A. Consulting with partners: 1. Prior to conducting the market rate survey, the lead agency and this bidder will consult with the State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care, local child care program administrators, child care resource and referral agencies, organizations representing caregivers, teachers and directors, and others, such as Tribal leadership should be consulted with, as necessary to meet all of the requirements in the 45 CFR 98.45 about the market rate study and narrow cost analysis. This bidder will plan and facilitate all consultations completed and include this information and actions taken based on the feedback in the final report. The bidder may attend the Kansas Early Childhood Recommendation Panel meeting to recruit members for an advisory group or consult with this group as the acting State Advisory Council on Early Childhood Education and Care. Any potential additional provider survey questions will be reviewed in coordination with these groups. Previously gathered survey results may be obtained through cooperation with these groups and used to inform the results and needs. 2. The bidder must respond to any partner feedback prior to 8/31/26, when the proposed final draft version is due, and include a summary of the feedback and actions taken based on this feedback in the final report. 3. Before the report is considered final, the bidder shall provide the proposed final draft to the lead agency to allow for the posting of the report and to receive feedback from the public. All feedback shall be reviewed by the bidder, and responses on actions taken or not taken based on the feedback must be provided to DCF. This process will likely take 2 months, so the proposed final draft version will need to be completed before 8/31/26. 4. The bidder will need to describe in detail how they plan to gather the information that is not being provided to them as described in 5.7. They will need to describe if they will plan to survey all providers or select a statistically valid provider sample that is representative of the statewide child care market. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has shared information about the survey with all providers through its electronic messaging software in the past and would be willing to do that again. They had also sent out two separate reminders. B. Child care provider types: 1. Determine the number of regulated providers by type and county, based on Kansas Child Care Licensing data. 2. Determine provider rates charged to the private sector by type of provider, county, and age group of child. (a). Current age groupings used are based on child care provider feedback from the most recent Market Rate survey completed in 2024. https://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/ees/Documents/Child_Care/Provider_Market_Rate_Study.pdf (b). Analysis must be completed to determine the best age grouping for DCF subsidy rates. To the extent possible, age groupings should be consistent with licensing regulations and with data collected on provider rates and age groupings. Currently, the DCF age groupings for subsidy rates are as follows: for Licensed Homes, they are 0-17 months, 18-35 months, 36-59 months, and 60 months and older. For Child Care Centers, DCF age groupings for subsidy rates are 0-11 months, 12-35 months, 36-59 months, and 60 months and older. Licensing regulations can be found at: https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/342/Regulations-Policy-Exceptions The licensing regulations do age groupings for Licensed Homes as 0-11 months, 12-59 months, and 60 months and older. The licensing regulations do age groupings for Child Care Center regulations with 0-11 months, 12-29 months, 30-59 months, and 60 months and older. Event ID: EVT0010557 Page 25 C. Kansas county rate groupings: 1. Determine the accuracy of the current rate groupings of Kansas counties by hourly rate and type of child care providers. (a). Bidder may determine the most appropriate way to convert the reported rates into hourly rates based on survey results, but this detailed calculation must be included in the final draft report with an explanation on how it was determined. (b). Current rate groupings can be found at http://content.dcf.ks.gov/EES/KEESM/Appendix/C-18_ProviderRateCht.pdf 2. Determine if counties with only one center are in the correct county rate grouping. Determine if county rate groupings should be separated by licensed home providers and centers. 3. If new groupings are deemed necessary, a detailed explanation of the basis for the determination must be included in the final report.
