Assistance Listing 11.038
Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program
National Institute of Standards and Technology · Department of Commerce
The verdict for a small nonprofit
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 94% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead.
Based on 36 new awards in FY2023–25. The median award is $10,058,375. Expect about 64 days between posting and deadline.
- First-time winners
- 86%
- of new awards, last 3 FYs
- Nonprofit share
- 6%
- 28% higher ed · 0% gov't
- Under-$1M orgs
- n/a
- revenue join unavailable
- Median award
- $10M
- $10.0M – $38M middle half
- New awards, FY2025
- 18
- $410M committed to them
- Usually posts
- Jul
- irregular · 64-day window
Open right now under this program
Nothing open · from Grants.gov, checked every 10 minutes
Who won in FY2025
Largest recipients by dollars. From USAspending.
| Recipient | Type | State | Awards | Awarded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deepsig INC. | Business | VA | 3 | $21,455,536 |
| Northeastern University | Higher ed | MA | 3 | $5,985,148 |
| New York University | Higher ed | NY | 2 | $11,960,960 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University | Higher ed | VA | 2 | $4,000,000 |
| Abside Networks INC | Business | MA | 1 | $46,808,486 |
| Nokia of America Corporation | Business | NJ | 1 | $45,000,000 |
| John Mezzalingua Associates LLC | Business | NY | 1 | $43,940,613 |
| Airspan Networks INC. | Business | FL | 1 | $42,729,740 |
| AT&T Enterprises, LLC | Business | VA | 1 | $42,299,694 |
| Battelle Memorial Institute | Nonprofit | OH | 1 | $37,851,881 |
New awards by fiscal year
Awards first made in each fiscal year; dollars are the total committed to that year's new awards over their life.
| FY | New awards | Committed | Median | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3 | $5.5M | $2.0M | $1.7M – $2.0M |
| 2024 | 15 | $105M | $2.0M | $2.0M – $2.0M |
| 2025 | 18 | $410M | $10M | $10.0M – $38M |
Past rounds
Every announcement under this listing that Grants.gov still lists. Use it to plan next year.
| Posted | Closed | Window | Announcement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-14 | 2026-09-09 | 57 d | NTIA-PWSCIF-26-01 · Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program – Solutions for AI-Native RAN |
| 2024-12-17 | 2025-04-16 | 120 d | NTIA-PWSCIF-24-02 · Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program - Software Solutions for Industry Verticals and Integration Automation |
| 2024-05-07 | 2024-07-17 | 71 d | NTIA-PWSCIF-24-01 · Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program - Open Radio Commercialization and Innovation |
| 2023-04-12 | 2023-06-02 | 51 d | NTIA-PWSCIF-2023 · Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program – Expanding Testing and Evaluation |
Common questions
How hard is it to win a grant under 11.038?
Rarely funds nonprofits directly. 94% of awards go to universities and other applicants, so look for a subrecipient or partner role instead. Based on 36 new awards in FY2023–25. The median award is $10,058,375. Expect about 64 days between posting and deadline.
How much does Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund Grant Program award?
In FY2025 the median new award was $10M; the middle half ran from $10.0M to $38M. 18 new awards were made, with $410M committed to them.
When does 11.038 usually post?
Over the last several years, new rounds most often posted in Jul with about 64 days to apply. The most recent round posted Jul 14, 2026.
Who runs this program?
Department of Commerce (National Institute of Standards and Technology). Assistance Listing 11.038 on SAM.gov describes the authorizing statute and standard terms.
Sources: USAspending FY2021–25 award archive (2026-10-06); Grants.gov Search2 (fetched 2026-10-28); IRS EO BMF (fetched 2026-10-28). Award counts are new awards by fiscal year of first action. Shares are computed from award counts, not dollars; the under-$1M share covers the 100% of nonprofit awards that matched an IRS revenue record. Recipient type comes from the award record's business-type codes. Always confirm details in the official announcement.