EYPS providers miss chance to bid for new course contract

Those omitted from the list of providers approved to tender include Edge Hill University and Tribal Group, which won the contract to take over Ofsted inspection in the south of England earlier this year (News, 25 February).

Only 12 experienced EYPS training providers, including Kingston University and the University of Chichester, are included in the list of 41 providers on the Leadership and Training Procurement Framework, managed by the National College in collaboration with the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) and the Training and Development Agency. Contractors had to take part in a competitive procurement process last July, but it seems that many organisations failed to respond to an e-mail about the process.

Many institutions were cautious about commenting to Nursery World, with one programme leader saying there was 'deep suspicion pervading'. An anonymous source from a university currently delivering EYPS said, 'We were waiting patiently for the retendering process to be made available and it's a complete bombshell.

'The CWDC say that they notified everyone via e-mail last July about this change, but the e-mail they are referring to did not mention EYPS. We have been delivering this qualification for the past five years; we have a 96 per cent pass rate and we were very keen to carry on delivering it.'

By limiting tenders to those on the framework, CWDC says it can ensure value for money for public funds. Many of the current providers are advertising that they are accepting applications for the EYPS programme despite not being eligible to tender, although they may still be able to get involved by being part of consortia bids. The bids are due by 27 June.

A CWDC spokesperson said, 'Through the competitive tender process, CWDC are confident that all providers awarded contracts for the recruitment, training, assessment and accreditation of EYPS will be selected based on their capability and capacity to fulfill the requirements of the new EYPS programme.'

Training and research company Hempsall Consultancies supports CWDC's use of a procurement framework. Director James Hempsall said, 'What's really exciting is the new opportunities for organisations such as ours, along with those who are small and mediumsized, to bring new creative and practical routes to supporting the development of the children's workforce.'

CWDC plans to have contracts for 2012-14 in place with training providers by the autumn to allow recruitment to start in September. The first intake of candidates will be in January 2012.

Further information

www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/tenders.