FEMA American Sign Language Interpreting 2014-2016

The FEMA American Sign Language Interpreting Master IDIQ (2014-2016) is a federal contract vehicle designed to provide American Sign Language (ASL) and Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) services to support hearing-impaired individuals during federal emergency management operations and training activities. The vehicle enables FEMA to quickly procure specialized interpreting and translation services for disaster survivors, FEMA staff, and cadre members with hearing impairments. Services primarily focus on facilitating communication during disaster response, recovery efforts, and professional training sessions, ensuring accessible communication for hearing-impaired participants.

Task orders under this IDIQ demonstrate a consistent pattern of supporting disaster response and training scenarios, with values ranging from $696 to $147,400 and typical durations spanning several months. Key task orders include ASL interpretation for survivors at disaster recovery centers, support for hearing-impaired FEMA employees attending disaster preparedness courses, and CART services during training events like Incident Command System (ICS) sessions. The task orders were predominantly awarded as firm fixed-price contracts, with one labor-hour pricing variant. While no specific set-aside designations were consistently applied, one task order noted a small disadvantaged business (Gulf States Interpreting For The Deaf, Inc.) as a contractor. The contract vehicle operated from June 2014 to December 2016, covering FEMA regions and disaster response locations across multiple states.