NSF 26-508: TechAccess: AI-Ready America

NSF 26-508: TechAccess: AI-Ready America

TechAccess: AI-Ready America is an active National Science Foundation solicitation for State/Territory Coordination Hubs. The program is intended to build a coordinated network that helps every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories improve AI readiness and practical adoption. Its scope reaches beyond classroom instruction: the official solicitation names businesses, public-serving organizations, workers, educators, local governments, and community partners as part of the wider effort.

NSF published the solicitation on 2026-03-25 and labels the document the current version. The first round’s Letter of Intent and full-proposal dates have passed, but this is not a closed opportunity. NSF lists a second Hub round and a third Hub round. The next full-proposal deadline is 2027-01-15, with the required round-two Letter of Intent due on 2026-12-15. A later round has an LOI date of 2027-06-01 and a full-proposal date of 2027-07-01. The deadline in this page’s metadata therefore identifies the next upcoming full-proposal deadline, not the already-passed first-round date.

Key details

The award estimate is not a promise that every state or territory will receive an award. NSF says the program expects up to 56 Hubs, with 10 selected in round one, 20 in round two, and the remainder in round three. The estimated budget, number of awards, and average award size or duration remain subject to available funds.

What the Coordination Hub must do

This is a coordination and implementation award, not a conventional single-lab research grant. A successful lead organization is expected to have statewide or territory-wide convening ability and enough operational capacity to manage a multi-sector team. Technical AI expertise may come from partners; the lead does not need to hold every capability alone.

The solicitation describes five primary responsibility areas:

1. AI Learning and Resource Navigator. The Hub should maintain a public, usable inventory of relevant AI training programs, physical infrastructure, and support services available in the state or territory.

2. State or territory AI readiness plan. The Hub should work with partners to describe local priorities, define its role, collect data, evaluate progress, and adjust the work using evidence.

3. AI deployment support. The Hub should help local governments, organizations, small businesses, and other users adopt AI through advisory services, training, technical setup, integration, customization, and deployment. NSF encourages coordination with existing delivery networks such as Cooperative Extension, American Job Centers, Small Business Development Centers, and Veterans Business Outreach Centers.

4. AI readiness training and capacity building. The Hub acts as a backbone for education, workforce, and industry partners across K–16 and workforce systems. It is not required to deliver every training program itself. It should improve access to existing programs, support scale, align credentials and teaching approaches, and expand practical learning such as projects, internships, and apprenticeships. The solicitation points to the Department of Labor’s AI Literacy Framework, WIOA, and Perkins V as relevant alignment points.

5. Coordination in priority sectors. The Hub should identify sectors important to its economy, such as agriculture, energy, manufacturing, healthcare delivery, or education, and bring together the relevant education, workforce, industry, and government stakeholders. The work should complement established efforts rather than duplicate them.

The program also has a national component and future Catalyst Award competitions, but NSF 26-508 is specifically the Coordination Hub funding opportunity. A separate funding call covers the National Coordination Lead, and separate announcements will cover Catalyst competitions. Applicants should not treat those separate mechanisms as alternate application tracks inside this Hub proposal.

Eligibility and proposal limits

The official eligibility rule points proposers to the organization categories in NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide, Chapter I.E. Unaffiliated individuals cannot submit a proposal in response to this solicitation. NSF places no restriction on who may serve as PI and no restriction on the number of proposals for a PI or co-PI. The important organization-level limit is one Coordination Hub proposal per institution.

That one-proposal limit makes internal selection important. A university, state agency, nonprofit, or other eligible organization should decide which Hub concept it will carry before it asks partners to prepare an LOI. A broad coalition can participate, but the submitting institution must coordinate one coherent proposal rather than submit competing Hub concepts.

The strongest applicants will be able to show more than a list of interested partners. The proposal should explain the lead organization’s convening power, the team’s implementation experience, the reason each partner is included, the decision-making structure, and any capability gaps that still need to be filled. NSF encourages at least one Advisory Board as part of the Hub strategy.

Current application timeline

The official schedule has three Hub rounds:

• Round 1: LOI 2026-06-16; full proposal 2026-07-16.
• Round 2: LOI 2026-12-15; full proposal 2027-01-15.
• Round 3: LOI 2027-06-01; full proposal 2027-07-01.

The next practical target is round two. The LOI must be submitted by 5 p.m. on 2026-12-15 in the submitting organization’s local time, followed by the full proposal deadline at 5 p.m. on 2027-01-15. NSF does not describe the LOI as a permission step: it is used to help NSF assess review requirements, it does not provide pre-approval, and NSF will not provide feedback to LOI submitters. A team should still prepare the LOI carefully because submitting multiple LOIs is not permitted.

How to prepare and submit

1. Confirm the submitting organization and round

Start with the PAPPG Chapter I.E. proposer categories and confirm that the organization, not an individual, will submit. Decide whether round two or round three is realistic. Confirm that the institution has not committed its one Hub proposal to another team.

2. Build the required LOI

The LOI title must begin with the full name of the state, DC, or territory followed by “Coordination Hub,” then a precise project title. Avoid unexplained acronyms. List the full names and institutional affiliations of the PI, co-PIs, senior personnel, and sub-awardees. The PI is the contact for NSF questions and must have an email address listed.

List every participating institution, including community partners. The synopsis must describe the proposed work in enough detail for NSF to select appropriate reviewers and is limited to one page. Research.gov permits zero to four other senior project personnel and zero to 20 other participating organizations for this LOI. An Authorized Organizational Representative is not required for LOI submission. No Supplementary Documents are allowed with the LOI.

3. Assemble the full proposal around the required sections

Submit through Research.gov or Grants.gov using the applicable PAPPG or NSF Grants.gov Application Guide instructions. If multiple organizations submit separate collaborative proposals, NSF requires Research.gov. Keep the Project Description within 15 pages and use the five required section headers:

1. Vision and Approach to Responsibilities: explain the statewide or territory-wide vision, the five Hub responsibilities, the coordination model, prior experience, and any local pilots to be supported through partnerships or future funding.
2. Organizational Background, Team Expertise, and Partnership Rationale: describe the lead, team roles, partner selection, governance, and the combined capacity to coordinate education, workforce, industry, and government stakeholders.
3. Current State of AI Planning and Coordination: document existing efforts, what is working, where gaps remain, and how the Hub will accelerate progress.
4. Work Plan, Milestones, and Performance Metrics: give an implementation plan, data collection approach, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
5. Resource Mobilization and Leveraging Additional Support: describe how industry, philanthropy, state agencies, and other sources will add financial or in-kind support and help the Hub become sustainable.

Failure to use the specified section headers can result in Return Without Review. The proposal should make the connection between each planned activity, the responsible partner, the delivery schedule, and the measure that will show progress.

4. Prepare only permitted supplemental materials

Letters of Collaboration are required from all partners named in the proposal and must follow the PAPPG format. Include a Data Management Plan because the award involves data collection and reporting. Include a Mentoring Plan only when the budget requests support for postdoctoral researchers or graduate students. NSF does not permit letters of support or additional narrative materials beyond the allowed and required documents.

Voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. NSF lists no indirect-cost or other budget limitation for this solicitation, but the budget must still follow the applicable submission guide and the solicitation’s requirements.

Measures and review focus

The work plan should anticipate reporting on the number of people trained, including educators, workforce participants, and small-business owners; the number of small businesses and government entities assisted; hours or dollars saved through AI adoption; statewide convenings; contributions to national best-practice repositories; participation in sector coordination; people trained for an AI Deployment Corps; and organizations receiving technical assistance.

NSF’s program-specific review questions ask whether the Hub has a clear statewide vision, a lead and partners with the capacity to convene and implement, a grounded understanding of current local efforts, realistic milestones and measurable outcomes, and a credible plan to obtain resources beyond NSF support. Those criteria make local evidence valuable: identify existing coalitions, programs, delivery channels, and gaps instead of describing AI readiness only in general terms.

What happens after an award

Coordination Hubs will be expected to work with the National Coordination Lead once that lead is established. The special award conditions described by NSF include participation in Hub convenings, contribution to national dashboards and best-practice repositories, engagement with the AI Deployment Network, sector coordination, and regular progress updates. Applicants should account for that collaboration in governance and reporting plans.

Official source and contact

Read the current solicitation on the NSF program page before preparing an LOI or proposal. The official contact is the AI-Ready America Program Directors at [email protected]. Check the NSF page again for any later version, submission-system instructions, or program update before sending materials. The round-two dates and award details above are taken from the current official solicitation.