Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program and Related Assistance (66.608)
Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program and Related Assistance (Assistance Listing 66.608) is run by the Environmental Protection Agency. It awarded $37.6 million in 134 grants from fiscal 2021 to 2025, about $280,529 per award on average. No funding opportunity is open on Grants.gov right now.
The typical award was $236,193. Half of the 134 awards fell between $200,000 and $300,000, and they ranged from $2,708 to $2.8 million.
- Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$37.6 million
- Grant awards134
- Typical award$236,193
- Awarded in FY 2025$8.8 million
- Size rank1115 of 1824
- Type of assistanceProject grants
Key findings
- Annual funding was roughly flat, $8.8 million in fiscal 2021 and $8.8 million in fiscal 2025.
- It is the 1115th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
- The 20 largest recipients received 44% of the money.
- Awards went to recipients in 42 states and territories.
What the program funds
The National Environmental Information Exchange Network (EN) is an inter-governmental partnership to foster better environmental management and decision-making through increased access to timely and high-quality environmental information. The EN, launched in 2002, uses a standards-based approach to facilitate environmental data sharing among EPA, states, tribes and territories. This framework allows organizations to exchange and share data over the Internet regardless of the specific information technology used. Its goals include facilitating the sharing of environmental data, especially through shared and reusable services; streamlining data collection and exchanges to improve timeliness for decision making; increasing the quality and access to environmental data; reducing burden and costs for co-regulators and the regulated community; and supporting better decisions on environmental and health issues. The Exchange Network Grant Program provides funding for projects that develop the Network and enable timely, on-demand access to environmental data through innovative technologies, improved support systems, and expanded collaboration using shared tools and services. There are three funding areas for the FY 2026 EPA Exchange Network Grant Program: Funding Area 1: Increased Data Access and Innovative Business Processes. The opportunities under this funding area are designed to help agencies adopt innovative business processes and modernize the critical data services that power their systems and workflows. Funding Area 2: Eliminate paper submittals and expand e-reporting. The opportunities under this funding area are designed by EPA National Program Offices to help their stakeholders submit and share programmatic data for fourteen EPA programs. Funding Area 3: Augment the Information Management Capacity of EN Partners. The opportunities under this funding area are designed to enable applicants to build the IT and data management capacity necessary to effectively manage their environmental programs and to identify the most valuable ways for their programs to participate in the EN.
Open opportunities
No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.
Rules from the program listing
Who can apply
Consistent with the Assistance Listing for 66.608, eligible applicants for the Exchange Network Grant program include states, U.S. Territories (i.e., American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the District of Columbia, Guam, Palau, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands), federally recognized Indian tribes and Alaska Native Villages and inter-tribal consortia of federally recognized tribes (e.g., the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission). Other entities, such as regional air pollution control districts and some public universities may apply for assistance if they are agencies or instrumentalities of a state or tribe under applicable laws. Entities asserting they are agencies or instrumentalities of a state must provide a letter from the appropriate state Attorney General certifying the applicant is an agency or instrumentality of the state. Entities asserting they are instrumentalities of a tribe must provide a certification and supporting documentation from the tribal council or other appropriate tribal government official certifying they are an instrumentality of the tribe. EPA will not accept or review an application which does not include the required documentation. The EPA recognizes that environmental programs and associated reporting obligations are sometimes delegated to local governments.
What the money can and cannot pay for
Applications must meet all threshold eligibility criteria as outlined in the annual NOFO, in order to be considered eligible during an annual competition. An application must include in its workplan an explanation of how the proposed project supports one or more of the current EN funding areas; applicants should note that all EN funding areas are of equal priority and that there is no preference given for applications which support more than one. An application must include goal(s) leading to completion of activities and must also clearly state the anticipated outputs and outcomes which will result from the completion of their goals and objectives. Examples include but are not limited to: any data flow(s) brought into production, any Application Programming Interfaces (API) service(s) brought into production, and the creation of any new API documentation, data management plan(s), data standards or schema, open data portals, web applications, etc. Applicants may propose EN project funding for costs associated with personnel salaries and fringe benefits, Intergovernmental Personnel Act Agreements (IPAs) travel, travel related to Exchange Network activities, equipment, supplies, contractual costs, in-kind services provided by EPA, and indirect costs. Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information.
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.
Deadlines
This assistance listing includes deadline information within the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which contains both the deadline for submitting applications to EPA and the tentative expected award date for the current year’s exchange network grants.
Award range and average, in the agency's words
Applicants applying under an individual opportunity may request up to $300,000 in funding. Applicants applying under a partnership opportunity may request funds up to $500,000, if all EN partnership eligibility criteria are met. An eligible applicant specifically applying under the Individual Capacity Building with Mentorship opportunity may request up to $315,000 if all requirements are met. This allows up to $15,000 to cover costs for a mentor for first time tribal and territorial applicants. For FY23, awards ranged from $99,682 to $500,000 with an average award amount of $309,080. For FY24, awards are expected to range from $130,000 to $500,000, with an average award amount of $287,958. For FY25, awards are expected to range from $200,000 to $600,000, with an estimated average award amount of $330,000.
Funding history and past recipients
From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Environmental Information Exchange Network Grant Program and Related Assistance (66.608) awarded$37.6 million across 134 grant awards, an average of $280,529 per award.
Who usually wins
State and local governments received 46% of the money, tribes 36% and colleges and universities 10%.
| Recipient type | Awards | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| State and local governments | 80 | $17.3 million | 46% |
| Tribal governments and organizations | 44 | $13.7 million | 36% |
| Colleges and universities | 9 | $3.8 million | 10% |
| Nonprofits | 1 | $2.8 million | 7.5% |
By state
11 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.
| State | Awards | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| California | 17 | $4.5 million |
| Oklahoma | 11 | $3.2 million |
| Washington | 11 | $3.1 million |
| District of Columbia | 2 | $3.0 million |
| Arizona | 6 | $2.3 million |
| Oregon | 6 | $2.0 million |
| Nevada | 6 | $1.6 million |
| Illinois | 5 | $1.4 million |
| Idaho | 4 | $1.1 million |
| Maine | 3 | $1.1 million |
| Arkansas | 5 | $1.0 million |
| Virginia | 4 | $911,500 |
| Kansas | 3 | $800,000 |
| Minnesota | 2 | $799,999 |
| Hawaii | 3 | $700,000 |
| Montana | 3 | $700,000 |
| Colorado | 3 | $697,263 |
| Utah | 3 | $658,479 |
| North Dakota | 2 | $600,000 |
| Alaska | 2 | $599,492 |
| Nebraska | 2 | $580,000 |
| New Mexico | 1 | $500,000 |
| Vermont | 1 | $500,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 2 | $495,430 |
| Texas | 2 | $464,000 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | $457,726 |
| Rhode Island | 3 | $445,750 |
| West Virginia | 2 | $400,000 |
| Louisiana | 2 | $324,000 |
| Tennessee | 1 | $298,989 |
| South Dakota | 1 | $298,221 |
| New Hampshire | 2 | $239,997 |
| New Jersey | 2 | $202,646 |
| Florida | 1 | $200,000 |
| Iowa | 1 | $200,000 |
| North Carolina | 1 | $200,000 |
| New York | 1 | $200,000 |
| South Carolina | 1 | $200,000 |
| Wisconsin | 1 | $200,000 |
| Wyoming | 1 | $200,000 |
| Delaware | 1 | $199,398 |
| Missouri | 1 | $56,403 |