---
title: "DLEARN-Childcare Early Adopter Communities - Process, Impact & Spend Evaluation"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-04b184"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04b184"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04b184.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04b184.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT"
published: "2025-02-07"
---

# DLEARN-Childcare Early Adopter Communities - Process, Impact & Spend Evaluation

Buyer: SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-04b184

[View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04b184)  
[Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04b184.json)

## Summary

The Scottish Government, representing the Scottish Ministers, has awarded a contract for the evaluation of six 'early adopter communities' under the DLEARN-Childcare Early Adopter Communities programme. This procurement falls under the 'Social research services' category identified by the CPV code 79315000. Located in the UK, this initiative focuses on process, impact, and expenditure evaluations, targeting local, place-based childcare approaches from early years to the end of primary school. The evaluation services contract, valued at £244,959, was awarded to Ipsos (market research) Ltd, with the contract signed on 3rd February 2025. The tender process was an open procedure covered by GPA regulations and is now in the award stage, marking the completion of the procurement process.

This evaluation contract offers significant opportunities for businesses with expertise in social research and economic impact assessment, particularly those experienced in early childhood and community-based programmes. Companies providing robust monitoring, comprehensive data evaluation services, and having the capacity to handle large-scale social research projects will find this contract suitable. Furthermore, businesses that can demonstrate a profound understanding of community engagement and are committed to ethical research practices and fair employment standards will be well-positioned to benefit from such government tenders. The open procurement method highlights the inclusivity of the tender process, encouraging competition and innovation from various market participants.

## Notice

The Scottish Government, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, has awarded a contract for a process, impact and spend evaluation of six 'early adopter communities' who are testing out local, place-based approaches to childcare from the very early years up to the end of primary school.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Scottish Government has committed to building a system of school age childcare that provides care before and after school, all year round, to support parents and carers - particularly on low incomes - to access secure and stable employment. The School Age Childcare Transformational Change Programme was established to deliver this commitment. The Programme is taking a phased approach to policy design in order to test and refine what an effective system will look like in different communities, and to adapt and scale different approaches. This includes work within six 'early adopter communities' (EACs) to understand how to co-design local systems of childcare which will meet the needs of families living within those communities. This work is targeted at families most at risk of living in poverty, as set out in Best Start, Bright Futures, the Scottish Government's tackling child poverty delivery plan. In the 2023 Programme for Government, Scottish Government also made a commitment to expand the EACs to include families with younger children for the first time. This will mainly focus on children up to age three, given that all three- and four-year-olds (and eligible two-year-olds) are already entitled to 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare. In the coming year the EACs will conduct engagement work with families to better understand their needs in relation to childcare for younger children. Some limited delivery will also begin for families in selected communities where this engagement work has already taken place. The Scottish Government, on behalf of the Scottish Ministers, wishes to commission a process, impact and spend evaluation of the EACs. The contractor will be required to build on a first phase of evaluation of the EACs (which involved development of a theory of change and a monitoring and evaluation framework, an early process evaluation, and an evaluability assessment) and work with the Scottish Government to meet the aims outlined below. This next phase of work is to provide robust findings on the impact of these community-based childcare projects on children and families, how these changes are enabled, and how the resources put into the EACs have been used. These findings will in turn inform both continuous improvement for local partners and wider local and national childcare policy. The aims of this evaluation are: 1. Scope and refine a detailed evaluation approach, building on a preliminary evaluability assessment. 2. Work with leads and partners in the EACs to refine and improve monitoring and evaluation data, as required 3. Conduct a process evaluation across all 6 EACs 4. Conduct an early impact evaluation across all 6 EACs 5. Conduct a spend evaluation across all 6 EACs.

Renewal: Option to extend for a further 3-month period at the sole discretion of the Scottish Government.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004194-2025 |
| Notice type | Tender Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 7 Feb 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 29 Nov 2024 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 3 Feb 2025 |
| Contract period | 14 Feb 2025 - 31 Aug 2026 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £250,000 |
| Lots value | £250,000 |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £244,959 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Post town | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH6 6QQ |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM1 East Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM13 City of Edinburgh |
| Local authority | City of Edinburgh |
| Electoral ward | Leith |
| Westminster constituency | Edinburgh North and Leith |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | IPSOS (MARKET RESEARCH |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security

### Codes

- 79311410 - Economic impact assessment
- 79315000 - Social research services

## Release History

- 7 Feb 2025 at 14:28 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004194-2025
- 19 Nov 2024 at 15:00 - TenderUpdate - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/037391-2024
- 25 Oct 2024 at 14:43 - Tender - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/034726-2024

## Notice URLs

- http://www.scotland.gov.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000781467
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/info/InfoCentre.aspx?ID=2343
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/Search_AuthProfile.aspx?ID=AA10482

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-04b184. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-04b184.json.