Direct Award of Contract for Zero to Five (0-5) Years Childcare / Nursery Provision

Torbay Council has a current contract in place, for Childcare / Nursery Provision at Mama Bear's Day Nursery, (on the site of) St Margaret's Academy, Barewell Road in Torquay, Devon. The contract expires on 06 December 2020.

Initial Tender preparation and planning for a re-tender, took place in early 2020, but was halted with the onset of the Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdown restrictions. During the summer months of 2020, there was an increasing workload on Children's and Education Services within the Council, in dealing with the Covid crisis and the return to school for children in the local area. This has been on-going moving into the Autumn and the subsequent priorities have impacted on the Council's ability to undertake a re-tender process for the Childcare / Nursery Provision, in good time before the current contract expires.

As a result, Torbay Council proposes to issue a directly awarded six month contract to the incumbent provider, subject to internal approval, to continue providing the current services at the Day Nursery. It is anticipated that the re-tender and award (of a new contract) processes can be conducted, during this time, to commence in the Summer of 2021.