Description of the goods or services required
Commissioning of Flying Start Childcare Places in Cardiff
The County Council of the City and County of Cardiff’s Flying Start Team wish to invite current and potential providers to a workshop to consult on the service specification for childcare and to discuss the proposed procurement process for childcare places.
Attendees will be briefed on the potential procurement process that will be used to commission services. This event is not restricted to those currently providing Childcare Services in Cardiff. Please note that non-attendance will not preclude participation in any resultant procurement process.
Flying Start is the Welsh Government’s flagship early years’ programme for families with children under 4 years of age and is targeted in some of the most deprived areas in Wales. It has been in place since 2006/7.
The Cardiff programme is the largest in Wales with the number of 0-3 year-old children targeted currently set at 4901. This represents approximately 25% of the Cardiff 0-3 population. The Council receives an annual grant of £10.2million to deliver a range of Flying Start services to eligible families.
The primary focus of the programme is to improve the life chances of very young children through delivery of four core elements:
i. Quality part-time childcare for all 2-3 year olds in Flying Start areas (12.5 hrs a week x 39 weeks);
ii. Enhanced Health Visiting with 1:110 caseloads;
iii. Parenting programmes and support;
iv. Early language development
The Council currently purchases c1225 part-time childcare places for all eligible 2-3 year olds during the school year, purchased across 33 child care settings.
A Cabinet Report in November 2016 agreed the future commissioning approach. It was a agreed that a proportional approach with a mixture of both direct awards and a competitive tender process would be adopted. This report is available in full at https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s12940/Item%204.pdf
The Council is now in the planning stages for the competitive tender process.
Interested parties are invited to attend a workshop-style meeting to be held at the Flying Start Offices in Cardiff on 5 April 2017 at 1p.m.
The competitive tender will be for eight childcare settings for a term of three years with an option to extend for 1 more year. The total annual value of the contracts is £902,460.
If you wish to attend this workshop, please register your interest by e-mailing saphillips@cardiff.gov.uk, please provide the names of no more than two attendees per organisation, e-mail address, name of organisation, and contact telephone number. Please note that attendance is limited to a maximum of two people per organisation.
Please note this Notice is issued solely for the purpose of alerting the market to an anticipated procurement and to seek early engagement to test the opportunities for delivery of the Council’s objectives or requirements. This notice does not constitute a commitment by the Council to undertake a procurement process in the future. The Council will consider ideas submitted in response to this notice, along with other matters, before determining how to proceed. To that end the Council would welcome responses from suitable suppliers who are interested in this proposal. Please note, the Council intends to use the information gathered to inform its decision making process. Should it be decided that the Council will undertake a procurement process to select providers to provide the Flying Start Childcare Services on behalf of the Council, then the information gathered from the expressions of interest may be used to shape the proposed procurement process and specification for this project. Accordingly, confidential information should not be disclosed. Any individual, group or organisation participating in this market sounding exercise will not be guaranteed short-listing at any later stage of a subsequent procurement process. The Council reserves the right not to proceed with any of the proposed options that may be put forward or with a procurement process. The Council will not meet the costs incurred by any party in responding to this notice. Please note that the Flying Start programme is reliant upon the continued funding from the Welsh Government.
NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at http://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=63219. |