Early Start CT Request for Applications (B)

OEC is pleased to announce an RFA for the opportunity to receive state funding for early care and education spaces.  

Description

OEC created this RFA (B) to provide early childhood programs the opportunity to apply for Early Start CT funding as part of OEC’s larger goal of improving the equitable access to affordable, high-quality care and education for Connecticut families. This RFA is part B of the Early Start CT funding process for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 (July 2025 – June 2027). This competitive RFA (B) allows OEC to award at a minimum ten million dollars ($10,000,000) per year over a two-year period to support early care and education programs with Early Start CT (state funded) spaces for eligible families. This RFA (B) provides an opportunity for early childhood funding to be awarded to more communities and geographies across the state, including areas that have never received early childhood funding from OEC before.

To achieve OEC’s goal of improving equitable access for Connecticut families to affordable, high-quality care and education, this RFA (B) prioritizes applicants who: 

• Are currently accredited
• Are located in geographies with low child care access (find more information here)
• Are located in geographies with high social vulnerability index (SVI) scores (find more information here)
• Have not previously received state funding
• Have children enrolled in Care 4 Kids
• Request full day infant / toddler spaces
• Request school day preschool spaces

Please see the application for more details on the types of spaces you can apply for and all other requirements of the application. 

Applications shall be due Friday March 28 at 5:00PM ET.

Watch a video of the pre-bid conference (March 13, 2025)

Find the pre-bid conference slide deck here.

Evaluation Process

The OEC intends to conduct a comprehensive, fair, and impartial evaluation of applications received in response to this RFA and will award at a minimum ten million dollars ($10,000,000) per year to child care programs and family child care homes through State of CT POS contracts. 

The OEC will evaluate Child Care Centers (DCCC), Group Child Care Homes (DCGH) and Child Care Center Exempt (DCEX) programs together. Family Child Care Homes (DCFH) will be evaluated separately and OEC will award a maximum of $1,600,000 to Family Child Care Homes (DCFH).

The following criteria will be used to calculate the score of the applications:

Question and Answer Schedule

The email inbox listed below is the only authorized contact for this procurement and, as such, will handle all related communications on behalf of OEC. All questions and inquiries related to this RFA shall be directed to this email for response.

Questions received by each Friday in the Q & A period will be responded to via an FAQ document posted to this webpage by the following Wednesday. See table below for details.

Pre-Bid Conference

Attendance at the Pre-Bid Conference is optional but encouraged. Please click here to register for the Early Start CT RFA (B) Pre-Bid Conference, scheduled for Thursday, March 13 at 6:00PM ET.

OEC will publish conference materials on this webpage after the conference.

Key Dates

Application and Key Documents

• OPEN APPLICATION HERE
• FAQs and Key Definitions
• FAQs #2