National Grants: Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA)

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2026 DERA National Notice of Funding Opportunity Open

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is authorized under the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act to offer funding assistance to accelerate the upgrade, retrofit, and turnover of the legacy diesel fleet.

The EPA expects to award approximately $180 million under this Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Final funding amounts and awards are subject to the availability of funds, the quality of applications, agency priorities, and other applicable considerations.

All application packages must be submitted electronically to EPA through Grants.gov no later than Friday, January 22, 2027, at 11:59 p.m. (ET) to be considered.

Important Dates

ActivityDate
2026 DERA National NOFO OpenThursday, September 24, 2026
2026 DERA National Program Overview Webinars

2026 DERA National Program Overview Webinar

  • Held on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 @ 1PM EST
  • Held on Wednesday, October 28, 2026 @ 3PM EST
  • Held on Thursday, November 12, 2026 @ 5PM EST
Deadline for Submitting QuestionsTuesday, November 24, 2026, 11:59PM EST
NOFO Closes - Application DeadlineFriday, January 22, 2027, 11:59PM EST
Anticipated Notification of SelectionMay 2027
Anticipated AwardsJuly 2027
Email Updates

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Supporting Information for the NOFO

Please refer to the  2026 Diesel Emissions Reduction Act National Program (pdf) (1.41 MB, September 2026, EPA-420-B-26-034)  for information on how to prepare and submit an application package. The application package must be received by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday, January 22, 2027.

Application Submission Documents

If you are having trouble opening a PDF, please save or download the file and then open it with Adobe Acrobat.

Supporting Information for Application

Supporting Documentation for Grantees

Questions and Answers

The deadline for submitting questions regarding the 2026 DERA National Notice of Funding Opportunity is Tuesday, November 24, 2026 at 11:59 PM (ET). All questions and answers, including those from all webinar information sessions were added to the  2026 DERA National Program Question and Answers (pdf) (507.59 KB, September 2026, EPA-420-F-26-018)

Eligible Applicants

In accordance with Assistance Listing 66.039, and the EPA’s Policy for Competition of Assistance Agreements (EPA Order § 5700.5A1), the following entities are eligible to apply:

  1. A regional, State (including the District of Columbia), local agency, Tribal agency, or port authority, which has jurisdiction over transportation or air quality. School districts, municipalities, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), cities, and counties are all generally eligible entities under this grant program to the extent that they fall within this definition.
  2. A nonprofit organization or institution that:
    • a. represents or provides pollution reduction or educational services to people or organizations that own or operate diesel fleets; or
    • b. has, as its principal purpose, the promotion of transportation or air quality.

Please refer to the 2026 DERA National NOFO for specific information about this competition.

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities include the retrofit or replacement of existing diesel engines, vehicles and equipment with EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) certified engine configurations and verified retrofit and idle reduction technologies.

Eligible diesel vehicles, engines, and equipment include:

  • Buses
  • Class 5 – Class 8 heavy-duty highway vehicles
  • Locomotives
  • Marine engines
  • Nonroad engines and equipment used in construction, handling of cargo (including at ports and airports), agriculture, mining, or energy production (including stationary generators and pumps)

Grant funds may be used for diesel emission reduction projects including:

Funds awarded under this program cannot be used to fund emission reductions mandated by federal law. Equipment for testing emissions or fueling infrastructure is not eligible for funding.

Please refer to the 2026 DERA National NOFO for specific information about this competition.

Application Process

Application packages must be submitted electronically to the EPA through Grants.gov by the deadline to be considered for funding. Specifically, the Grants.gov registration process requires that your organization have a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) (previously known as the DUNS number) and a current registration with the System for Award Management (SAM.gov); the process of obtaining both could take a month or more for new registrants.

Potential applicants without a Grants.gov account are encouraged to initiate the Grants.gov registration process well ahead of the deadline for funding since the registration process can take a month or more.

Organizations applying to this funding opportunity must have an active SAM registration. If you have never done business with the Federal Government, you will need to register your organization in SAM.gov. If you do not have a SAM.gov account, then you will create an account using the government sign in service (login.gov) to complete your System for Award Management registration. The registration is FREE. The process for entity registrations includes obtaining a UEI, a 12-character alphanumeric ID assigned to an entity by SAM.gov, and requires assertions, representations and certifications, and other information about your organization. Please review the Entity Registration Checklist for details on this process. It is recommended to begin the SAM registration process prior to applying to this grant competition; registration may take more than a month to complete.

Applicants with existing Grants.gov accounts are encouraged to check the status of your SAM account and address any account issues in advance of applying.

Please note that SAM registrations do expire, and inactive accounts must re-register to be able to submit an application. If you have done business with the Federal Government previously, you can check your entity status using your government issued UEI to determine if your registration is active. The SAM requires you renew your registration every 365 days to keep it active. Applicants must ensure that all registration requirements are met in order to apply for this opportunity through Grants.gov and should ensure that all such requirements have been met well in advance of the application submission deadline.

All applications must now be submitted through Grants.gov using the “Workspace” feature. Information on the Workspace feature can be found at the Grants.gov Workspace Overview Page. For more information on the registration requirements that must be completed in order to submit an application through Grants.gov, click on “Applicants” on the top of the page, and then click the “Get Registered” link on the page. Contact the Federal Service Desk for help with your System for Award Management account, to resolve technical issues or chat with a help desk agent: (866) 606-8220. The Federal Service desk hours of operation are Monday – Friday 8am – 8pm ET.

Tools and Resources for Applicants

DERA

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Last updated on September 24, 2026