As well as the NCB, the group includes the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the National Fou-ndation for Educational Res- earch and Research in Practice.
Outlined in The Children's Plan, the centre will look at how the five Every Child Matters outcomes can be achieved for all children and young people. It will examine what works and how to spread best practice.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is expected to announce officially next month that the NCB-led party is the preferred bidder. Two other consortiums are also understood to have expressed an interest.
Christine Davies, programme director for Narrowing the Gap and bid director, said: "At the moment we're talking to the DCSF about arrangements in terms of funding, what the centre will do and how it will work."
