Published date: 13 December 2022

This notice was replaced on 1 March 2023

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

Awarded contract (published 12 July 2023)

Closed early engagement


Contract summary

Industry

  • Technical support services - 71356300

  • Helpdesk and support services - 72253000

Location of contract

Any region

Procurement reference

tender_318408/1157387

Published date

13 December 2022

Closing date

10 January 2023

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

Yes

Description

It is the Department for Educations intention to undertake a procurement exercise to appoint a suitably experienced organisation to deliver The Fosterline Service on behalf of the Department from 1st October 2023.

The Fosterline Service is a free, independent national advice service that offers support for both current and prospective foster carers. It has been in place since 2006, funded by the Department of Education. During that time, the Department also increased the scope of Fosterline from responding to ad hoc enquiries to offering individualised ongoing services for current or prospective foster carers requiring help with ongoing issues or detailed tax and benefits advice. The services aim to support foster families to stay together during times of crisis, reducing placement breakdown, and avoiding costs associated with this. The current service is widely used, with over 108,000 contacts (through the helpline service, 1-2-1s, web-chats, emails, website visits etc )in the year 2021-22.

In order to provide further information on the opportunity a market engagement webinar will be held on 12/1/23 from 10:00am - 11:30am GMT. This will be an online event hosted through Microsoft Teams platform.

To register for the event, you will need to be registered as a supplier on the DfE Jaggaer eTendering portal, available at

https://education.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

Once registered the event will be accessible via the 'View Opportunities' link on the Homepage. Select the Opportunity Notice for 'The Fosterline Service Engagement Event' (SSQ_326) and this will take you directly to the registration page.

The closing date for registering your interest of the market engagement event is 17:00 GMT on the 10/1/23

More information

Additional text

Scope of the Service
To run Fosterline, the free service for prospective and current foster carers by providing a telephone helpline, website, social media presence and 1-2-1 support service on a referral basis.

About the buyer

Address

Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
England

Email

rachael6.davies@education.gov.uk

Website

gov.uk/dfe