Fairmount School District 18

Fairmount School District 18, a U.S. local government school district based in Fairmount, North Dakota, operates as a federal grant recipient and sub-recipient under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program and child nutrition assistance programs, with no federal contract prime or subcontractor footprint. The district operates entirely under formula grants and sub-awards flowing from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, with no competitive contracting activity.

The district's federal footprint consists almost entirely of sub-recipient work (81% of ninety total awards) flowing through the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction as the intermediate grantee. Fairmount acts as a prime recipient on four formula grants under the Small, Rural School Achievement Program issued by the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education: awards on July 1, 2022 (ultimate completion September 30, 2023), July 1, 2023 (September 30, 2024), July 1, 2024 (September 30, 2025), and July 1, 2026 (September 30, 2027). The remaining seventy-three awards are sub-awards passed through North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, the state education agency administering federal child nutrition, Title I, and emergency relief programs to local school districts.

The sub-award portfolio splits between child nutrition programs—National School Lunch Program paid and free/reduced meals (NSLP Paid, NSLP Free/Red), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)—and Title I academic support and school improvement interventions. Representative sub-awards include multiple awards for NSLP paid and free/reduced meal reimbursement, SBP meal subsidies, FFVP fruit and vegetable provision, Title I Grants for School Year 2024-2025 and 2025-2026, Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) funding for Fairmount High School in 2025-2026, Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) funding for Fairmount Elementary School in 2025-2026, and Child Nutrition (CN) block grants. Activity has grown substantially: from one award in 2022 to twenty-eight awards in 2026 year-to-date, driven by the frequency of monthly and quarterly child nutrition sub-award distributions and Title I allocations from the state department.

The district's customer agency concentration is absolute: the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service and the Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education account for 100% of all awards (62 and 28 awards respectively). The combined dollars obligated across all awards totals $530 thousand, reflecting the pass-through nature of formula grant administration to a rural school district. One award faces ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure.