The various relief packages passed by Congress over the past year have given states more than $50 billion to support and sustain child care. This enormous influx of funds provides challenges and opportunities to transform the child care system, address systemic inequities, and implement innovative approaches to help children, families, and providers during this difficult time. Many states have demonstrated an interest in using contract-based financing mechanisms to drive stable and predictable resources to families and providers to increase resources and improve quality for both child care centers and home-based caregivers. This policy brief provides an overview on how state child care administrators can develop a thoughtful and detailed plan to approach state procurement agencies to most effectively use contract-based financing to meet their policy goals. (author abstract)