Wellbeing Support Program for early childhood staff in the community services sector

⁠⁠⁠This new procurement is to engage a suitably qualified supplier to provide Early Childhood Wellbeing Support Program to early childhood staff, delivering kindergarten programs in the community services sector.

The program would specifically provide:

•  delivery of up to four (4) confidential counselling sessions per year per eligible employee,
•  critical incident response service, that will be available to all early childhood services referred to the supplier by the department on an as-needs basis, and
•  mediation support service, that will be available only to community-based early childhood services, referred to the supplier by the department on an as-needs basis.

Counselling service (EAP)

The successful supplier must provide evidence-based psychological support for personal and work-related issues to early childhood teachers and educators. The service will address a range of personal and work-related issues including but not limited to:

•  emotional stress and health issues
•  grief and bereavement
•  mental health
•  work demands
•  relationship issues
•  alcohol and drug related problems/substance abuse
•  organisational change
•  workplace conflict
•  interpersonal conflict
•  balancing home/work life
•  any other factors or issues which may affect wellbeing or work performance.

In addition, specific counselling support and advice is required for:

•  Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander employees in relation to workplace and personal issues through First Nations and / or culturally trained clinicians
•  LGBTIQ+ staff in relation to workplace and personal issues
•  Employees experiencing family violence
•  Persons with disability

The service should use a short-term counselling model offering eligible early childhood teachers and educators a maximum of four hours generally comprising of four one-hour sessions, the cost of which will be covered by the department. Additional sessions can be provided to an individual on approval from the department.

Mediation service

Mediation support is to be provided on an as needs basis, if a service has been identified by the department as requiring external support to assist with a workplace dispute or conflict that has arisen which is impacting negatively on workplace culture and service performance (up to nine hours per service per year). The mediation service will address workplace issues that could include, but are not limited to:

•  impacts on staff of significant change in the workplace such as a change in staffing or program modelling
•  bullying and harassment matters
•  long term low staff morale with is negatively impacting on service performance
•  disputes between employees, or between employees and the employer/Director.

The mediation service should use a solutions-focused approach delivered in face-to-face sessions or online, using evidence based psychological theory. The objective is to achieve resolution of the matter by providing structured support to the employer and staff at a service to assist them to resolve a conflict, complaint, organisation issue or other matter that is negatively impacting service performance.

Critical Incident Response service

The supplier must provide a critical incident response service when requested by the department. All funded kindergarten services, and on occasion, unfunded kindergarten services, are eligible to access critical incident support. A critical incident may include but not be limited to:

•  physical or psychological threat
•  death or serious injury
•  assault or abuse
•  involved with a serious accident
•  major workplace emergency.

The supplier should deliver critical incident support in line with an evidence-based trauma model and be able to deliver services across the state.

The critical incident response service should be provided in-person on site or via telephone (whichever approach is required) by appropriately qualified clinicians, and where necessary, who have experience in trauma response and intervention.

The supplier must have the ability to scale up and expand critical incident support to include local community in exceptional circumstances and have access to a trauma informed clinician to work directly with children and families if required.

Please see the attached document for a summary of the services being sought. Users who download the attached document will also be notified of any amendments to this negotiation while it is in the market.

The full documentation for this RFQ is not published on the Buying for Victoria Tenders Portal. It is only available through the Department of Education’s own Oracle Supplier Portal.

The DE Oracle Supplier Portal: https://enyw.fa.ap1.oraclecloud.com/

DE operates its own Oracle Supplier Portal, allowing suppliers to access and respond to procurement opportunities from a number of Education portfolio entities. Suppliers can also self-manage corporate details like addresses, users and banking information.

The full documentation for this RFQ is only available through the Oracle Supplier Portal, and responses will only be accepted through the Oracle Supplier Portal.

Search for this RFQ in the Oracle Supplier Portal using its Negotiation number N1000253,1

For more information on the Oracle Supplier Portal, including:

•  how to register your organisation or set up user accounts; and
•  how to navigate through the Portal, find our market documents and submit a response

please visit DE’s information website: https://www.vic.gov.au/supplier-portal

If you are having problems accessing the Supplier Portal, please email the DE Supplier Portal team for assistance: Oracle.Procurement.Cloud@education.vic.gov.au.

Enquiries 

 Robbie Banga

 Technical

 Phone: +61 (3) 70225776

 robbie.banga@education.vic.gov.au

Industry briefing

A briefing session will be held on 13 July 2026 11:00 am.

Notes: Please register your interest for the industry briefing session by 2:00pm of 10 July by visiting this RFQ on the Buying for Victoria Tenders Portal.

Registration closes on 10 July 2026 02:00 pm