A group of preschool and elementary school children, 5 to 7 years old, on the playground, climbing on monkey bars. The boy in the middle foreground, shouting and looking at the camera is 6. The girl with the white bow in her hair has down syndrome.

Community organisations are being sought to help deliver the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Partners in the Community (PITC) Program. These services will be delivered in 74 areas across Australia for five years from July 2023 and are intended to improve participant access to support in local communities.

PITC Program providers are the primary contact for more than 70 per cent of all NDIS participants, delivering Local Area Coordination (LAC) and Early Childhood (EC) services on behalf of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), linking people with disability to the NDIS as well as to community and mainstream services.

NDIS Minister Linda Reynolds said the government is now focussed on further improvements to participant access to these services, which was the original intent of the PITC program.  It also provides an opportunity to partner with organisations in some regional and remote parts of Australia, where services can be difficult to access and connection to community and mainstream supports is crucial, the minister said.

“The future PITC Program will dedicate more time to the delivery of early supports for children, plan implementation support for individuals and their families or carers and activities to facilitate greater community inclusion,” she said.

The NDIA tender and assessment process will run until late 2022 and ensure new contracts are in place before the current contracts approach their common expiry in June 2023.

To register, or for further tender details, updates and application closing dates, visit the AusTender website.  Any enquiries can be sent to the Contact Officer at: PITCTENDER.SPC1863@ndis.gov.au.