DOT Federal Highway Administration · Department of Transportation

FYs 2024 through 2026 - Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Competitive Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity

Open · Opportunity FHWA-PROT-26-001 · Assistance Listing 20.284

Deadline: Due Oct 9, 2026 · 2 days left
Award size: Up to $60M
Total available: $787M · about 80 awards
Cost share / match ?: Required · Work out your budget and match
Who can apply: County government, Tribal government, Special district (utility, fire, etc.), State government, City or town government
Where: Anywhere in the U.S., including Tennessee

Before you apply: federal grants require an active SAM.gov registration (Unique Entity ID) and a Grants.gov account. The deadline is in 2 days. If your registration isn't already active, it may not be ready in time, so check it today. Grant-ready checklist

How this fits you

Available in Tennessee (nationwide program)
Requires a cost share / match
Only 2 days left to apply
Past Tennessee awards on file: 12

Tell us who you are to see whether you're eligible.

About this grant

The intent of the PROTECT Competitive Grant Program is to fund projects to improve the resilience of the surface transportation system, including highways, public transportation, ports, and intercity passenger rail. Program goals include protecting: surface transportation assets by making them more resilient; communities through resilience improvements and strategies that allow for the continued operation or rapid recovery of surface transportation systems; coastal infrastructure; and natural infrastructure that protects and enhances surface transportation assets. This NOFO provides PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding of up to $787 million from FYs 2024 through 2026, plus any remaining PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding from prior years. Please refer to Grants.gov for the full NOFO.

Eligibility (from the notice)

Eligible applicants for the PROTECT Competitive Grant Program funding are States, metropolitan planning organizations (MPO), local governments, federally recognized Indian Tribes, public transportation agencies, port authorities, and Federal Land Managing Agencies (FLMA) when applying jointly with a State or group of States. Specific to At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants, eligibility also includes U.S. territories, plus the same entities eligible for the broader program, but limited to coastal States and other specified entities within such States (see 23 U.S.C. § 176(d)(4)(C)(i)). Please refer to Section B.1 of the NOFO for more details. Eligibility varies by project type between "Planning, Resilience Improvement, and Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants" and "At-Risk Coastal Infrastructure Grants." NOTE: The information under “Award” on this page requires the specification of a minimum and a maximum dollar value for anticipated awards due to Grants.gov system requirements. However, as stated in Section C.4 of the NOFO: "There is no minimum or maximum award amount for PROTECT Competitive Grant awards. While the Department reserves the right to make smaller or larger awards, based on the FY22-23 NOFO, the anticipated award range for Resilience Improvement, Community Resilience and Evacuation Route Grants, and At-Risk Costal Infrastructure Grants, the anticipated award range is $500,000 to $60,000,000. For Planning Grants, the anticipated award range is $100,000 to $10,000,000."

Should we apply? (2-minute check) Ask a partner for a letter

Your schedule, working back from the deadline

Oct7
Check that your SAM.gov registration is active (or start it now)
Grants.gov: allow up to 10 business days for SAM registration, weeks or months if information isn't verified. It must be renewed every year. Grants.gov
Sep18
Ask partners for letters of support or commitment (already past: do it now)
Suggested: partners need time to write and sign letters.
Oct2
Finish a complete draft for a final review (already past: do it now)
University grant offices require final versions about 5 business days before the sponsor deadline. Emory Office of Sponsored Programs
Oct7
Submit
Grants.gov: submit at least 24–48 hours before the deadline: uploads fail, systems slow down, errors need fixing. Grants.gov blog
Oct9
Deadline
From the funder.

Save this grant to put these dates in your tracker and private calendar.

What the official notice requires

Pulled from the funding notice FY24-FY26_PROTECT_NOFO-FHWA-PROT-26-001.pdf (43 pages) so you can see the requirements at a glance. Each item shows the notice's own words; open the page to read it in context. The notice itself always controls.

Registrations you need first

Grants.gov · p. 16

“APPLICATION FORMAT All applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov.” Open page 16
SAM.gov · p. 21

“Be registered in System for Award Management (SAM) at SAM.gov before submitting its application;” Open page 21
Unique Entity ID (UEI) · p. 21

“Provide a valid Unique Entity Identifier in its application; and” Open page 21

New to these? SAM.gov registration can take weeks, so start early: grant-ready checklist.

What to submit

Form SF-424 · p. 17

“APPLICATION CONTENT Standard Forms All mandatory SF of the 424 family are available for download at https://www.grants.gov/forms/forms-repository/sf-424-mandatory-family.” Open page 17

Length limits

25 pages max · p. 16

“The project narrative should not exceed 25 pages in length.” Open page 16

Formatting rules

12-point font, 1-inch margins, single-spaced · p. 16

“Application files should be single-spaced, 12-point standard font (e.g., Times New Roman), with 1-inch margins.” Open page 16

Cost share or match

Cost share / match · p. 4

“The PROTECT Competitive Grant Program requires a minimum non-Federal cost-share of 20 percent except for: federally recognized Indian Tribes who may request zero cost- share;” Open page 4
Cost share / match · p. 4

“Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which do not require a cost-share (23 U.S.C. § 120(g)); and projects covered by an applicable Resilience Improvement Plan (RIP), which could reduce the required…” Open page 4
Cost share / match · p. 11

“COST SHARING Cost Share Grant Type Federal Share Planning grants 23 U.S.C. § 176(d)(5)(E)(i) The Federal share of an eligible planning activity shall be 100 percent.” Open page 11
Cost share / match · p. 12

“The non-Federal share has a maximum reduction of 10 percent under 23 U.S.C. § 176(e)(1)(B)(iii)(I).6 Non-Federal share Reduced if Qualifiers Reduced by 7 percent if:” Open page 12

Dates in the notice

08/27/2026 · p. 1

“Fiscal Years 2024 through 2026 Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation Competitive Grant Program Notice of Funding Opportunity Application Opening Date: 08/27/2026 Application Closing Date: 10/09/2026” Open page 1
10/09/2026 · p. 3

“Key Dates Application Due Date: 10/09/2026 at 11:59:59 PM ET.” Open page 3
September 30, 2027 · p. 15

“Fiscal Year Funding Funding Obligation Deadline 2024 September 30, 2027 2025 September 30, 2028 2026 September 30, 2029 The total period of performance for the PROTECT Competitive Grant Program awards are anticipated to be between 1 and 4 years.” Open page 15
October 09, 2026 · p. 21

“SUBMISSION DEADLINES FYs 2024 through 2026 PROTECT Competitive Grant Program applications must be submitted through Grants.gov by 11:59 PM EST on October 09, 2026.” Open page 21

Mistakes that get applications rejected

Could get your application rejected · p. 13

“OTHER Applications determined to be late, duplicates of applications submitted for the same round of applications, or incomplete will be disqualified.” Open page 13

Who in Tennessee has won this program

12 awards to Tennessee recipients in 1 county since 2017. Largest shown:

Past Tennessee recipients
Recipient	Where	Amount	FY
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$8.8M	2021
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$3.5M	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$1.5M	2025
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$960K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$800K	2018
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$400K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$240K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$240K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$119K	2018
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$104K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$30K	2026
Tennessee Department Of Transportation	Nashville, Davidson County	$26K	2019

Source: USAspending.gov. Past awards show who this program funds; they don't guarantee future awards.

About the program (20.284)

Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) — The PROTECT Grant Program

How applications are judged

Varies by project. FHWA determines criteria for selecting proposals based on the stated objectives of the funding opportunity.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Examples of funded projects

Not Applicable.

Program listing on SAM.gov

Something wrong with this listing? Tell us

Key facts