FY 2026 CN Technology Innovation Grant for Child and Adult Care Food Program Integrity | USDA FNA CN TIG 2026

Opportunity Information: Apply for USDA FNA CN TIG 2026

The FY 2026 CN Technology Innovation Grant for Child and Adult Care Food Program Integrity (often referred to as TIG-CACFP) is a competitive USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) funding opportunity designed to help State agencies modernize the technology they use to run and oversee the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). The core purpose is straightforward: strengthen program integrity by improving how States collect, validate, monitor, and analyze CACFP operational data, with an emphasis on reducing fraud, waste, and abuse while improving accountability and efficiency. USDA frames this as part of a broader push to support State innovation and modernized systems, especially in light of recent, high-profile CACFP fraud cases that have highlighted weaknesses in oversight and controls.

Funding is set at about $8.7 million total for this competition, with an expected 10 awards and an award ceiling of $2,000,000 per grant. The opportunity is listed as a discretionary grant under CFDA 10.541, and applications are due by July 31, 2026. The grant is specifically aimed at the CACFP, and it is positioned as a newer, CACFP-focused competitive initiative compared to prior Technology Innovation Grants that were sometimes offered on a competitive and sometimes non-competitive basis. The legal authority cited includes the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (Public Law 119-4), which authorized funding for States to develop, implement, and improve modernized IT systems used to operate and manage Child Nutrition Programs.

Eligibility is limited to State agencies that administer CACFP. In FY 2026, that means the 57 State agencies currently operating CACFP are eligible applicants. The term "State agency" is used in the USDA sense: the State educational agency and/or another State entity formally designated by the Governor or other appropriate authority and approved by USDA to administer CACFP. States where multiple agencies run different Child Nutrition Programs can coordinate internally, but the CACFP-administering agency must be the lead applicant and remains responsible for compliance and grant management. Any entity that does not meet this definition is considered ineligible and removed from consideration.

The grant is focused on practical technology improvements that strengthen integrity controls across the CACFP lifecycle, including onboarding, eligibility and certification, verification, meal counting and claiming, menu planning, monitoring, and reporting. USDA describes a common real-world problem: data flows in CACFP are often fragmented, with sponsoring organizations (SOs) and sites using a mix of software products and manual processes. In some States, dozens of different software systems may be feeding data to the State agency, while others still rely on paper-based or partially manual methods. That patchwork creates duplicated work, inconsistent data, weaker oversight visibility, and more room for errors or manipulation. TIG-CACFP funds are meant to help States bridge those gaps through better automation, stronger validation, and improved data sharing between State systems and local sponsor/site systems.

USDA encourages projects that support the CACFP integrity strategies laid out in its February 11, 2026 integrity letter ("Promoting Stronger Program Integrity and Oversight in the Child and Adult Care Food Program"). The strategies emphasized include using the onboarding process to prevent bad actors from entering the program, improving integrity training for institutions, strengthening monitoring and investigations with effective corrective actions, properly using serious deficiency and suspension processes, and conducting stronger review of reimbursement claims to detect signs of abuse. In practical terms, that means the IT work funded by this grant should not just make processes faster; it should actively improve controls and oversight in ways that help States detect, prevent, and respond to noncompliance and fraud risks.

Examples of the kinds of projects and features USDA is signaling as a good fit include strengthening automated edit checks that validate data consistency across applications, meal claims, and monitoring reports; building interfaces that allow sponsor systems and State systems to exchange data smoothly without duplicative entry (even if they remain separate systems); adding automated compliance checks, standardized reporting formats, and real-time validation tools to better align with USDA, State, and local rules; and expanding systems to support routine monthly collection and analysis of facility-level participation and claims. Other eligible uses include improving document management functions, such as enabling electronic uploads for applications and claims documentation (including bank records where appropriate), supporting disaggregated data, enabling electronic review of claim forms, and improving recordkeeping and audit trails. USDA also highlights the possibility of using sub-grants to sponsoring organizations to help them obtain software and adopt electronic systems that integrate better with State oversight needs, as well as developing virtual statewide training platforms where sponsors and sites can access CACFP training modules.

USDA makes an important distinction about project scope: planning activities are allowed, but the project is expected to deliver implementation of an innovative technology solution within the grant period. Planning-only proposals are explicitly less competitive under the scoring approach described in the RFA. Allowable planning activities can include assessing current systems, conducting feasibility and alternatives analyses, documenting functional requirements, creating project and risk management plans, consulting stakeholders, and building training/oversight capacity. Implementation activities can include building a custom system, implementing a commercial off-the-shelf product, transferring code from another State, purchasing web-based software, building data interfaces, purchasing needed equipment and software, hiring specialized contractors (such as business analysts, project managers, and developers), testing (unit through user acceptance and regression), and training staff and local partners on new modules or equipment. At the same time, USDA is clear that routine maintenance and ongoing operations are not allowable costs under this FY 2026 competition, signaling that funds should go toward modernization and improvement work rather than keeping existing systems running.

From a performance and accountability perspective, applicants are expected to align their proposed work to the single required program objective: strengthening CACFP integrity through improved IT systems used to operate and manage the program. The application must connect activities and indicators to that objective using the required tracking approach (the "Activities/Indicators Tracker"), and awardees will have ongoing reporting obligations using the FNS-required FNA-908 Performance Progress Report. In other words, this is not just a technology purchase grant; it is structured to require clear deliverables, measurable progress, and demonstrable integrity improvements.

Finally, USDA is putting a strong emphasis on knowledge-sharing and replication. Grantees are expected to share challenges and successes so other State agencies can learn from what works and potentially adopt similar approaches. A required final deliverable is a virtual presentation that summarizes the project, best practices, and lessons learned to USDA and other CACFP State agencies. USDA notes that this presentation will be shared nationwide and may be posted on CN PartnerWeb, which reinforces that TIG-CACFP is intended to produce reusable models and practical insights, not just one-off system upgrades in isolated States.

Key source details for reference include: Funding Opportunity Number USDA FNA CN TIG 2026; Agency: USDA Food and Nutrition Service; Activity Category: Food and Nutrition; Eligible Applicants: State governments (CACFP State agencies); Total funding referenced: $8.7 million; Expected awards: 10; Award ceiling: $2,000,000; Application deadline: 2026-07-31.

• The Food and Nutrition Service in the food and nutrition sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2026 CN Technology Innovation Grant for Child and Adult Care Food Program Integrity" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 10.541.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2026-06-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-07-31. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 10 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments.

Apply for USDA FNA CN TIG 2026

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