Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Current & Upcoming Funding Opportunities

PSCR works with public safety agencies, academic researchers, and industry partners in both technology and human/social areas, and system developers to support our mission and accelerate the advancement of public safety communications technologies. PSCR leverages Financial Assistance Awards in the form of grants and cooperative agreements to stimulate critical R&D, advanced engineering, and product development in key technology focus areas. Official announcements for all open opportunities are made available on grants.gov. Application evaluation procedures are described on each individual notice of funding opportunity (NOFO). Please find our current and upcoming grants and cooperative agreements below.

Public Safety Radio Data (PSRD)

The intent of this NOFO is for the award recipient to collect public safety LMR usage data and make the datasets available for research related to the comparison of LMR to LTE. The award recipient will help achieve this by partnering with no less than two (2) public safety organizations (PSOs) located within the United States, of varying size or geographic location, for the collection of data necessary for conducting research relevant to the comparison of LMR to LTE. The award recipient will make the collected data publicly available for the conduct of such research. Applicants must also propose their own research project(s) related to the comparison of LMR to LTE as part of their application.

Augmented Reality (AR)

The PSIAP-AR funding opportunity aims to implement technology that will enable researchers to test and develop user interfaces to enhance public safety. Projects funded under the PSIAP-AR program can help achieve this by creating new technology or applying current technology to a specific public safety use case. Recipients may also conduct research to support the use of AR hardware and applications including cybersecurity, usability, and human-computer interaction. This application closed October 1, 2020 and is currently undergoing review.

First Responder 3D Indoor Tracking Prize (FR3D)

The NIST Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program is seeking applicants with expertise in prize competitions to collaborate with technical experts from NIST, industry/academia, and public safety to serve as Prize Administrator in developing and implementing the First Responder 3D Indoor Tracking Prize (FR3D). This application closed on August 20, 2020 and is currently undergoing review.

Follow-on Funding for Technical and Business Assistance and Demonstration Projects with Public Safety Agencies (TABA)

The Public Safety Innovation Accelerator Program (PSIAP) from PSCR is currently seeking applications from eligible organizations - entities that previously were awarded a grant, cooperative agreement, prize challenge or subaward by a federal entity (‘entities with a previous award”), such as NIST Public Safety Communications Research Division, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Homeland Security, etc., for a public-safety focused communication technology innovation - to propose activities that will either:

1. more rapidly advance their prototypes through needed technical and business assistance; or 
2.  a demonstration project with a partnering public safety agency, to provide additional testing and research.

 Learn more about this opportunity; download the FAQs.

General questions about this opportunity including eligibility requirements, the review and selection process, and the general characteristics of a competitive application may be addressed by e-mail to pscr@nist.gov with ‘TABA’ in the subject line. Questions submitted to NIST by e-mail may be posted on pscr.gov. Discussions about specific project ideas will not be permitted and NIST staff will not critique or provide feedback on specific project ideas while they are being developed by an applicant at any time before the deadline for all applications.