VA's Record $106.5 Million Cemetery Grant Year: 21 Awards, Eight New Cemeteries, and Why the July 1, 2027 Pre-Application Is Already the Real Deadline

The Department of Veterans Affairs closed fiscal year 2026 with the largest year in the history of its Veterans Cemetery Grants Program (VCGP). According to an October 27 report in The American Legion, the VA awarded $106.5 million to 21 veterans cemeteries run by states, territories and tribal nations. That is the highest single-year total since the program started in 1980.

"Every VA cemetery grant reflects our commitment to honor the lives of those who served our nation," said Sam Brown, VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs. He added that the department is "strengthening its partnerships with states, territories and tribal nations."

The headline number matters less than how the money was split. Three-quarters of it went to building new cemeteries. Four grants took 59 percent of the total. Two went to Pacific islands with fewer than 4,000 residents each. And the year ended well above what the VA said it expected to spend. Its own notice of funding opportunity planned for $60 million.

VCGP has an unusual application cycle. For a state veterans affairs department, county or tribal government thinking about a cemetery project, the FY2026 results show how the program actually ranks and pays for projects. They also show why a project that wants money in FY2028 needs to be in motion now.

The round in numbers

The four largest grants were all for new cemeteries:

Together they total $63.2 million. The other new-cemetery grants went to the Upper Cumberland Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery ($7.07 million), the Burgess-Oocumma Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Cherokee, North Carolina ($3.74 million), and two cemeteries in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Rota ($3.51 million) and Tinian ($3.11 million).

The expansion grants were much smaller. They ranged from $243,467 for the Southwest Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Dublin to $4.59 million for the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery at Springfield. Arizona, Connecticut, Iowa, both Carolina state cemeteries at Goldsboro and Black Mountain, South Dakota, Utah's Bluffdale cemetery, Wisconsin's Spooner cemetery and Alabama's Spanish Fort cemetery also received expansion awards.

The two operations-and-maintenance (O&M) grants went to the East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery-2 in Hilo ($6.13 million) and the Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake ($1.50 million).

Why new cemeteries won the money

The distribution follows from how VCGP ranks projects. It is not the result of a scoring panel. Under 38 C.F.R. 39.3, every conforming pre-application goes into one of four priority groups:

• Priority Group 1: Projects needed to avoid a disruption in burial service within four years of the pre-application. This means a cemetery running out of gravesites, or one that needs replacement facilities to keep holding burials.
• Priority Group 2: Establishing new veterans cemeteries.
• Priority Group 3: Expansions where gravesites will not run out within four years.
• Priority Group 4: Improvements not tied to new gravesites, such as roads, irrigation and building upgrades, plus O&M projects aimed at NCA's national shrine standards.

Within Groups 1 through 3, the VA ranks projects by how many veterans would benefit, using its veteran population data. Group 4 projects are funded only after every ready Group 1, 2 and 3 project has been funded. By statute, O&M awards are capped at $10 million per fiscal year in total (38 U.S.C. 2408(f)(2)).

This explains the FY2026 results. Establishment projects sit in Group 2 and cost far more than expansions, because a new cemetery means buying the full site work, roads, columbaria, administration and maintenance buildings, and the initial operating equipment, which the VA can fund only for new cemeteries. The O&M grants totaled $7.6 million, safely under the $10 million cap. The three-quarters share for new cemeteries is what you get when a large appropriation flows through a ranking system that puts new cemeteries second.

The ranking also explains the Northern Mariana Islands awards. The VA's goal is a burial option within 75 miles of home for 95 percent of veterans. The Legion report says the program now reaches more than 94 percent. Most of the remaining gaps are in places like Rota and Tinian, where no mainland cemetery is within reach and the population is too small for a national cemetery.

Readiness wins, not just ranking

The NOFO adds a second filter. A ranked project does not automatically get funded that year. The VA weighs "the prospects of higher-ranking projects being ready for award before the end of the applicable fiscal year." To receive a grant, a project must:

1. Have a conforming pre-application under 38 C.F.R. 39.31 (construction) or 39.81 (O&M).
2. Rank high enough for funds to reach it.
3. Have plans and specifications approved by VA under 39.32 or 39.82.
4. Meet the full application requirements and other rules in 39.6, 39.10 and 39.33.

In practice, a well-ranked project with unfinished design documents can be passed over for a lower-ranked project with approved plans. The large FY2026 total, well above the $60 million plan, suggests the VA had both the appropriation and enough design-ready projects to spend it. Applicants who had their architecture and engineering ready were the ones in a position to receive a share.

What the money covers and what it does not

VCGP is unusually generous for a federal construction program:

• Up to 100 percent of an approved project's cost (38 C.F.R. 39.50(a) and 39.100(a)). No match is required.
• Once a grant is awarded, architectural and engineering costs are reimbursable.
• Pre-placed crypts can be reimbursed for some new and expanded cemeteries. In FY2026 that added up to about $6.9 million on top of the grant totals, led by Georgia ($2.16 million) and Missouri ($1.47 million).

The limits are just as clear:

• No land acquisition. The state, territory, county or tribe must already have the site.
• Reimbursement only, paid in installments as the project progresses, through SF-271 outlay reports. Grantees must front construction cash.
• Administrative and support costs are capped at 17.5 percent of the total.
• Build America, Buy America applies. Iron, steel and construction materials must be U.S.-made, and manufactured products must have more than 65 percent domestic component cost. This matters for columbarium niches, granite and irrigation equipment.
• After completion, operation and maintenance are permanently the grantee's responsibility, and the cemetery must meet NCA's national shrine standards. A new cemetery is a long-term budget commitment.
• The cemetery must be used only for veterans and eligible family members. A newer authority also allows burial of certain people described in 38 U.S.C. 2408(i)(2) who are not eligible for a VA national cemetery.

The FY2026 NOFO also includes the administration-wide conditions under Executive Order 14332. These allow the VA to remove applicants whose activities do not advance the President's or VA's priorities, with listed exclusions related to racial preferences, "gender ideology," and immigration-law violations. For state cemetery projects these terms are unlikely to change outcomes, but counsel should review the award terms before signing.

The calendar is the strategy

VCGP's calendar is set by regulation, and it is less flexible than most federal programs:

The FY2026 NOFO (VA-NCA-VCGP-FY2027) asked for pre-applications by July 1, 2026 for the FY2027 priority list. That list should now be posted on the VCGP website. Any project not already on it is competing for FY2028 at the earliest, with pre-applications due July 1, 2027, assuming the next NOFO keeps the regulatory date.

Two rules make this calendar more forgiving than it looks:

• Late pre-applications are kept. Pre-applications that arrive after the deadline "will be retained by VCGP (subsequent resubmittal not required) for inclusion and development in future program years."
• Non-conforming pre-applications are filed, not rejected. VCGP project managers work with applicants to bring them into conformance. A non-conforming submission stays in the pipeline for future years.

The practical result is that VCGP rewards applicants who start early and stay in the queue. A complete pre-application filed early gives project managers time to flag problems before July 1.

Strategy by applicant type

State veterans affairs departments with an existing cemetery. Run a gravesite exhaustion projection now. If your cemetery will run out of interment capacity within four years of a July 2027 filing, the expansion can qualify for Priority Group 1, the top tier. If it is five or six years out, it falls to Group 3, which ranks below every new cemetery in the country. A pre-application filed once the exhaustion date is inside the four-year window is a much stronger position.

States planning a new cemetery. New cemeteries rank in Group 2, ahead of routine expansions. They are ranked by the veteran population within reach, so the site study should document the veterans who live outside 75 miles of any existing national or state cemetery. Secure the land first, since VCGP will not buy it. Then put state money into design. Because readiness determines who is funded in a given year, approved plans and specifications are what turn a ranking into a grant.

Tribal governments. A tribal organization may apply for a cemetery on trust land owned by or held in trust for the tribe. The Burgess-Oocumma award in Cherokee, North Carolina, shows that tribal establishment projects compete well in Group 2. Tribes should also plan for the permanent O&M obligation from the start, since that is the cost that comes after the grant ends.

Counties. Counties are eligible only if they meet 38 U.S.C. 2408(h). Confirm eligibility with VCGP before spending on design.

Cemeteries seeking O&M money. The Hilo grant, $6.13 million, used most of the year's $10 million O&M cap by itself. O&M is Group 4, so these grants are funded last and share a hard ceiling. Treat O&M money as a supplement. Projects that fix real gravesite capacity problems should be framed as Group 1 expansion or improvement work if the facts support it.

Risks to watch

• Appropriations. The $106.5 million year depended on available funding. The FY2027 NOFO planned for $60 million. The FY2027 grant total depends on the final FY2027 appropriation, which is not settled.
• Cash flow. Reimbursement-only payment means multi-million-dollar construction costs sit on the state's books until reimbursed. Budget for that bridge in the capital plan.
• Domestic content. Waivers under 2 C.F.R. Part 184 are slow. Specify U.S.-made materials from the first design draft.
• Federal grant rules. The administration's broader rewrite of 2 C.F.R. Part 200, including expanded termination authority, could affect award terms in future years. Watch the final rule.

The bottom line

VCGP is one of the few federal programs where a state, territory or tribe can get up to 100 percent of a capital project funded, with no scoring panel and no match. The FY2026 record year showed how it works: eight new cemeteries took $80.6 million because the ranking system puts new capacity ahead of maintenance, and the four biggest establishment projects took 59 percent of the money.

The FY2027 list was set on October 1. For everyone else, the next opportunity is the July 1, 2027 pre-application, and the work that decides it is happening now: gravesite exhaustion modeling, site control, design readiness and early conversations with VCGP project managers.

For more capital, infrastructure and veterans-serving funding opportunities for state and local governments, search Granted's database or ask our AI assistant to match your projects to current opportunities.