Early Market Engagement for Children's Centres

Children's Centres form a key element in the Council's offer of early help and preventative services and contribute to a number of strategic priorities for the Borough. They provide a focal point for the delivery of locally integrated services and enable access to a range of support from pre-birth to five years and their families.

In Southend-on-Sea there are currently nine Children's Centres in locations across the borough; the Children's Centre Provider has entered into partnership agreements with the hosting schools and is working in partnership with parents, the local community and the Council to ensure an integrated offer of early help services for local communities. The annual value of the current contract is around £1,000,000, including premises, insurance, staffing and overhead costs.

The current contract has been extended until October 2020 therefore the Council is considering options for the future service model and provision of Early Years services from our Children's Centres. The Council is interested to understand the level of market interest in the provision of Early Years services from our Children's Centres.

This is not a call for competition. As such any future procurement process will be compliant with the Public Contract Regulations (2015 (updated 2016)).

This includes but is not limited to advertising and fair treatment of economic operators regardless of their involvement in this Market Engagement. To respond to the Market Engagement please view on ProContract https://procurement.southend.gov.uk/?ReadForm&login