Parents As Teachers

The State of Delaware, Division of Public Health, is procuring professional services through a Request for Proposals to build capacity and operate the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting program across nine high-risk community zones throughout Delaware, with priority service areas in Wilmington, Kent County, and Sussex County. The selected vendor(s) will deliver evidence-based home visiting services to at-risk families with children from prenatal through kindergarten entry, with deliverables including recruitment and enrollment of families, a minimum of 12 personal visits annually for families with one or fewer stressors and 24 visits for families with two or more stressors, group connections, developmental and health screenings, family-centered assessments, resource coordination, and monthly data collection and reporting. Key qualifications include requirements that 75 percent of parent educators hold bachelor's degrees in early childhood or related fields and that all parent educators receive two hours of monthly reflective supervision. The RFP evaluation criteria allocate 25 points for qualifications and experience, 25 points for proposed methodology, 20 points for responses to scope of services, 15 points for ability to recruit and train qualified staff, and 15 points for proposed costs. The solicitation timeline includes a questions deadline of April 2, 2026, written responses posted by May 5, 2026, proposal submission deadline of June 4, 2026 at 1:00 PM EDT through the Euna Procurement portal (https://dhss.bonfirehub.com/), estimated award notification on July 6, 2026, and estimated project start date of August 12, 2026. The contract term is two years with three optional one-year extensions, and funding is provided through the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

Vendors must provide proof of Delaware licensure or evidence of licensure application initiation and maintain commercial general liability insurance with minimum coverage of $1,000,000 per occurrence. The application package requires submission of standardized forms including vendor information, non-collusion statements, business references, diverse vendor certification status for both state and federal purposes, subcontractor information with minimum three business references per subcontractor, and certifications regarding suspension or debarment history within the past five years. All work products and deliverables become the property of the State of Delaware upon completion, and vendors are responsible for all costs including expenses, travel, and lodging unless expressly specified as reimbursable in contract appendices. The professional services agreement template establishes compensation on a fixed fee basis not to exceed a stated contract value, with monthly invoicing and payment due within thirty days of receipt through ACH or Purchase Card, which vendors must accept without additional fees. The RFP documents do not specify an overall award value or budget range in the available materials. The State of Delaware retains the right to reject any or all proposals, award to multiple vendors, or cancel the solicitation.