Services to maximise take-up of DfE's 2-year-old entitlement and deliver business support to early years providers

The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to notify the market of the Department for Education's (DfE) intention to undertake a procurement exercise for services to maximise take-up of DfE's 2-year-old entitlement and deliver business advice to early years providers from November 2020.

The DfE currently funds three early education and childcare entitlements: - 15 hours for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds - Universal 15 hours for all 3- and 4-year-olds - Additional 15 hours for eligible 3- and 4-year olds of working parents('30 hours').

The DfE intends to request quotations for the following services in two lots: Lot 1: working with local authorities (LAs) and family-facing professionals to maximise take-up of the 15 hours early education entitlement for the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds (referred to below as the '2-year-old entitlement').

We seek a supplier that will: a. share expert advice and best practice with all LAs in England on maximising take-up of the 2-year-old entitlement. b. provide focused and targeted interventions to those local authorities with low take-up rates or which require the most help to maximise take up of the entitlement. c. Advise family-facing professionals on strategies for engaging with parents and carers to promote the 2-year-old entitlement.

Lot 2: promoting provider sustainability and childcare sufficiency by offering business advice to childcare providers and developing the business support skills of local authority officials.

We seek a supplier that will: a. advise early years providers on good business practice and strategies for building resilience at a time when many will be revising their business models in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. b. build the confidence of local authority officials to have business support conversations with their local providers.

Childcare providers are funded by LAs to deliver free entitlement places, so both are key stakeholders in ensuring that places are available for eligible parents.

We anticipate that delivery of this work will begin in November 2020 and run until the end of the March 2021.

Additional information: Please revisit this notice periodically for any updates regarding this opportunity.

PRE-TENDER BRIEFING: A market briefing event was held at 15:00 on Tuesday 6 October. The Q&A from this event and slides are now available to download from the contracts finder page.

To find out more about this opportunity and tender for the work, you will need to register in advance on the DfE's e-procurement system, Redimo 2 and then successfully gain membership to the Education and Children's Social Care Dynamic Purchasing System (the ECSC). You will need to register by no later than Friday 9 October 2020. This opportunity will be published under the category ECSC13.

Registration with on Redimo 2 is a 4-stage process: - Stage 1 - Proactis Supplier Network registration - Stage 2 - Activate your Proactis account - Stage 3 - Select to engage with the DfE - Stage 4 - Apply for Membership of the DPS (please note that the guidance document states that this stage is optional, but for these particular vacancies you must complete this 4th stage).

Please contact the Proactis helpdesk if you have any queries with registering your details on Redimo 2.