BJA FY26 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program to Support Law Enforcement Agencies

The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is offering the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program to Support Law Enforcement Agencies. The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, funding, and other resources supporting law enforcement, efforts to combat violent crime, protection of children, services for crime victims, and responses to other public safety challenges. This funding opportunity supports publicly funded law enforcement and correctional agencies in purchasing or leasing body-worn cameras and developing comprehensive body-worn camera programs. The program is intended to strengthen the availability and use of reliable video evidence, improve officer safety and operational effectiveness, support criminal investigations and prosecutions, and help document encounters with the public. The opportunity contains two funding categories. Category 1 provides site-based awards to publicly funded state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies seeking to establish or expand body-worn camera programs. Applicants must demonstrate plans for phased deployment, policy development, training, and integration of cameras into agency operations. Multi-jurisdictional partnerships and applications through an authorized entity are permitted. Category 2 provides site-based awards to publicly funded state, local, tribal, and territorial correctional agencies seeking to implement or expand body-worn camera deployment in correctional institutions or among officers engaged in community supervision. Projects are expected to support evidence collection, officer safety, and agency policies and practices. Up to 13,167,493 dollars is expected to be available, with 12 awards anticipated under Category 1 and four under Category 2. The anticipated award amount is up to 2,000,000 dollars, and awards are expected to have a 36-month performance period beginning October 1, 2026. Federal funding for body-worn camera purchases or leases cannot exceed 2,000 dollars per camera. A 50 percent match based on the total federal award amount is required. For every federal dollar awarded, the recipient must provide one dollar toward total project costs. The match may consist of cash and or in-kind contributions. Costs must be reasonable, allocable, necessary, allowable under the funding statute and agency requirements, and connected to project goals, objectives, and activities. Certain activities violating applicable federal immigration, civil rights, or nondiscrimination law are outside program scope, and specified legal services for removable aliens or aliens otherwise unlawfully present are generally unallowable subject to the exceptions stated in the funding notice. Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, federally recognized and other Native American tribal governments, independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, other units of local government, publicly funded law enforcement agencies, and publicly funded correctional agencies. Authorized agencies or consortia serving as intermediaries for eligible law enforcement agencies may also qualify. Applicants may submit more than one application when each application proposes a different project and falls under a different funding category. When a project involves two or more partner entities, only one entity may apply and the other partners must be proposed as subrecipients. State or local government applicants must also submit the required certification by the chief executive officer or senior official using the Appendix 1 template. Submission is a two-step process. Applicants must first complete and submit the required SF-424 through Grants.gov by September 25, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. They must then submit the full application through JustGrants by October 2, 2026, at 8:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Required components include Standard Applicant Information, a Proposal Narrative, and a budget that identifies the total number of body-worn cameras. The proposal abstract is entered in JustGrants and is limited to 2,000 characters. The required Proposal Narrative may not exceed 10 pages and must address Description of the Need, Project Goals and Objectives, Project Design and Implementation, Capabilities and Competencies, and Sustainability. Other components include financial management and internal controls information, the Agency Funding Priorities Inventory, applicable financial attachments, applicable memoranda of understanding, letters of support when applicable, disclosures and assurances, and the required government certification for applicable state or local government applicants. Peer review scoring assigns 5 percent to Description of the Need, 15 percent to Project Goals and Objectives, 30 percent to Project Design and Implementation, 30 percent to Capabilities and Competencies, 5 percent to Sustainability, and 15 percent to the Budget. OJP may also give priority consideration to qualifying projects that advance stated Department of Justice priorities, including direct support for law enforcement operations and coordination with federal law enforcement efforts. Applicants requesting certain priority consideration must provide the applicable supporting documentation. Priority consideration is only one factor in funding decisions and does not guarantee an award. Recipients are expected to submit regular performance reports and a copy of the agency's final body-worn camera policy. The funding opportunity was released August 13, 2026. Applicants are advised to begin SAM.gov registration or renewal by August 26, 2026, and no later than September 11, 2026, although registration is not a pre-application gating stage. The Grants.gov submission deadline is September 25, 2026, and the final JustGrants deadline is October 2, 2026. The notice states an anticipated notification date of September 30, 2026, and an expected 36-month award period beginning October 1, 2026. No recurring application cycle is stated. Program questions may be directed to the OJP Response Center at OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov or 800-851-3420. Grants.gov technical assistance is available at support@grants.gov or 800-518-4726, and JustGrants assistance is available at JustGrants.Support@usdoj.gov or 833-872-5175.

Prioritize Project Design and Implementation and Capabilities and Competencies because each represents 30 percent of the application score; clearly demonstrate the need with supporting evidence; specify the number of BWCs and whether deployment is a pilot, new deployment, expansion, replacement, or combination; connect project goals and objectives directly to NOFO goals; provide a concrete implementation timeline, staffing plan, activities, deliverables, and subrecipient roles; demonstrate administrative and technical capacity; provide a sustainability plan that does not assume future program funding; ensure budget costs are reasonable, allocable, necessary, clearly calculated, and connected to project activities; ensure the requested award does not exceed the ceiling and include the required match.