National Center for Narrative Intelligence (NCNI)

The National Center for Narrative Intelligence grant is a federal funding opportunity administered by the U.S. Department of Defense through Washington Headquarters Services. The opportunity is identified as HQ003426NFOECAD06 and is categorized as an earmark under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development funding activity category. The associated Assistance Listing is 12.032, Department of War Cyber Academic Engagement Office. The funding instrument is a grant, and the opportunity anticipates one award. The grant is specifically directed to Mississippi State University, which is identified as the only eligible applicant. Under the grant agreement, academic partners will establish the National Center for Narrative Intelligence, or NCNI. The center is intended to execute research, development, test, and evaluation tasks across four identified pillars: workforce development, applied research infrastructure, collaborative networks, and strategic analysis for Department of War leadership. These pillars define the stated programmatic scope available in the source. The notice does not provide additional descriptions of individual projects, research questions, deliverables, or technical requirements within those four pillars. The award ceiling is 6000000 dollars and the award floor is also 6000000 dollars, indicating a single stated award amount of 6000000 dollars. One award is expected. The source does not state estimated total program funding separately. Cost sharing or matching is not required. No additional information is provided regarding indirect cost limitations, subaward restrictions, individual budget categories, prohibited expenditures, or a specified period of performance. Accordingly, applicants should rely on the complete announcement and associated application materials for any expenditure or budget requirements not included in the supplied synopsis. Eligibility is highly restricted. Although the Grants.gov applicant classification is Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, the additional eligibility language states that Mississippi State University is the only eligible applicant and that no other applications will be considered. Therefore, the opportunity should not be interpreted as generally open to all public or state controlled institutions of higher education. The restriction to a single named institution is controlling for practical eligibility purposes. The opportunity was posted on August 20, 2026, and the supplied Grants.gov page provides an Apply function through the Grants.gov workspace. The current and original closing date for applications is August 19, 2031. The archive date is September 18, 2031. No letter of intent, concept paper, pre-proposal, notice of intent, or other pre-application gating requirement is identified in the supplied source. The source also does not identify application questions, required narrative sections, required attachments, evaluation criteria, scoring methodology, review factors, award notification timing, or a separate award start date. The source does not describe the opportunity as annual, biennial, quarterly, or otherwise recurring. Because the closing date is August 19, 2031 and the analysis date is August 21, 2026, the opportunity is treated as currently accepting applications rather than as an anticipated future round. No recurrence calculation is warranted from the supplied information. Questions regarding electronic access to the full announcement may be directed to Jonathan Bertsch, Grants Officer with Washington Headquarters Services, at jonathan.e.bertsch.civ@mail.mil. No telephone number is provided in the supplied source.

Align the proposed NCNI work with the four stated pillars: workforce development, applied research infrastructure, collaborative networks, and strategic analysis for Department of War leadership. No formal evaluation or scoring criteria are provided in the supplied synopsis.