“THERE WILL BE A MANDATORY PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE ON DECEMBER 5, 2016 AT 3:00 P.M. ARIZONA TIME, AT THE ARIZONA@WORK
MARICOPA COUNTY OFFICE, LOCATED AT 735 N. GILBERT ROAD SUITE 134, ROOMS 4 AND 5, GILBERT, ARIZONA 85234…
Via its Head Start grant, Maricopa County Human Services Department Head Start Program is seeking to contract with qualified Child Care Providers. Children to be served under this solicitation are Head Start eligible children ages 3 to 5 years. Providers must be located in the eastern area of Maricopa County, Arizona (Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe). Providers shall establish full-day Head Start Programs in their facilities.
The Head Start program is a comprehensive child development program for low income children zero-five years of age. The program services support and promote children’s physical, cognitive, language, and social/emotional development.
Head Start provides young children with an array of comprehensive services, including health, nutritional, behavioral, and family services which recognizes the critical opportunities of Head Start programs to positively impact children and families in the early years and beyond. Quality services have been the keystone for Head Start across its history. These principles continue to be both a guide and inspiration for quality Head Start services. They are designed to nurture healthy attachments between parent and child (and child and teacher), emphasize a strengths-based, relationship-centered approach to services, and encompass the full range of a family’s needs.
The Head Start Child Care Services project will provide high-quality, comprehensive, and continuous early care and education for preschool aged in regulated child care centers in areas of high need that support parents’ efforts to fulfill their parental roles; and help parents move towards self -sufficiency and positively affect child outcomes. The number of children to received services and the number of Child Care providers will be determined at the time of contract awards.
Contracts awarded through this solicitation shall be for an eighteen initial (18) month period. The County may, at its option and with the agreement of the Contractor, renew the term of the Contract for additional terms up to a maximum of three (3) additional one-year terms, (or at the County’s sole discretion, extend the contract on a month-to-month bases for a maximum of six (6) months after expiration). The County shall notify the Contractor in writing of its intent to extend the Contract term at least sixty (60) calendar days prior to the expiration of the original contract term, or any additional term thereafter.
The County reserves the right to add additional contractors, at the County’s sole discretion, in cases where the currently listed contractors are of an insufficient number or skill-set to satisfy the County’s needs or to ensure adequate competition on any project or task order work.”
Excerpted from Maricopa County’s “Solicitation 171127-RFP HEAD START CHILD CARE SERVICES AGES 3 TO 5 YEARS.”