REQUEST FOR QUOTE. Review & assessment of National Quality Framework Resource Kit

Transcription

1 REQUEST FOR QUOTE Review & assessment of National Quality Framework Resource Kit November 2013

2 Contents 1 Lodgement of proposals Introduction Project purpose Project methodology Timeline Costs Deliverables Risk management Selection criteria Terms of request for quote... 9 Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 2 of 10

3 1 Lodgement of proposals Closing date 5pm, 4 December 2013 Successful consultant notified Mid December 2013 Lodgement method to: [email protected] subject line: National Quality Framework Resource Kit - RFQ Questions about this proposal Please send any questions by to [email protected] subject line: National Quality Framework Resource Kit - Enquiry ACECQA contact Name: Jude Lobo Position: Senior Research & Evaluation Officer [email protected] Telephone: Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 3 of 10

4 2 Introduction The Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) website hosts all major National Quality Framework (NQF) guides and resources. The Australian government also issues four of the guides to the sector in hard copy in 2011 as the NQF resource kit. Currently, ACECQA continues to distribute the resource kit to the sector. Under the Education and Care Services National Law s225 (1) (l) ACECQA s functions include: To publish guides and resources (i) (ii) To support parents and the community in understanding quality in relation to education and care services; and To support the education and care services sector in understanding the NQF. 3 Project purpose The purpose of the project is to review the effectiveness of the National Quality Framework (NQF) Resource Kit in supporting the needs of the sector. The Resource Kit has been in circulation with the sector for over two years and during that period educators have been able to use it and are in a good position to comment on their experiences and to suggest improvements. It is timely to consider the value of the current resources at this stage with a view to potential opportunities to improve them and add value to the sector. 4 Project methodology The project seeks information and feedback from Regulatory Authority s (RA s) and the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector about the effectiveness of the existing NQF Resource Kit and their ideas for improvements. The project will need to reflect the full range of service types in scope of the NQF to ensure that any revisions of the resource kit are relevant to the broadest range of service providers. These service types are listed below: Long Day Care (LDC) Preschool/Kindergarten Family Day Care (FDC) Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) The project will involve both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. ACECQA will conduct the qualitative work in-house. ACECQA is seeking proposals for the quantitative component of the study. Qualitative The qualitative component consists of focus group consultations across a sample of jurisdictions. ACECQA will send the successful consultant a key themes document to assist in the development of a survey tool. Original transcript data can be requested but will be contingent on approval by the ACECQA executive. Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 4 of 10

5 Quantitative A recent survey conducted by ACECQA found close to 40 per cent of Family Day Care educators spoke English as a second language. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence from Family Day Care Australia suggested that educators found it difficult to understand English. ACECQA is therefore seeking proposals that involve both CATI and an online survey component. The CATI survey should be used to collect responses from FDC educators only, while the online survey should be administered to the remaining centre based service types (LDC, OSHC and Preschool/Kindergarten). ACECQA has considered options for conducting the CATI in other languages. In a previous ACECQA study, FDC respondents identified 66 different languages spoken other than English. Further to this, 67 per cent of respondents spoke at least one of 14 different languages. The variety of languages spoken by FDC educators makes it difficult to offer a translated version that caters to all languages. ACECQA recommends the use of an English survey and a translated version for the top three languages spoken, but are open to considering other viable strategies presented by tenderers. A list of the top 14 languages spoken by FDC educators that responded to a previous survey is provided below to assist in the development of proposals: Language Percentage (%) Arabic 18 Dinka 9 Sinhalese 6 Vietnamese 5 Hindi 5 Bengali 5 Somali 4 French 3 Tamil 2 Spanish 2 Swahili 2 Tagalog 2 Persian/Farsi 2 Italian 2 Sampling ACECQA anticipates a sample size of 1,500 should be sufficient in achieving reliable and representative results for this project, although ACECQA is open to other sample size suggestions up to a limit of 3,000 participants. The development of an appropriate sampling framework for both the CATI and online should consider quotas against the following criteria: Services by service type Services by sub-service type Services by jurisdiction Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 5 of 10

6 Services by service type ACECQA stores all service data on a central database called the National Quality Agenda Information Technology System (NQAITS). Services are recorded as providing either Centre-based care or Family day care. As at the 30/09/2013 the number of approved services in each of these categories was: Service type Number in population % in population Centre-based care 13, Family day care Total 13, Services by sub-service type Sitting within Centre-based care are three different sub-service types Long Day Care, Preschool/Kindergarten and Out of School Hours Care. The distribution of these sub-service types is as follows: Centre-based care Number in population % in population Long Day Care (LDC) 6, Preschool/Kindergarten 3, Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) 3, Total 13, Tenderers might notice a higher total in the table above compared to the total number of centre- based care. This is because sub- service type is not mutually exclusive meaning that a single centre- based service could provide more than one sub- service. Services by jurisdiction The table below provides tenderers with the distribution of both centre-based care and family day care services across Australian states and territories: State Centre-based care (%) Family day care (%) ACT 2 1 NSW NT 2 0 Qld SA 8 4 Tas 2 2 Vic WA 7 6 Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 6 of 10

7 ACECQA seeks advice from tenderers on the optimal sampling approach for the study which ensures that results are representative of the population. Proposal should also consider strategies for ensuring the voice of smaller population groups such as services in Tasmania and ACT are adequately represented. 5 Timeline Proposals should include a breakdown of the time required for each activity over this period. ACECQA is keen to complete the project in as short a time frame as possible while maintaining the integrity of the data. The proposal should take into account the school holiday period which varies by jurisdiction and is summarised in the table below: State Holiday period ACT 23 Dec Jan 2014 NSW 23 Dec Jan 2014 NT 16 Dec Jan 2014 Qld 16 Dec Jan 2014 SA 16 Dec Jan 2014 Tas 23 Dec Feb 2014 Vic 23 Dec Jan 2014 WA 20 Dec Jan 2014 Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 7 of 10

8 6 Costs Proposals should include an itemised list of costs for the project preferably using the following format: Item Staff member responsible No. hours per day Number of days Rate per hour Total cost 7 Deliverables The outputs required from the successful tenderer are: a draft version of the quantitative report a finalised version of the quantitative report, following ACECQA feedback a raw data file in Excel a presentation of the findings to senior stakeholders 8 Risk management Proposals should include the types of the risks that could emerge over the course of the project, the likelihood of the risk occurring and the strategies that will be taken to manage the risk. A template is provided below to assist tenderers: Risk Likelihood of Risk (1= Very low 10= Very high) Risk management strategy Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 8 of 10

9 9 Selection criteria Expressions of interest will be assessed using the following criteria: a) Understanding of the project requirements b) Previous experience of project team in conducting research in Early Childhood Education and Care or related field c) Capability and capacity to meet the project objectives d) Capacity to deliver the project objectives within a condensed time frame e) Value for money 10 Terms of request for quote Disclaimer ACECQA is not obliged to enter into any legally binding agreement with a respondent. Nothing in this Request for Expression of Interest creates or implies a legally binding agreement between ACECQA and the respondent. ACECQA will not be liable for any acts or omissions of the respondent or costs or expenses incurred, as a result of the information provided by ACECQA in this Request for Expression of Interest. The respondent is deemed to have read and understood all relevant information associated with the Request for Quote and warrants that their submission is complete and contains accurate information. Intellectual property All intellectual property developed in the course of the project, including methodology, data sets, reports and presentation materials, will be owned by ACECQA. Privacy notice ACECQA will use the information you have provided to make an assessment of the suitability of the respondent. Information will be held in line with responsibilities under section 273 (Duty of confidentiality) of the Education and Care Services National Law and the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 (as modified by the Education and Care Services National Law). Respondents should familiarise themselves with other policies relevant to this Request for Expression of Interest including: ACECQA Privacy Policy ACECQA Freedom of Information Policy Conflict of interest If a respondent is concerned about the existence of, or potential existence of, a conflict of interest, they should notify ACECQA immediately. ACECQA will then determine how the matter should best be handled. Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 9 of 10

10 Probity and ethical behaviour Probity and ethical behaviour governs the conduct of all procurement activities at ACECQA. All staff with the authority to procure goods and services or are otherwise involved in the procurement process must act with integrity, probity, and ethically, and in line with the ACECQA Procurement Policy. ACECQA requires the same standards from those with whom it deals. Australian Children s Education and Care Quality Authority Page 10 of 10