question in writing.
Primary sources verified 2026-08-04.
Why it matters
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration expects up to $20 million for approximately 8 to 15 awards, subject to available funds. That is the total program pool. The NOFO anticipates individual awards from $500,000 to $2 million, not $20 million per applicant.
The program supports evidence-based, data-driven enforcement approaches for impaired driving, speeding and aggressive driving, occupant protection, distracted driving, and careless or negligent driving. Projects should test innovative practices that can be evaluated and transferred to other law-enforcement settings.
NHTSA organized the competition into three phases and may close it early after funds are committed. The first application cutoff is September 3, 2026, leaving time for registration, partnership, data, work-plan, and budget checks rather than treating the later September 2027 synopsis date as the only deadline.
Program pool versus individual award
- Total program funding
- Up to $20 million, subject to available funds
- Anticipated individual award range
- $500,000 to $2 million
- Anticipated number of awards
- Approximately 8 to 15
- Maximum performance period
- Up to 60 months
- Cost share or match
- Not required
Who can actually apply
- The NOFO names state and local agencies, authorities, associations, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations with the capacity and experience to carry out the proposed work.
- The official applicant section does not name for-profit businesses. Do not infer for-profit eligibility from a broad synopsis category when the NOFO lists the controlling applicant types.
- An eligible entity still needs a project within the listed traffic-safety problem areas and enough enforcement, partnership, data, implementation, and evaluation capacity to perform the work.
- Applicants should identify the law-enforcement setting and participating agencies rather than assume a general traffic-safety mission establishes operational authority.
- One page of the NOFO says an applicant may submit one application per phase, while a later page says one per fiscal year. Treat one per fiscal year as the conservative limit until NHTSA answers the conflict.
Deadline, forms, and submission sequence
- Use Grants.gov and the official NOFO number NHTSA-693JJ926R000024-FY26. Confirm an active SAM.gov registration, Unique Entity Identifier, Grants.gov workspace, and authorized organization roles before the phase cutoff.
- Choose a documented traffic-safety problem and explain the enforcement setting, proposed innovation, implementation partners, target population or location, data sources, and why the approach can be evaluated and transferred.
- Prepare the project narrative within the 20-page limit. The limit excludes resumes, appendices, and required forms, but applicants should follow the current NOFO for exactly what belongs outside the narrative.
- Keep cost data out of the project plan and put it in the detailed budget. The NOFO calls for a supported Excel or Google Sheets budget without hidden cells, plus a budget narrative and justification aligned to the work breakdown and milestones.
- Assemble the required federal package, including SF-424, SF-424A, SF-424B, the drug-free workplace certification, the lobbying disclosure and SF-LLL when applicable, and the current Grants.gov forms attached to the opportunity.
- Submit Phase 1 by September 3, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Questions for that phase are due August 18 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The agency planned a public webinar for August 7; use the posted material as orientation, not a substitute for the NOFO.
- Recheck Grants.gov for amendments, early closure, and the controlling Phase 2 or Phase 3 announcement. A rejected application may be revised for a later phase, but the one-per-phase versus one-per-fiscal-year conflict needs agency clarification before a second submission.
What NHTSA asks reviewers to assess
- Technical reviewers examine the proposed technical approach, including whether the project is evidence-based, data-driven, innovative, feasible, and responsive to the traffic-safety problem.
- They assess organizational capacity, including management, staffing, partnerships, quality controls, risk management, and the ability to complete the work.
- They consider the applicant organization’s relevant experience and the team’s experience with comparable enforcement, traffic-safety, implementation, and evaluation work.
- Cost and budget are considered in selection. The budget should be reasonable, supported, and consistent with the work plan rather than presented as a separate promise of merit.
- The agency also checks responsiveness, eligibility, pre-award risk, and the administrative or program priorities identified in the current NOFO.
Readiness checklist
- Define one enforcement problem, the affected road users and locations, the baseline evidence, and the operational authority to run the proposed activity.
- Document what is genuinely innovative relative to current practice and why another jurisdiction could understand, evaluate, and transfer it.
- Identify participating law-enforcement and traffic-safety organizations, decision owners, partner commitments, procurement needs, and data responsibilities.
- Build a work breakdown structure with milestones, staff ownership, quality assurance, risks, travel, deliverables, and a schedule that fits the requested period.
- Specify implementation and outcome measures, data availability, analytic responsibility, and how the project will support science-based evaluation.
- Keep the project plan free of cost data and reconcile every activity, milestone, staff role, contract, travel item, and indirect-cost treatment to the detailed budget.
- Confirm the 20-page narrative limit and the required SF-424 series, certifications, disclosures, resumes, appendices, and opportunity-specific files in the current Grants.gov package.
- Resolve the one-application rule with NHTSA before planning more than one submission in the same fiscal year.
- Confirm SAM.gov, UEI, Grants.gov workspace, authorized roles, and attachment formats early enough to correct validation or access problems.
- Check the NOFO, Grants.gov history, posted questions or webinar material, and agency notices again before the selected phase cutoff.
Primary sources
Related opportunities and the next search
- Search current traffic-safety enforcement grants
Compare source-linked federal, state, and local routes, then save the search or start an alert if enforcement funding is a recurring responsibility.
- Search impaired-driving enforcement funding
Use a narrower lane when impaired-driving enforcement, training, equipment, and evaluation are the continuing job.
- Review the transportation grants guide
Compare broader transportation funding routes without treating every infrastructure or safety program as an enforcement grant.
Analysis change log
- 2026-08-04: Initial analysis verified against the official Grants.gov listing, the complete NHTSA NOFO, and the webinar notice. It separates the up-to-$20-million program pool from the anticipated $500,000-to-$2-million individual range, foregrounds the September 3 Phase 1 cutoff, and records the NOFO conflict between one application per phase and one per fiscal year.
Amount
$500,000 to $2 million anticipated per award
Who can apply
Nonprofits, including small and volunteer-run organizations can apply here. Check the eligibility details below to see if your organization fits.
Eligible applicants are state and local agencies, authorities, associations, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations with relevant capacity and experience.
About this opportunity
The primary intent of this of the ITSE Grant Program is to 1) develop innovative traffic safety enforcement programs that demonstrate effectiveness by reducing the number of motor vehicle crashes due to one or more of the subject risky driving behaviors; and 2) ensure the traffic safety enforcement programs are repeatable and scalable for use by law enforcement throughout the United States. In addition to those goals, the Department seeks to fund projects that advance the priorities of this Administration as described in DOT’s mission statement and across executive orders.