BJA FY 2026 Intellectual Property Enforcement Program: Protecting Public Health, Safety, and the Economy from Counterfeit Goods and Product Piracy

The U.S. Department of Justice, through the Office of Justice Programs and Bureau of Justice Assistance, is offering the BJA Intellectual Property Enforcement Program: Protecting Public Health, Safety, and the Economy from Counterfeit Goods and Product Piracy. The Office of Justice Programs provides federal leadership, funding, and other resources supporting law enforcement, crime reduction, services for crime victims, protection of children, and other public safety priorities. This funding opportunity supports existing intellectual property enforcement task forces and the creation of new task forces. The program is intended to help state, local, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions prevent and reduce intellectual property theft and related crime, investigate and prosecute intellectual property crimes, and reduce violent crime associated with intellectual property cases and investigations. Relevant matters can involve copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, other forms of intellectual property, and tariff evasion linked to counterfeit goods trafficking. The program seeks to build and strengthen institutional capacity for intellectual property enforcement at the state, local, tribal, and territorial levels through task force development and public awareness efforts. It supports establishing new and enhancing existing intellectual property enforcement task forces, including integration of campus law enforcement agencies where appropriate. The program also seeks to improve multi-jurisdictional coordination among federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement authorities. Activities are expected to facilitate collaboration on investigations, prosecutions, and training and improve systematic information sharing concerning strategies and best practices for targeting, investigating, analyzing, and prosecuting intellectual property crimes. Recipients will be expected to provide BJA with an annual overview of intellectual property cases and investigations, including successes and cases that showed promise but did not result in arrests, and to submit regular performance reports. The expected total program funding is $2,150,000, with six anticipated awards of up to $375,000 each. Awards are grants with an expected 24-month performance period beginning October 1, 2026. No cost sharing or matching contribution is required. Budgeted costs must be reasonable, allocable, necessary for project implementation, and allowable under the funding statute and applicable agency requirements. Vehicles of any type may not be purchased, rented, or leased with program funds, and foreign travel is not allowed. Rental of storage space for confiscated evidence is allowable, but funds cannot be used to construct a storage facility. Certain activities involving violations of federal immigration law or applicable federal civil rights or nondiscrimination law are outside program scope, and specified legal services for removable aliens or aliens otherwise unlawfully present in the United States are unallowable subject to the exceptions identified in the notice. Eligible applicants include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, federally recognized Native American tribal governments, Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized governments, and other units of local government such as towns, boroughs, parishes, villages, and other general purpose political subdivisions of a state. Eligible applicants include law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. For this program, law enforcement includes state, local, tribal, municipal, or campus law enforcement agencies, including prosecutors in those jurisdictions. Applications involving two or more project partners are permitted, but only one entity may serve as the applicant and the other entities must be proposed as subrecipients. Applicants are required to engage with federal agencies as part of the task force or information-sharing practice where appropriate, including local offices of the FBI, ICE Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and United States Attorney's Office. Application submission occurs in two steps. Applicants must complete the SF-424 in Grants.gov by September 23, 2026, at 11:59 PM Eastern Time and submit the full application in JustGrants by September 30, 2026, at 8:59 PM Eastern Time. Required JustGrants components include Standard Applicant Information, a Proposal Abstract, Proposal Narrative, Budget, and Memorandum of Understanding. The abstract is limited to 2,000 characters. The proposal narrative must be double-spaced using a standard 12-point font, have margins of at least one inch and numbered pages, and may not exceed 10 pages, excluding an allowable cover page and appendix. The narrative addresses Description of the Need, Project Goals and Objectives, Project Design and Implementation, Capabilities and Competencies, and a Sustainability Plan. An MOU between the applicant and each project partner is required, although unsigned draft MOUs may be submitted if the applicant explains on a cover page why they are unsigned. Peer review scoring assigns 5 percent to Description of the Need, 10 percent to Project Goals and Objectives, 30 percent to Project Design and Implementation, 30 percent to Capabilities and Competencies, 10 percent to the Sustainability Plan, and 15 percent to the Budget. OJP may also give priority consideration to projects advancing specified agency priorities. Additional priority consideration is available for qualifying state or local law enforcement efforts coordinated with federal law enforcement through established or committed participation in a 287(g) partnership and/or Homeland Security Task Force, with supporting documentation required. Priority consideration does not guarantee funding. The application must also satisfy basic responsiveness requirements, including submission by an eligible applicant, a requested amount that does not exceed the award ceiling, and responsiveness to the scope of the funding opportunity. The notice was released August 13, 2026. Applicants are advised to begin SAM.gov registration or renewal by August 24, 2026, and no later than September 9, 2026. The Grants.gov submission deadline is September 23, 2026, and the JustGrants final application deadline is September 30, 2026. Anticipated notification is by September 30, 2026, and the expected 24-month award period starts October 1, 2026. The source does not state that the opportunity recurs annually or on another regular schedule. Program questions may be directed to the OJP Response Center at OJP.ResponseCenter@usdoj.gov or 800-851-3420. Grants.gov 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; substantiate the need with information, data, or evidence; explicitly align project goals and objectives with the funding opportunity; provide a concrete sustainability plan for investigations, open cases, and federally funded staff after the award ends; ensure the request does not exceed $375,000 and remains within NOFO scope; applicants requesting priority consideration should clearly identify and explain the applicable priorities and provide required supporting documentation.