NIGP 96167: Sign Language Services for the Hearing Impaired

NIGP 96167 Sign Language Services For The Hearing Impaired is an Item code encompassing American Sign Language interpreting and related sign language services delivered to deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind populations across educational, health care, social service, emergency management, and child welfare settings. State and local governments currently procure ASL interpreting on three primary models: onsite in-person interpretation, video remote interpreting (VRI), and hybrid delivery mixing both modalities. Educational institutions and school districts dominate recent activity, soliciting interpreters for classroom instruction, extracurricular activities, and specialized services including Communication Access Real-Time Translation (CART) and certified deaf interpreters. Health care and social service agencies increasingly contract for interpreting across clinical, behavioral health, dental, and administrative environments, with language certification requirements varying by context—Oregon Certified or Qualified Healthcare Interpreter status for medical settings, Board of Educational Interpreters (BEI) or Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) credentials for schools, and professional certifications such as EIPA level 3.5 for district-wide coverage. Emergency management and child welfare agencies also use this code for fixed-term or ongoing interpreting support. Recent issuing bodies include school districts (Katy ISD in Texas, Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida, Northeastern Junior College in Colorado, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD in Texas), managed health care organizations (CareOregon), county governments (Denton County, Texas; Hillsborough County, Florida), special-purpose education cooperatives (West 10 RDSPD/Deaf Education Cooperative in Texas), and social service agencies (District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency, District of Columbia Department of Disability Services).

Recent procurement activity concentrates in Texas, Florida, Colorado, Oregon, and the District of Columbia. Representative opportunities include Hillsborough County Public Schools issuing RFP 26041-DST on April 6, 2026, with proposals due April 15, 2026, seeking sign language interpreting, oral interpreting, transliteration, and tactile interpreting services across 235 schools for approximately 75 students requiring interpreters, with an estimated annual budget of $950,000 and a stated intent to award one primary contractor and multiple alternates. CareOregon issued RFP 2026-05 on July 13, 2026, with proposals due August 11, 2026, requesting health care interpreter services spanning in-person (14,000 monthly appointments), telephonic (7,000 monthly), and video remote (1,600 monthly) modalities across multiple Oregon service areas, requiring Oregon Certified and/or Qualified Healthcare Interpreters, supporting 24/7 availability, and establishing tier-based rates by language and modality with anticipated contract start mid-September 2026. Katy Independent School District issued concurrent RFPs for sign language interpreting (RFP #2518YT, due July 8, 2026) and educational interpreting services (RFP #2519YT, due August 3, 2026), serving the West 10 RDSPD/Deaf Education Cooperative across six districts with certified or pre-certified interpreters, specialty services, and initial terms through August 31, 2027 with four optional renewal years. Denton County, Texas posted ITB #25-2894 on April 3, 2026, with bids due April 23, 2026, for emergency operations language and ASL interpretation across 11 languages with 24/7 availability and one-hour response requirements, signaling HUB vendor preference and contract period through May 31, 2027 with four optional renewal years.