EPA Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant

EPA Innovative Water Infrastructure Workforce Development Grant

Below is a summary assembled by the Research & Innovation Office (RIO). Please see the full solicitation for complete information about the funding opportunity.

Program Summary 

This program is aimed at funding workforce development programs through an increased collaboration among Federal, State, and local governments; and institutions of higher education to accelerate career pipelines and provide access to workforce opportunities. It aims to address the challenges faced by the water workforce in several key areas to help develop the next generation of water workers. A particular focus of this NOFO is to support water workforce development in rural, small, and tribal communities.

EPA is soliciting applications for projects in four Project Areas. Applicants must address one and only one of the following Project Areas:

1. Project Area 1: Targeted internship, apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and postsecondary bridge programs for skilled water utility trades
2. Project Area 2: Education programs designed for elementary, secondary, and higher education students
3. Project Area 3: Regional industry and workforce development collaborations
4. Project Area 4: Education and training programs for decentralized water workers

All projects must address a geographic area, include an innovative approach, and describe how project results and lessons learned will be shared with the broader water sector. EPA is particularly interested in results that are scalable and have potential to be utilized by the broader water sector, including water utilities.

See the solicitation for full details. 

Deadlines

• CU Internal Deadline: 11:59pm MT September 9, 2026
• Sponsor Application Deadline: 9:59pm MT October 15, 2026

Internal Application Requirements (all in PDF format)

• Project Area (select one):
  • Project Area 1: Targeted internship, apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and postsecondary bridge programs for skilled water utility trades
  • Project Area 2: Education programs designed for elementary, secondary, and higher education students
  • Project Area 3: Regional industry and workforce development collaborations
  • Project Area 4: Education and training programs for decentralized water workers
• Project Narrative (3 pages maximum) including: 1) a brief summary of the proposed project; 2) a workplan with the project area, geographic area, and innovative approach; 3) project partnerships and roles and responsibilities; 4) a plan for active transfer of project results, methods, and/or effective strategies to water utilities, states, tribes, and/or other interested stakeholders; 5) anticipated environmental outputs and outcomes and approaches for tracking and reporting progress; and 6) a milestone schedule (up to 3 years) for project activities and an approach for ensuring funds are expended in a timely and efficient manner.
• Programmatic Capability/Experience (1 page maximum): Provide a brief description of your organization and experience related to the proposed project, and your organization’s infrastructure as it relates to its ability to successfully implement the proposed project. Provide a list of key staff and briefly describe their experience/expertise/qualifications, cultural competency including appropriate language fluency to serve communities in the geographic areas to be served, and knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the project goals. Summarize relevant past performance under assistance agreements within the last three years, including project management, reporting, and progress toward expected results.
• Budget Overview (1 page maximum): A basic budget outlining project costs is sufficient; detailed OCG budgets are not required.
• Internal Teaming Abstract (optional): Please provide a brief project abstract (3-4 sentences) for teaming purposes. By submitting this abstract, you give RIO permission to share your name and abstract with potential CU Boulder teams as part of the internal competition process, including if your proposal is not selected.

To access the online application, visit:https://cuboulderovcr.secure-platform.com/a/solicitations/7200/home 

Eligibility

Each application must address:

• One and only one Project Area;
• Geographic Area, including geographically diverse areas and rural, small, and tribal communities; 
• Innovative Approach; and 
• Scalable results that can be utilized by the broader water sector

Limited Submission Guidelines

Only one application can be submitted per applicant.

Award Information

• Anticipated number of awards: 15 
• Project Area 1: $1M – $7.8M per award
• Project Areas 2-4: $250K – $1M per award
• Project period: 3 years

Evaluation Criteria

The internal review process will follow EPA’s guidance below. 

1) Project Area — 25 points: Applicants will be evaluated based on their ability and approach for effectively addressing the Project Area in Section 3.A.(1) of the NOFO that the application focuses on. In conducting this evaluation, the following factors will be considered:

1. The extent and quality of the overall approach to addressing the Project Area described in the application and the proposed community outreach strategies, particularly if the project will involve and benefit rural, small, and tribal communities. (10 points)
2. The extent to which the applicant describes the proposed approach to share (or make available) the project activities, the results of the project activities, and the lessons learned to geographically diverse areas. (7 points)
3. The extent to which the applicant includes innovative approaches in addressing the workforce needs of drinking water and wastewater utilities. (8 points)

2) Project Partnerships — 10 points: Applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to demonstrate appropriate and necessary partnerships to successfully conduct the project, including whether they have provided a clear description of the roles, or planned roles, of each partner in the project’s component/tasks, and how these partnerships will contribute to the success of the project. If the applicant does not intend to have partners, then the applicant will be evaluated based on how they demonstrate they will be able to successfully conduct the project and meet the objectives described in Section 3.A.2 without the use of partners. 

3) Transfer of Results — 10 points: Applications will be evaluated based on how well they demonstrate the applicant’s plan for active transfer of project results, and methods and/or effective strategies to other water utilities, as well as states, tribes, and/or other interested stakeholders to assist them with building their drinking water and wastewater utility workforce.

4) Environmental Results and Measuring Progress — 10 points: Applications will be evaluated on the extent and quality to which the application demonstrates:

1. The potential to achieve environmental results, anticipated outputs and outcomes, and how the outputs and outcomes are linked to Pillar 1: Clean Air, Land, and Water for Every American described in Section 3.B. of this announcement. (5 points)
2. A sound plan for measuring and tracking progress toward achieving the anticipated outputs and outcomes (examples of outputs and outcomes can be found in Section 3.A.2. of this announcement). (5 points)

5) Milestone Schedule/Detailed Budget — 15 points: Applications will be evaluated based on the extent and quality to which the application addresses each of the following sub-criteria:

1. The adequacy and completeness of the milestone schedule, including timeframes and major milestones to complete significant project tasks, and an approach to ensure that awarded funds will be expended in a timely and efficient manner. (7.5 points)
2. The reasonableness of the budget and estimated funding amounts for each project component/task. Applicants will be evaluated based on the adequacy of the information provided in the detailed budget and whether the proposed costs are cost effective, reasonable, and allowable, including consideration of indirect/administrative costs. (7.5 points)

6) Programmatic Capability/Experience — 20 points: Applications will be evaluated based on the applicant’s ability to successfully complete and manage the proposed project considering the following.

1. Organizational experience related to the proposed project, and their infrastructure as it relates to the ability to successfully implement the proposed project. (10 points)
2. Staff expertise/qualifications, cultural competency to effectively work with communities in the geographic area to be served, staff knowledge, and resources or the ability to obtain them, to successfully achieve the goals of the project. (10 points)

7) Past Performance — 10 points: Applicants will be evaluated based on their ability to successfully complete and manage the proposed project considering their:

1. Past performance in successfully completing and managing federally funded and/or non-federally funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include grants and cooperative agreements but not contracts) performed within the last three years (no more than five agreements, and preferably EPA agreements). (4 points)
2. History of meeting reporting requirements under federally funded and/or non-federally funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include grants and cooperative agreements but not contracts) performed within the last three years (no more than five agreements, and preferably EPA agreements) and submitting acceptable final technical reports under those agreements. (2 points)
3. Extent and quality to which the applicant adequately documented and/or reported on their progress towards achieving the expected results (e.g., outcomes and outputs) under federally funded and/or non-federally funded assistance agreements (assistance agreements include grants and cooperative agreements but not contracts) performed within the last three years (no more than five agreements, and preferably EPA agreements), and if such progress was not being made, whether the applicant adequately documented and/or reported why not. (4 points)