2025 saw pauses and delays in the release of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) dollars for many climate programs. President Trump signed an executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” on his first day in office blocking IIJA and IRA programs from disbursing awards; later in January 2025, the Office of Management and Budget barred federal agencies from issuing funding for 90 days. While that order was quickly rescinded, the federal funding freeze effectively remained for months. Later in 2025, congressional appropriations drama and the longest federal government shutdown in American history cast more chaos over the federal funding situation. Slowly, however, requests for proposals (RFPs) have begun to be issued by federal agencies, although they no longer name IIJA and IRA in their descriptions.
FY2024-25 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program
The largest open water infrastructure RFP was announced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in late March 2025 through the BRIC program. The new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) is making $1 billion in new funding available to projects, combining FY2024 and FY2025 program funding with additional IIJA funding.
The Biden Administration had previously issued two rounds of IIJA-boosted funding for BRIC in 2023 and 2024. The Outcomes Dashboard displays almost $583 million in awarded grant funding through IIJA, supporting 973 projects. However, in April 2025, FEMA announced it would not fund projects that had previously been awarded and that are still active; in August 2025, a federal judge ruled the Trump Administration lacked the authority to repurpose BRIC funding, but did not release the program’s awards. A March 2026 federal court ruling required FEMA to release BRIC program on a schedule. As a result, FEMA made FY2024 and FY2025 funding available to projects a few weeks later.
The program’s national competition is funded at $757 million, and multiple set-asides utilize the remaining $243 million: $112 million for states and territories, $56 million for state and territory building code upgrades, $50 million for Tribal Nations, and $25 million for Tribal Nation building code upgrades. The program is only open to states, territories, and Tribal Nations, but entities like local governments and special districts may sub-apply through a state or territory.
The RFP announcement specifies changes to the BRIC program’s focus. The original Biden Administration RFP was scoped to support capability and capacity-building activities, hazard mitigation projects, and management costs associated with specific mitigation measures or projects. The press release describing the new RFP also lists prioritization of resilient infrastructure, with a focus on implementing hazard-resistant building codes. Additionally, FEMA highlights a goal to “move money faster” by removing phased projects from eligibility and to “shift responsibility and authority” to state and local governments receiving funding as opposed to the federal government.
WaterSMART RFPs
In early March, the Bureau of Reclamation released several WaterSMART program RFPs, altogether totaling $147.5 million. WaterSMART funds projects spearheaded by states, local governments, Tribal Nations, and non-profits working toward increasing the water supply of the West by modernizing water infrastructure to ward off future water conflicts.
The largest RFP is attached to the Large-Scale Water Recycling Projects RFP for $130 million, issued March 12 and due May 13, 2026. The opportunity will fund projects with a total cost of $500 million or more, with a federal cost share of up to a quarter of the project’s cost. These projects, once completed, will cultivate drought-resistant water sources via water recycling in local communities. The other two WaterSMART RFPs are smaller, with the Drought Response Program providing $13.5 million to implement water management and drought contingency strategies due July 28, while the $4 million Small-Scale Water Efficiency Projects program due June 2 seeks to implement small-scale projects such as flow measurement and canal lining to improve water efficiency and minimize water loss.
Other Requests
It is encouraging to see water funding reliably moving once again. RFPs have continued to be released; for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency released a $30.7 million RFP through the Small Publicly Owned Treatment Works Efficiency Grant Program this Monday and due May 13, to provide training and technical assistance for small public water systems. The Water Program Portal will continue scanning federal agencies for further water infrastructure RFPs and their associated awards.
