Open 2026 Year 1 applicant grant: Utah Education and Telehealth Network (UETN) has opened SPRINT-UETN Consortium competitive Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP) subawards, administering Utah DHHS and federal funds. This distinct funding area is SUPPORT 6.2–6.3 — Rural Healthcare Cybersecurity. Applications close November 20, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time through the official UETN Submittable application portal. The RFA was released October 23, 2026. These are grants to applicants, not vendor procurement notices.
Funding amounts
The proposed individual award range is $25,000 to $250,000, dependent on eligibility, independent scoring, available funds, and final DHHS approval. The $4,500,000 allocation is the total budget for this funding area, including consortium-level services and administration, not an individual applicant award. Awards are competitive, can be reduced, and are not guaranteed.
Eligible organizations and geography
Rural hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals, Rural Health Clinics, FQHCs, community health centers, rural independent provider practices, local health departments, tribal health organizations operating eligible facilities, and certain other organizations serving eligible rural health sites may apply. The facilities served must be in one of Utah’s 25 rural counties, not Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, or Weber counties. Multi-site applicants may include only eligible rural sites. Eligible collaborative proposals require a lead fiscal agent and partner commitment letters. Applicants need an active UEI and SAM.gov registration, cannot be excluded or debarred, and must meet insurance, federal reporting, HIPAA, and record-retention rules. Technology vendors cannot be direct lead applicants but can contract with funded grantees.
Funded project activities
Site-level firewall and switch upgrades, multi-factor-authentication hardware, endpoint protection and hardening, encrypted communication and data, backup and disaster recovery, security of server rooms, and contracted local IT support. Centralized consortium-provided security tools should not be duplicated in individual budgets.
Allowable expenses and material restrictions
Authorized costs may include term-specific software licenses, implementation and integration services, project staff, IT contractors, training, assessments, and other directly justified RFA expenses. Negotiated or de minimis indirect costs may be allowable. The public UETN guidance specifies no generally mandatory applicant match percentage; check the final application-specific budget instructions. Prohibited: construction/renovation, pre-subaward expenses, supplantation, otherwise reimbursable clinical services, unsupported provider payments or equipment, and costs used as another federal program’s nonfederal match. Some equipment, provider payments, and EHR replacements need written DHHS prior approval. Funded projects follow 2 C.F.R. Part 200, monthly invoice documentation, program performance reporting and privacy safeguards. Year 1 funds must be spent by September 30, 2027.
Application requirements and official documents
Each organization files one combined SPRINT-UETN application and may select several separately scored funding areas, each with its own Part B, budget and work plan. Complete Part A (up to six pages) and a separate Part B (up to four pages for each area requested), plus CEO or administrator commitment, partner letters as applicable and vendor quotes where available. Minimum 11-point text and one-inch margins apply. The webinar is October 28 and written questions are due November 19, 2026. Open a Submittable account to see the interactive form. Full official published grant guidelines: SPRINT-UETN funding instructions; official application portal.