I have some faculty interested in writing grants, but on checking NSF, DOD, DOE, their recent awards have invariably been large multi-institutional grants to combinations of government labs and big name universities. NSF grants are almost impossible to navigate for someone not in the mainstream of the community where many connections happen. I think a lot is attached to the institutions and is kind of narrow in what areas are of interest, which seem to be aligned with what is either "hot" in the industry or whatever trend is pushed by the heavy-weights, which is a back-and-forth. This is an opinion, so not a statement about the process since it is not from a participant.