SOLICITATION NOTICE
U -- National Center on Child Care Professional Development Systems and Workforce Initiatives
- Notice Date
- 6/10/2011
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 611710
— Educational Support Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, Program Support Center, Division of Acquisition Management, Parklawn Building Room 5-101, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland, 20857
- ZIP Code
- 20857
- Solicitation Number
- 11-233-SOL-00258
- Point of Contact
- Tanya Crawford, Phone: 301.443.0058, ,
- E-Mail Address
-
tanya.crawford@psc.hhs.gov,
(tanya.crawford@psc.hhs.gov, /div)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- The proposed acquisition listed herein is unrestricted. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Program Center, Division of Acquisition Management intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) on behalf of the Office of Child Care (OCC) within the Administration for Children and Families for the National Center on Child Care Professional Development Systems and Workforce Initiatives. The RFP number is: 11-233-SOL-00258. NAICS code is 611710. The Office of Child Care (OCC) falls within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). ACF has responsibility for many programs that support the economic success of families and the well-being of children, including: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Head Start, Child Welfare, Child Support Enforcement, and the Social Services Block Grant. The OCC supports low-income working families through child care financial assistance and promotes children's learning by improving the quality of early care and education and after-school programs. The OCC is responsible for administering the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) - a program that helps low-income families access child care for children while parents work or participate in education or training. A portion of CCDF also is used to improve the quality of child care. In FY 2010, the OCC awarded over $5 billion in CCDF funds to States, Territories, and Indian Tribes through block grants. States and Territories invest $1 billion each year in quality improvements, much of which supports professional development and workforce initiatives. Each State, Territory or Tribe appoints a Lead Agency to administer the CCDF funds. These Lead Agencies make decisions about CCDF priorities, policies, and expenditures, including: determining eligibility requirements, setting family co-payment levels, establishing provider payment rates, setting target populations, and prioritizing quality investments. States, Territories and Tribes are required to complete a comprehensive planning process every two years, and to provide information on child care policies to ACF in biennial CCDF Plans. The majority of CCDF monies are used to subsidize the cost of care for low-income families. States have options including contracting with community providers, blending funds with Head Start and public preschool programs to purchase spaces for eligible children but typically CCDF grantees provide certificates or vouchers that families can use to pay the provider of their choice. In addition, States are required to commit at least 4 percent of their total CCDF to quality enhancement activities such as consumer education, resource and referral services, provider training, and caregiver recruitment and retention. Additional targeted funds (designated for quality improvement activities, infant and toddler care, school-age child care, child care resource and referral, and research) further support State efforts to improve child care access and quality. States elect to spend more than the required amount of CCDF for quality improvement - averaging 11% - or almost $1 billion per year. Training and professional development for the child care workforce is a major focus of these expenditures. The OCC recognizes that workforce and professional development initiatives are at the heart of quality improvement efforts and strongly support systemic quality approaches recognizing that every State and Territory is at a different stage of the process. OCC's revision of the Child Care and Development Fund Plan application (known as the Preprint) has a revamped section focusing specifically on State and Territory professional development and workforce activities. In summer 2011, States will report on their current workforce activities and set goals for the FY 2012-2013 Biennium. In 2013, States and Territories will begin reporting on the progress towards child care quality improvement through an annual progress report known as the Quality Performance Report that will include key data on workforce activities and outcomes. The revised CCDF Plan and reporting will yield important information to help this Center target technical assistance efforts. In spring 2011, OCC will implement quality benchmarks to track State quality improvement efforts across the States and Territories in a consistent manner. The indicators will include a handful that focus on professional development and workforce supports, aligned with many of the new items in the CCDF Plans. These indicators, along with the CCDF Plan information, will be another resource to the Center as it designs technical assistance for the States and Territories. The Center's development of informational products and technical assistance should take place within the context of each State's licensing, quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) or other quality improvement system. OCC has established a Child Care Technical Assistance Network (CCTAN) to support the work of States, Territories, and Tribes that administer the CCDF. In the years 2007-2011 OCC funded the following individual Projects: After-school Investments; the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning; Child Care Aware; Child Care and Early Education Research Connections; the Child Care Information System Technical Assistance Project; the Communications Management Center; Healthy Child Care America; the National Child Care Information and Technical Assistance Center; the National Infant and Toddler Child Care Initiative; the Tribal Child Care Technical Assistance Center, and the Child Care Improper Payments Initiative. In FY 2011, OCC will recompete its Child Care Technical Assistance Network to specialize in core areas, including the following new projects: ~ The National Center on Child Care Quality Improvement will support CCDF grantees as they build quality improvement systems that create pathways to excellence for child care providers. ~ The National Center on Child Care Professional Development Systems and Workforce Initiatives will build State capacity to produce qualified child care professionals. (Jointly funded with Office of Head Start) ~ The National Center on Child Care Subsidy Innovation and Accountability will support CCDF Administrators as they develop child care subsidy systems that are child-focused, family-friendly, fair to child care providers and operate with strong program integrity. ~ The State Child Care Systems Specialist Network will assist CCDF Administrators as they develop an integrated plan for moving forward on their CCDF Plan goals by providing expert consultation and assembling a team of experts from the Centers as needed. OCC will focus on raising the bar on quality in child care across the country through these Centers. Research shows that child care quality matters even more for low-income children. The most recent findings from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that the quality of child care that children received in their preschool years had small but detectable effects on their academic success and behavior all the way into adolescence. Despite the importance of quality, the research and data available indicate that the quality of our Nation's child care, on average, is inadequate to support children's learning and development to help them succeed in school and in life. The National Center on Child Care Professional Development Systems and Workforce Initiatives and the National Center on Child Care Quality Improvement will provide technical assistance to States and Territories as they build and strengthen quality improvement systems. The two centers will share information and coordinate efforts, as appropriate and directed by OCC. Research has demonstrated the impact of the child care workforce on a child's success in school and life. Warm and responsive interactions between caregivers and young children influence a child's developing brain architecture, social competence, thinking and reasoning skills. When caregivers provide young children with cognitively stimulating activities and consistent, secure relationships children will grow happy, healthy and ready to learn. Professional development and workforce supports are needed to increase the continuity of care needed to build these secure relationships with a child care workforce that experiences turnover rates of approximately 30% per year, a national median wage of $9.25 and a decline in the number of teachers with college degrees. In May 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data estimated there were 595,650 child care workers in the US. These numbers, however, only include professionals in licensed facilities. There are an estimated 2.3 million paid child care providers working in varied settings including public and private, profit and nonprofit, faith-based, community-based, school-based, home-based, and employer-sponsored providers. Approximately 35 percent of child care workers are self-employed, with the majority of these workers serving as family child care providers. Of these 2.3 million paid child care providers, nearly half care for toddlers aged 19 through 36 months. There is little data available about the informal sector of child care, although it makes up a large number of child care providers in the United States. All sectors of the ECE field require a well-qualified workforce with opportunities for growth from entry level through master teacher, including the many additional roles in the child care system (e.g. consultants, technical assistance providers, trainers, and higher education faculty). Lack of access to professional development that leads to progressively higher levels of competency is a barrier to providing access to high-quality early childhood education for all children. CCDF dollars provide access to child care for children from low-income families however the credentials or training offered in one state may not be recognized by Departments of Education preschool programs, Early Head Start, Head Start or neighboring state or territory systems. The RFP will be made available electronically at http://www.fedbizopps.gov on or about, but no sooner than 15 days after the issuance of this notice. All responsible sources may submit proposal which shall be considered by the agency. The closing date will be approximately 60 days after issuance of the RFP.
- Web Link
-
FBO.gov Permalink
(https://www.fbo.gov/spg/HHS/PSC/DAM/11-233-SOL-00258/listing.html)
- Place of Performance
- Address: United States
- Record
- SN02469383-W 20110612/110610234618-f9874de460f3583c33a46f83410f1abc (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
| FSG Index | This Issue's Index | Today's FBO Daily Index Page |