Published date: 12 October 2023

This notice was replaced on 16 February 2024

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Awarded contract (published 16 February 2024)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Research and development services and related consultancy services - 73000000

  • Administration services - 75100000

Location of contract

North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West

Value of contract

£6,850,000

Procurement reference

tender_357946/1269824

Published date

12 October 2023

Closing date

13 November 2023

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

8 January 2024

Contract end date

31 March 2026

Contract type

Service contract

Procedure type

Open procedure (above threshold)

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

This procedure can be used for procurements above the relevant contract value threshold.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

The purpose of this procurement is to provide the requirements for a contract to provide specialist support for local authorities (LAs) to enable them to deliver:
a) their Early Years (EY) and wraparound childcare sufficiency duties;
b) the expansion to the EY entitlements announced at the 2023 Spring Budget; and
c) the wraparound childcare programme announced at the 2023 Spring Budget.

LAs are integral to the delivery of these programmes but require additional support to ensure they are in the best possible position to provide flexible and appropriate childcare in their areas. This tender seeks innovative bids from Potential Suppliers able to provide LAs with the advice, guidance and support they need to implement the reforms in their areas and overcome any challenges that could hinder implementation.

The successful Supplier will support 153 LAs (Unitary, Metropolitan Boroughs, London Boroughs, and County Councils). The contract covers England only.

The Supplier will provide expert support for LAs to support them to increase their capacity and expertise to deliver, supporting LAs to meet delivery milestones. This support will sit alongside support and guidance provided by DfE, to ensure LAs are able to meet their sufficiency duties for the expanded EY entitlements and deliver the wraparound childcare programme. All support provided through this contract should enable LAs to sustain activity beyond the life of this contract (i.e., beyond March 2026).

This support contract sits across both EY and the wraparound programme to ensure LAs receive joined-up support across both areas where required, to better enable authorities and DfE to realise synergies across the programmes, and to mitigate potential workload impacts for LAs. Where possible, and where this will support LAs most effectively, the requirements outlined in this section should be delivered jointly between both programmes.

While most requirements across the two programmes are broadly aligned, they differ with regard to the national monitoring of delivery. The wraparound programme requires a national delivery monitoring function involving the regular collection of LAs' delivery plans. This is because wraparound is a novel programme requiring potentially new activity for LAs, and regular delivery plan submissions are a condition of their grant funding. However, the related EY requirement differs because DfE already collects significant amounts of data about EY delivery and will therefore monitor national readiness and sufficiency in-house, with support and input from the Supplier.

We welcome innovative bids that go beyond the requirements outlined in this specification where that can more effectively support LAs and have developed our scoring criteria with this in mind.

More information

Links

Additional text

We will be holding a bidder engagement event on Thursday 19th October 12:00 - 13:00. Please register your interest via the Jaggaer portal.

This event will focus on our service requirements, specification and commercial approach. Attendees will have the opportunity to provide feedback and ask clarification questions.

The event will be recorded and made available to anyone unable to attend on the 19th.

Please register for Jaggaer using the URL link below: hhttps://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Once registered, the supplier event area can be accessed by clicking "View Opportunities" on the main page. Event joining instructions will be issued following an expression of interest. The Jaggaer reference is itt_2654.

About the buyer

Contact name

Ceri Dixon

Address

Sanctuary Buildings
London
SW1P 3BT
England

Email

commercialqueries.families@education.gov.uk