Statewide Training Initiative for Family Day Care Homes and Large Child Care Home Providers

This contract opportunity from the Florida Department of Children and Families is for the provision of statewide training, education, technical assistance, and financial support for Family Day Care Home and Large Family Care Home providers across the state. The selected contractor will be responsible for providing advanced professional skills development training for child care provider mentors, hosting annual leadership summits and statewide trainings, offering scholarships for training and credentials, publishing quarterly newsletters, and conducting consumer education and provider recruitment and retention efforts. The Department intends to contract with the Florida Family Child Care Home Association, Inc. (FFCCHA), which is the only organization in Florida certified to use the nationally recognized and copyrighted Second Helping Train-the-Trainer Program and its Spanish version, Cuatro Pasos. This specialized curriculum and support services are critical to improving the quality and professionalism of family child care home providers statewide. The contract term is for five years from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2029, with no renewal clause. The estimated contract value is $50,000 per year or $250,000 over the full term, subject to availability of funds.

As the Department has identified FFCCHA as the sole source for this contract, there are no set-aside designations or restrictions on the types of organizations that can respond. FFCCHA is the incumbent vendor and the only organization in Florida certified to provide the required training program and support services. The Department has determined that the specialized curriculum and technical assistance provided by FFCCHA are critical to achieving the objectives of this initiative, which include increasing family child care home providers' skills, knowledge, and professional development, producing high-quality teams of provider leaders and mentors, assisting providers in meeting statutory training requirements, promoting quality improvement and provider retention, and ensuring providers are highly qualified to help children develop school readiness skills.