National Defense Education Program (12.006)
National Defense Education Program (Assistance Listing 12.006) is run by the Washington Headquarters Services, part of the Department of Defense. It awarded $158 million in 39 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $4.1 million per award on average. 1 funding opportunity is open or forecast now.
The typical award was $3.0 million. Half of the 39 awards fell between $2.0 million and $5.0 million, and they ranged from $49,629 to $35.3 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$158 million
- Grant awards39
- Typical award$3.0 million
- Awarded in FY 2025$18.7 million
- Size rank675 of 1824
- Type of assistanceCooperative agreement
Key findings
- Annual funding fell from $45.9 million in fiscal 2021 to $18.7 million in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 675th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 84% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 19 states and territories.
What the program funds
To obtain support or partner with like-minded organizations in the management, development, implementation, research/evaluation, and furthering of new and existing partnerships between the Department of Defense and its National Defense Education Program (NDEP) for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and outreach activities, and other educational outreach efforts, as well as STEM workforce development initiatives across the PreK through College continuum, to include skilled trades and advanced manufacturing that do not require four-year degrees . The scope will cover all 50 states, U.S. territories, and DoDEA schools.
Open opportunities
Rules from the program listing
Who can apply
Please refer to funding opportunity announcement for specific eligibility requirements. Profit is not allowed.
What the money can and cannot pay for
1. Develop, implement, recommend, manage, evaluate, and support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and outreach programs, other educational outreach programs, as well as workforce development initiatives aligned to DoD's National Defense Education Program (NDEP), and to the Federal STEM strategic plan. Partnerships between academia, industry, nonprofit organizations, and local educational agencies are strongly encouraged. 2. Develop, implement, manage and evaluate programs that demonstrate an effective integration of math across science and technology subject areas. 3. Develop and implement exploratory pilot programs that seek to create new educational experiences for students in STEM, especially those from underserved populations to include military connected students and schools 4. Develop larger cohesive STEM education and outreach activities that strengthen the capacity of regional/local communities and stakeholders to leverage partnerships. 5. Develop, implement, manage, and evaluate manufacturing engineering education program (MEEP) at various levels from pre-college, to collegiate levels of undergraduate and graduate that prepares participants for realistic job previews. 6. Develop activities that exposes participants to the necessary technical and problem solving skills for competency in cyber, promote/encourage computational and digital literacy. 7.
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.
Award range and average, in the agency's words
Awards will vary in duration and amount.
Examples of funded projects
Fiscal Year2021: NDEP STEM Grant Recipient Project Abstracts can be found on DoD STEM website: https://www.dodstem.us/meet/blog/entries/national-defense-education-program-stem-awardees/. Funded projects range from providing educational opportunities to students across the K-20 education continuum, to providing teacher professional development at the K-12. Sample activities include web-based portal where students can interact for free with virtual STEM professionals in DoD priority areas; transforming early childhood science teaching based upon DoDEA College and Career Ready Standards for Science to measurably increase student science, literacy, and math achievement through high-impact STEM educational experiences for students and teachers; introducing undergraduates to restricted research initiative; build-up the effectiveness of teachers while providing innovative student engagement as levers of change in the STARward STEM program that is purposefully designed to ignite students’ passion for STEM while illuminating new and exciting STEM career paths by starting early, incorporating technology, and using innovative partnerships to fuel this mission; and leveraging existing college and community strengths and resources, the program will create new engagement experiences by providing clear pathways for students to explore STEM options and train for STEM careersFiscal Year2023: Funded projects range from implementing a summer bridge program for high school students entering...
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, National Defense Education Program (12.006) awarded$158 million across 39 grant awards, an average of $4.1 million per award.
Who usually wins
Colleges and universities received 55% of the money, nonprofits 35% and state and local governments 3.8%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colleges and universities | 26 | $87.7 million | 55% |
| Nonprofits | 11 | $55.4 million | 35% |
| Other | 1 | $9.0 million | 5.7% |
| State and local governments | 1 | $6.0 million | 3.8% |
By state
18 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 2 | $38.2 million |
| Massachusetts | 8 | $20.7 million |
| Texas | 2 | $14.3 million |
| Virginia | 3 | $13.1 million |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | $8.0 million |
| Kansas | 2 | $6.7 million |
| Illinois | 2 | $6.7 million |
| Alabama | 1 | $6.0 million |
| California | 2 | $6.0 million |
| Indiana | 2 | $5.6 million |
| New York | 1 | $5.2 million |
| Ohio | 1 | $5.0 million |
| Oklahoma | 1 | $5.0 million |
| Colorado | 3 | $4.8 million |
| Arizona | 2 | $4.7 million |
| Connecticut | 1 | $3.0 million |
| Montana | 2 | $2.9 million |
| Maryland | 1 | $2.1 million |
| Minnesota | 1 | $207,944 |