Professional Early Care and Education Development Services

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services in Augusta, Maine, requires professional early care and education development services to improve the quality of child care and enhance the skills of early childhood educators. The agency is seeking a vendor to design and deliver a comprehensive training plan that includes approximately thirty facilitated training courses offered through an average of one hundred virtual and in-person sessions annually, alongside fifteen on-demand training courses. These training programs must be delivered through a Learning Management System designed to meet the needs of early childhood educators across a mixed delivery system. The scope of work requires the selected partner to establish an annual training schedule and ensure the delivery of specific courses that enable educators to achieve professional credentials. The provider must review credential applications, award credentials, and manage the early care and education registry, the Quality Rating and Improvement System, and consumer education initiatives. Additionally, the project involves utilizing department-approved career lattices to assess and assign professional levels based on individual education, experience, and training, as well as reviewing higher education documentation to determine the highest level of education attained in early childhood education and child development. The agency limits eligibility to onshore organizations based in the United States. The selected vendor will perform all work offsite. Bidders must submit any questions regarding this opportunity no later than July 1, 2026, and the agency is currently looking for proposals to determine the budget and cost structure for these services.