Step By Step Child Care, Inc.

Step By Step Child Care, Inc., a woman-owned small business based in Milbridge, Maine, operates exclusively as a sub-recipient on federal child nutrition and food service grants administered by the Maine Department of Education, with no prime contracting or direct grant awards in its recent portfolio. The vendor is a for-profit corporate entity with woman-owned small business (WOSB) designation and competes entirely within the USDA Food and Nutrition Service grant ecosystem through state-administered sub-awards rather than federal procurement vehicles.

All seven awards in the recent portfolio are grant sub-awards flowing from the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service through Maine's state education agency. Six sub-awards fund National School Lunch Program operations — cash grants and food donations supporting nutritious lunch service for school children — with individual award dates spanning September 2025 through April 2026. One additional sub-award, dated October 1, 2025, funds the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which assists states in initiating and maintaining nonprofit food service programs for children enrolled in day care facilities, children attending afterschool care in low-income areas, and children residing in emergency shelters. The combined dollars obligated across all seven awards total $125 thousand, reflecting the sub-grant structure and the vendor's operational focus on direct service delivery rather than large-scale federal contracting.

Customer concentration is narrow and static: the Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service accounts for 100% of awards across two enumerated funding streams (National School Lunch and Child and Adult Care Food). The Maine Department of Education serves as the prime grant recipient and administrative pass-through for all sub-awards. Activity shows a ten-year gap between a single 2015 award and a cluster of five awards in 2025, with one additional award in early 2026, suggesting either recent entry into the federal reporting system or delayed sub-award documentation. The vendor maintains no parent contract vehicles, GWACs, or blanket purchase agreements; all federal activity routes through state grant administration rather than federal procurement channels. Step By Step Child Care operates as a child care facility or food service operator within the federal nutrition assistance infrastructure, not as a systems integrator, technology vendor, or large-scale federal service provider.