15JPSS23F00000040 Language Services RFP final.pdf

Solicitation 15JPSS23R00000040 Language Services

PART I - THE SCHEDULE

SECTION B - SUPPLIES/SERVICES/PRICES

B.1 General

a) The Contractor shall furnish all resources necessary to provide Translation, Interpretation, Transcription, and other Linguistic Support Services (herein referred to as language services) to the Department of Justice (DOJ or the Department) on a fixed unit price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity basis as defined herein.

b) The proposed contract is expected to include a base period and four (4) option periods as described in Table 1 below. The start date for the Base Period and the end date for Option Period 4 will be adjusted to reflect the actual contract effective and completion dates. See Section F.1 for complete contract term and option information.

Table 1 - Contract Term Base Period 10/01/23 Through 7/31/24 Option Period 1 8/01/24 Through 7/31/25 Option Period 2 8/01/25 Through 7/31/26 Option Period 3 8/01/26 Through 7/31/27 Option Period 4 8/01/27 Through 7/31/28

c) The anticipated date of award for the proposed contracts is August 1, 2023. Full performance of the contracts is expected to commence by October 1, 2023. The current contracts expire on July 31, 2023.

Because the continuing provision of services is essential to continuity of the program, it is critical that contract start-up is accomplished in a well-planned, orderly, and efficient manner using the Transition Plan provided by the Contractor in accordance with Section L.3.2.2 of the solicitation.

d) The performance of all work under this contract shall be initiated by the issuance of task orders by the Contracting Officer as discussed in Section H.2.

B.2 Minimum and Maximum Amounts

a) The estimated annual quantities (i.e., volumes for all contracts combined) for each contract line item number (CLIN) are contained in the Unit Price Tables of this Solicitation (Attachment 1). Those quantities represent the Government’s best estimate of language service requirements as it relates to contract support and do not necessarily represent actual or budgeted/funded needs. There is no guarantee that the estimates for each CLIN/contract period as contained in the Solicitation will accurately reflect actual quantities ordered in the performance of the contracts awarded under this Solicitation.

b) The Government will order a minimum amount of $25,000.00 for every contract awarded. The

Government will have the entire term of the contract (to include all options) to fulfill the contract minimum. The specific CLINs and quantities will be identified in the task/work orders issued under each contract. The exercise of the renewal options (see Section F.1) does not re-establish the contract minimum. During the life of this contract, the Government may order items in any quantity up to the maximum amount specified in paragraph (c) below. If the minimum amount has not been ordered then the Government will exercise the option for the next year.

c) There are no maximum quantities or amounts for each individual CLIN, task order, work order, contract period, or contract. The maximum aggregate amount of all task orders issued under the Language Services contract shall not exceed $40,000,000 for the entire term of the contracts, including all options that may be exercised.

B.3 Pricing

B.3.1 Pricing Table

a) All contract unit prices and multipliers (applied to other direct cost items) shall be as specified in the pricing table contained in Attachment 1. The basic CLIN structure includes individual pricing tables segregated by contract period and the type of service. Each CLIN includes a one-digit prefix and a five-digit core number. The one-digit prefix of each CLIN represents the contract period, i.e., for the Base Period, the first digit for all CLINs is “0,” for Option Period 1, the first digit for all CLINs is “1,” and so forth. The first two digits of the core number represent the Supplies/Services CLIN series, i.e., “-01” indicates Source Material Review and Summarization; “-02” indicates Translation/Routine Rates, “-03” indicates Translation/Rush Rates, and so forth. The remaining three digits are reserved as the “unique identifier” within that particular Supplies/Services CLIN series.

b) Program Management Office (PMO) is that support required under Section C.4.1. All PMO related costs shall be recovered through the Contractor’s fully loaded direct labor rates included in the Attachment 1 pricing table. These costs are not separately billable under the contract or any task order.

c) The contract unit prices included in the pricing table shall be firm fixed priced. All firm fixed unit prices must be fully loaded to include all costs (both direct and indirect costs) and profit necessary to provide the required product or level of service specified under this contract.

d) Other Direct Costs (ODC) are classes or categories of supplies or services which are not included in the unit price of the support service CLINs but are required to complete a given task order.

e) A Multiplier is the factor (fixed unit price) to be applied against the actual cost of an ODC item to cover administrative handling expenses. Attachment 1 includes categories of costs that are considered allowable ODCs for task orders. The Government will use this table to authorize and track actual ODC expenditures. The fixed multiplier for each ODC CLIN includes all administrative handling costs associated with the CLIN. The multiplier is to be applied against the actual cost of the item for which reimbursement has been authorized. The billable amount shall be limited to the actual cost of the item plus the amount resulting from the application of the appropriate multiplier identified in the table (e.g., actual cost of item is $100.00, and multiplier for the CLIN is 1.02, the total billable amount is $102.00).

For subcontracted items/services, the multiplier shall only be applied one time. For example, a subcontractor might be required to travel. It is not permissible for the subcontractor to apply a markup to the travel costs in billing the prime contractor, and then for the prime contractor to apply another markup when billing the Government. The multiplier may only be applied once and must be applied to the original cost of the item.

f) The appropriate fixed unit rates and the ODC multipliers shall apply for the duration of the contract period, except when the period of performance of a task crosses a contract year and the

Government has exercised its option to extend the overall contract. In these cases, the then current year contract rates/multipliers shall apply for the task order performance occurring during that contract year.

g) A task order may include any combination of unit pricing to appropriately reflect the requirements, conditions, and constraints.

B.3.2 Travel

a) As a general rule, local travel expenses will not be reimbursed under this contract. Examples of local travel that will not be subject to reimbursement are travel to and from normal job site and supervisory personnel traveling to a Government site or alternative facility to oversee operations.

Personnel temporarily working at a Government site or alternative facility will consider such facility his/her normal job site.

b) Reimbursement for actual (approved) travel costs incurred during the performance of support services shall be in accordance with Part 31 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). The FAR, Federal Travel Regulations (FTR) and current per diem rates can be accessed through the U.S. General Services Administration portal found at: www.gsa.gov.

c) All approved travel shall be directed by individual task/work order and shall be invoiced against only the specific task/work order directing said travel.

d) All reimbursable long-distance travel shall be approved in advance by the COR. Reimbursement for actual (approved) travel costs incurred during the performance of support services shall be in accordance with Part 31.205-46 of the FAR. Travel requirements under this contract shall be met using the most economical form of transportation available. If economy class transportation is not available, the Contractor must submit (to the COR) a request for advance approval to utilize higher-class travel. All travel should be scheduled sufficiently in advance to be able to take advantage of offered discount rates.

The Government encourages advance airfare purchases to take advantage of supersaver discounts. If the trip is canceled or travel dates are changed due to the Government’s action, the Government will, absent special circumstances, pay airline cancellation charges or airline charges for changes in the travel dates.

http://www.gsa.gov/

SECTION C - STATEMENT OF WORK

C.1 Introduction

a) The Department of Justice (DOJ) has a requirement for language services to support the Criminal Division. Other DOJ components may also use contracts awarded under this solicitation. Language services include translation, interpretation, transcription, source material review and summarization, and any other linguistic support activities in support of DOJ objectives and programs. Such activities may include the translation of all manner of documents (written and electronic) and video and/or audio media content (e.g., compact discs, .wav files), as well as ancillary services, such as court and deposition interpretation. Source material will contain legal, business, public administrative, medical, scientific, financial, historical, geographical, and military terminology, and concepts, including those dealing with technology as used in the sciences (chemical, physical, cyber). The specialized terminology used to express concepts in any of the given subject areas usually vary considerably from everyday usage in any of the target or source languages in question.

b) The Contractor must furnish all resources necessary for summarizing, translating, editing, and transcribing written, audio, or video material from foreign languages into grammatically correct English and from English into grammatically correct foreign languages on an as-needed basis as specified herein.

Additionally, the Contractor must provide any equipment necessary for simultaneous and/or conference interpreting, which may include portable transmitters and receivers, headsets, and booths. As the Contractor is considered an independent expert, the Contractor must provide certifications, admissible in court, as to truth and accuracy of the translation, and certify the accuracy of all products, unless otherwise stipulated in this contract. Attachment 2 is the certification format to be used. For translations into languages other than English, such as extraditions or other diplomatic correspondence, the Contractor shall provide this certification statement translated into the target language and include that as part of the total word count.

c) The material to be translated, transcribed, or interpreted is legal in nature. Materials may be provided to the Contractor in a variety of formats, including electronic or hard copies of books, journal articles, reports, manuscripts, letters, legal documents, memoranda, multi-media presentations, spreadsheets, email correspondence, SMS and MMS messages, and audio or video files. The substance of the materials may vary widely from highly complex, technical, and specialized information, to very informal, street language and textspeak. Examples of subject matter areas include: medical and autopsy reports; chemical lab reports; bank statements, cryptocurrency transaction tracking, and wire transfers;

charging documents, warrants, treaties, statutes, regulations, court decisions, executive decisions, extradition requests, and mutual legal assistance requests; informal communications using coded language, highly time-sensitive treaty or extradition matters, and law enforcement sensitive information.

d) All of the material made available to the Contractor will be considered “sensitive,” requiring that strict controls and confidentiality measures are in place at all times. All Contractor personnel are subject to the Security Requirements specified herein and must sign and abide by the Confidentiality Agreement contained in Attachment 3.

C.2 Background

a) The Department of Justice, Criminal Division, develops, enforces, and supervises the application of all Federal laws except those specifically assigned to other divisions. In addition to its direct litigation responsibilities, the Division formulates and implements criminal law enforcement policy and provides advice and assistance to Offices of United States Attorneys, other components of the Department of Justice, such as litigating divisions to include the Civil Rights Division, Civil Division, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Tax Division, Antitrust Division, and National Security Division; Federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration; and Departmental program and administrative components, such as the Office of Justice Programs, Office of Inspector General, and the Executive Secretariat of the Office of the Attorney General; as well as to state and local government agencies.

b) Any of these other components may require language services under the terms of this contract, which will be centrally administered by the Criminal Division, Office of Administration. For all DOJ components, Requests for Services will be approved by and invoiced to the Office of Administration, at the request of the initiating office and under the supervision of a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR). At the request of the Executive Officer, Criminal Division, for Sections or Offices with high-volume or specialized translations needs, the Contracting Officer may designate Ordering Officials to issue work orders to request and accept work for that Section or Office.

C.3 Scope of Contract

This contract is available for use by the Department of Justice on an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity task order basis to obtain language services as defined herein. Performance under this contract may be provided anywhere in the United States and its territories, to include virtually via web-based videoconferencing platforms. Depending on the nature of the assignment, work may be performed at the contractor site or at a site designated by the Government, which may include locations outside the United States.

C.4 Statement of Work

C.4.1 Program Management

a) The Contractor’s program management office shall be located within the Washington, D.C.

metropolitan area, including the necessary resources (management, technical, and financial) needed to support this contract.

b) The Contractor’s Program Manager shall be responsible for technical and administrative performance of all services required hereunder. The Program Manager shall be the single point of contact through which all Contractor/Government communications, work, and technical direction shall flow. The Program Manager shall receive and execute, on behalf of the Contractor, all orders for work and technical direction as the COR and authorized ordering officials may issue within the terms and conditions of the contract. All administrative support of Contractor technical personnel required to fulfill the tasks assigned under this contract shall be the responsibility of the Contractor.

c) The Contractor shall provide all management, administration, staffing, planning, scheduling, equipment, procuring, and storage necessary to provide the services required by the contract and/or task/work order. Program management support to be provided by the Contractor shall include the following items:

1) Supervision of its contract personnel and consistent and timely management of the services to be provided under this contract.

2) All activities associated with recruiting and hiring staff, such as screening applicants (to include security approval and clearance requirements), interviewing, reference checking, skill set testing.

3) Maintaining “in-house” skills, teaming and/or subcontract arrangements to ensure that personnel with the requisite experience, skills and knowledge are available on short notice and subject to legal deadlines.

4) Accepting, tracking, and managing all task orders and work orders issued.

5) Planning, scheduling, and procuring airfare, lodging accommodations, and ground transportation for all approved travel by Contractor personnel. Ensuring that invoiced travel costs are itemized in accordance with the Government travel regulations in effect at the time of travel.

6) Assembling billing data and billing back-up materials, including all time and materials needed for preparing any responses to Government billing rejection notifications. Generating, distributing, and tracking invoices, including generating reports and responding to inquiries regarding invoice status, tracking which deliverables and/or units have been invoiced and which have not.

7) Tracking and reporting on Government furnished materials. The Contractor is responsible for adequate care and safekeeping of all Government furnished materials, including inventorying, safeguarding, tracking, and reporting.

8) All activities associated with managing subcontractors/team members, such as identifying and qualifying them, negotiating subcontracts, reviewing invoices, ensuring compliance with the security and other requirements of this contract

9) Implementing and maintaining quality assurance and quality control systems to ensure that all contract and task/work order requirements are met throughout the term of the contract.

C.4.1.1 Personnel

C.4.1.1.1 Employee Qualifications and Conduct

a) Translator. The Contractor shall supply translators in the languages specified by the Government who possess a minimum of two (2) years of experience in translation. Qualifying scores (defined as Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale 3 minimum or equivalent) on language/translation tests administered by the FBI, other Government agencies, or qualified professional organizations will be considered in assessing qualifications.

A qualified translator must:

1) Know both English and foreign language vocabularies used in formal, legal, diplomatic, consultative, and casual modes of communication in various contexts, including colloquial slang, idiosyncratic slang, and regionalisms;

2) Know specialized vocabulary (and terminology) in both English and the foreign language related to the Government’s varied roles and missions, as well as possess research and analytical skills to make critical judgments regarding terminology, including expertise in the use of translation resources, monolingual reference materials, and online material;

3) Write in their native language fluently, but still have professional command of the non-native language;

4) Translate in a manner that is factually and conceptually accurate without changes, omissions, or additions;

5) Preserve the tone and register of source language materials; and

6) Abide by relevant code of linguist ethics (Attachment 4).

The Government reserves the right to examine at any time the qualifications of new translator(s) to assess their suitability and to review the qualifications of any translator(s) to be assigned work under this contract.

b) Reviewer/Editor/Certifier. The Contractor shall supply as many reviewers/editors/certifiers as needed to adequately address the workload. In addition to the qualifications listed in numerals 1-6 above for translators, the reviewers/editors/certifiers shall possess a broad academic background and/or experience. To meet the minimum standard, reviewers/editors/certifiers must have a minimum of five (5) years’ experience accumulated within the past ten years in languages required in the Statement of Work along with superior skills in English and editing. Qualifying scores (defined as ILR scale 4 minimum or equivalent) on language/translation tests, such as those administered by the FBI, other Government agencies, or qualified professional organizations will be considered in assessing qualifications. It must be noted that while individuals may serve in multiple roles under this contract, they cannot serve as reviewer/editor of their own translation work product. Since the Government does not have internal resources for every language required, reviewers/editors/certifiers play a critical role in ensuring all deliverables the Government receives are of highest quality. As such, the reviewers/editors/certifiers will be designated as key personnel in Section H of this contract. If the reviewers/editors/certifiers assigned hereunder must be replaced, any such substitution must meet or exceed the requirements set forth in this paragraph.

c) Interpreters. The Contractor shall supply interpreters with specialized training in the interpreting field and/or extensive experience in court or legal environments in the languages specified in Section C.4.2 within three (3) hours of request of the Government. It is critical that the interpreters be competent and qualified. To meet the minimum standard, interpreters must possess at least four (4) years of experience in language interpretation in the mode required by the assignment. Qualifying scores (defined as ILR scale 3 minimum or equivalent) on language/interpreting tests administered by the FBI, Department of State, other Government agencies, or qualified professional organizations will be considered in assessing qualifications.

A qualified interpreter must:

1) Know both English and foreign language vocabularies used in formal, legal, and diplomatic, consultative, and casual modes of communication in various contexts, including colloquial slang, idiosyncratic slang, and regionalisms;

2) Know specialized vocabulary (and terminology) in both English and the foreign language related to the Government’s varied roles and missions;

3) Speak in English and foreign language fluently, including regionalisms and colloquial slang without altering meaning;

4) Interpret in a manner that is factually and conceptually accurate without changes, omissions, or additions;

5) Preserve the tone and register of original oral statement; and

6) Abide by relevant code of linguist ethics (Attachment 4).

The Government reserves the right to examine the qualifications of new interpreters to assess their suitability and to review the qualification of any interpreter(s) to be assigned work under this contract at any time.

d) Transcribers. The Contractor shall supply transcribers in the languages specified by the Government who possess a minimum of three (3) years of experience in transcribing. Qualifying scores (defined as ILR scale 3 minimum or equivalent in listening, comprehension, and writing) on language/translation tests administered by the FBI, other Government agencies, or qualified professional organizations will be considered in assessing qualifications.

e) The Government reserves the right to require the Contractor to remove from performance on this contract any Contractor employee(s) who is deemed incompetent, careless, unsuitable, or otherwise objectionable, or whose continued use under the contract is deemed contrary to the best interests of the Government.

f) The Contractor shall remove any employee from performance of contract work within five (5) working days of receiving notice from the Contracting Officer that the employee’s performance is unsatisfactory. The Contractor shall immediately remove any Contractor employee found to represent a threat to the safety of government records, government employees, or other Contractor employees. In instances where the removal of an employee is for substandard performance or behavior negatively impacting delivery of services, the Contractor will be given an opportunity to address the situation prior to removing the employee.

C.4.1.1.2 Training of Contractor Staff

a) The Contractor shall be responsible for providing trained, experienced staff for performing the work ordered under this contract, and for continuously monitoring, managing, and controlling the work.

The Contractor shall make its best efforts to retain staff members who have gained experience on this contract, and to minimize staff turnover.

b) The Contractor shall ensure that personnel assigned work on this contract are knowledgeable of contract-specific issues such as confidentiality and DOJ security requirements. In addition, Contractor managers shall be educated in the terms and conditions of the contract. The CO and COR will meet with the contractor management personnel upon successful award to review these requirements and provide any necessary documentation.

C.4.1.1.3 Conflicts of Interest

a) The Contractor shall ensure, except as otherwise set forth in this contract, that individuals assigned work under this contract do not have any conflict of interest as defined in paragraph (b) below.

b) Any condition that interferes with the objectivity of the linguist constitutes a conflict of interest.

The linguist must disclose to the Contractor and the Government any prior involvement with Government cases or matters, whether personal or professional, that could be reasonably construed as a conflict of interest. This disclosure shall not include privileged or confidential information. The following circumstances are presumed to create actual or perceived conflicts of interest for the linguist, and therefore the Contractor and linguist must declare the conflict of interest before accepting a translation or interpretation assignment from the Government:

1) The linguist or Contractor is a friend, associate, or relative of a party or counsel for a party involved in the assigned Government case or matter;

2) The linguist or Contractor has served in an investigative capacity in the assigned Government case or matter, for any party involved in the case or matter;

3) The linguist or Contractor has previously been retained by a law enforcement agency to assist in the preparation of the Government case or matter at issue;

4) The linguist, linguist’s spouse or child, Contractor, or Contractor’s spouse or child has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding or any other interest from which the linguist or Contractor may benefit from, that would be affected by the outcome of the case;

c) Upon discovery of a conflict of interest, the Contractor and/or linguist shall a make an immediate and full disclosure in writing to the COR/ACOR/Ordering Official, which shall include a description of the action that the Contractor has taken or proposes to take to avoid, eliminate, or neutralize the conflict.

In such cases, the Government may reassign work order if it would be in the Government’s best interests.

C.4.1.2 Security Clearances

a) Each employee of the Contractor working under this contract must clear the security clearance requirements with a favorable outcome before beginning work under the contract (see Section H.7).

b) The Contractor is responsible for screening all prospective employees for suitability for work on this contract, including credit check screening.

c) The Contractor shall maintain an up-to-date database of all personnel that have been subject to the security clearance requirements of this contract. At a minimum, the database shall include the full name, position, location, language capabilities, skill set, date forms submitted to COR, date clearance granted/denied, and clearance type. All information in the database shall be made available to the COR or CO annually, or as updated by the Contractor.

C.4.1.3 Quality Control

a) The Contractor shall be solely responsible for the quality of services provided. The nature of the work to be performed under this contract demands accuracy, and therefore the Contractor is expected to thoroughly review all final deliverables for errors and/or omissions. The Contractor shall also be liable for Contractor employee negligence, and any fraud, waste, or abuse.

b) The Contractor shall perform quality control pursuant to the Quality Assurance Plan originally submitted in its pre-award proposal. The Contractor shall maintain and update its Quality Assurance Plan as necessary but at a minimum on an annual basis before the option period. However, any changes to the plan must be approved by the Government before being implemented.

c) For quality control purposes, the Government may verify the qualifications of any interpreter, translator, or transcriber.

d) In the event that the Contractor delivers translations or transcriptions, otherwise considered to be on-time, but found to contain errors and/or omissions, the Government will consider the translation or transcription to be a Late Delivery, and the penalties outlined in Section F.8.3 will begin to accrue. For products returned to the Contractor for corrections, daily penalties will accrue until the Contractor returns a clean deliverable, free of errors and/or omissions. If time constraints prevent the Government from returning the document to the Contractor for correction, the maximum penalty for Late Delivery will apply.

C.4.1.4 Performance Evaluation Meetings

a) Performance evaluation meetings shall be held quarterly during the contract performance period, or more frequently if agreed to by the COR and the Contractor. Performance evaluation meetings will initially be required on a daily basis, and then, upon determination by the COR and notice to the Contractor, on a weekly basis, during the transition period and initial implementation.

b) The Contractor shall be prepared to discuss contract performance at these performance evaluation meetings. These meetings shall be conducted as specified by the COR. Meetings will be held during hours that are mutually agreeable between the COR and the Contractor. At a minimum, attendees at these meetings shall include the Contractor’s Program Manager and the COR. A mutual effort will be made to resolve any problems which arise during the performance of the contract. Written minutes of these meetings shall be prepared by the Contractor for the COR’s approval.

C.4.1.5 Reports

a) The Contractor shall prepare and deliver a monthly report to the COR. The report is required by the Government to effectively manage this contract and may be modified by the Government for new or additional information. The Contractor shall submit the required report to the COR by the 10th of each month following the applicable reporting period. The Contractor shall deliver the reports to the COR via electronic messaging. Program format instructions will be provided by the COR after consultation with the Contractor. The Contractor shall design all required reports; however, the reports must be coherent and directly related to the Contractor’s approved invoice system and human resource management system. The Government will approve the Contractor’s proposed reporting format(s).

b) At a minimum, the report shall include the following information:

1) Task order number, date, and amount;

2) Work order number, date, amount, and status (for all work orders issued);

3) Discussion of problems encountered during reporting period. Describe the problem, action taken, status of problem, e.g., resolution, pending action by whom, possible solution;

4) Linguists pending DOJ security approval; and

5) Cumulative invoiced amounts to date by CLIN.

C.4.2 Language Requirements

a) The Contractor may be required to perform services from a variety of the foreign languages, as specified below, into English and from English into the foreign languages. The Contractor shall have proficiency to provide services into and out of the languages listed below, as well as review and editing functions for projects encompassing those languages.

b) The Contractor is responsible for recruiting sufficient qualified linguists able to obtain the required security approval to staff all categories of language services for the required languages listed below. Throughout the performance of the Contract, the Contractor and the Government will reassess the Contractor’s staffing levels as a minimum at quarterly performance meetings. The Government reserves the right to require the Contractor to recruit additional linguists in the required languages if it is determined that the current staffing levels are not responsive to the Government’s actual needs.

c) Required languages will be reviewed quarterly. If demand grows for a particular language, the

Department of Justice reserves the right to add the language to the required list. The vendor shall have three (3) months to recruit for the language skill set and submit an approval package to the COR.

d) The Government reserves the right to determine if all contract holders will be required to recruit for specific new language requirements.

C.4.2.1 Required Languages

(a) Translation and Source Material Review & Summarization Language Requirements:

Albanian Farsi Latvian Somali Amharic Finnish Lithuanian Spanish Arabic (MSA) French Macedonian Swahili Armenian Georgian Malay Swedish Azerbaijani German Mam Tagalog Belarusian Greek Moldovan Tamil Bengali Haitian-Creole Montenegrin Telugu Bosnian Hebrew Norwegian Thai Bulgarian Hindi Pashtu Tigrinya Catalan Hmong Polish Turkish Chinese-Simplified Hungarian Portuguese Ukrainian Chinese-Traditional Indonesian Punjabi Urdu Croatian Italian Quiché Vietnamese Czech Japanese Romanian Visayan Danish Jamaican Patois Russian Yiddish Dari Kinyarwanda Serbian

Dutch Korean Slovak Estonian Kurdish Slovenian

(b) Interpretation Language Requirements:

Arabic Haitian-Creole Quiché Armenian Hebrew Romanian Bosnian Hindi Russian Bulgarian Hmong Samoan Chinese-Mandarin Indonesian Somalian Chinese-Cantonese Italian Spanish Croatian Japanese Tagalog Dari Mam Thai Dutch Korean Turkish French Portuguese Ukrainian Georgian Pashtu Visayan German

(c) Transcription Language Requirements:

Amharic Hebrew Punjabi Arabic Hindi Russian Armenian Indonesian Spanish Bosnian Jamaican Patois Tagalog Chinese-Simp/Mandarin Japanese Tamil Chinese-Trad/Cantonese Korean Thai Croatian Pashtu Turkish French Portuguese Ukrainian Vietnamese Yiddish

C.2.4.2 Other Languages:

a) The Department of Justice reserves the right to request services for languages other than those shown above.

b) Requested languages that are not listed above as required shall be invoiced using an “Other

Languages” rate. The “Other Languages” rate shall be divided based on geography:

1) Other Languages – Western European Languages

2) Other Languages – Eastern European Languages

3) Other Languages - Middle Eastern and Central Asian Languages

4) Other Languages – East and South Asian Languages

5) Other Languages – African Languages and Less Common Dialects

c) The vendor shall verify with the Ordering Official at the time of acceptance which rate category shall apply for languages not specifically outlined above.

C.4.3 Source Material Review and Summarization

a) The Contractor shall perform source material review and summarization services, which consists of reading or reviewing documents, or viewing/listening to video/audio media for the purpose of:

1) Searching for specifically named information, i.e., places, dates, names;

2) Preparing and providing a written summary, outline, or abstract of the contents;

3) Clarifying the meaning of foreign language words, terms, and phrases;

4) Organizing a large volume of material into thematic concepts to filter out irrelevant and/or repetitive material; and/or

5) Providing a verbal summary or information regarding the contents of the documents/audio/video.

b) The Contractor shall perform review and summarization assignments at the Government work site during the specified dates and times if requested by the Government; or alternately at the Contractor work site, for delivery at the time and date specified by the Government in the formal request.

c) The Contractor shall supply linguists for this skill set in the languages specified in C.4.2.1(a).

d) The Contractor is not permitted to use machine translation for this service type. The review and summarization assignments must be completed by linguists.

C.4.4 Translation

a) The Contractor shall supply translators in the languages specified in C.4.2.1(a). The Contractor shall be capable in translating all manner of materials and possess extensive subject knowledge, in keeping with the broad range of subject matter cited in C.1(b). The Government reserves the right to examine the qualifications of translator(s) to assess their suitability. In addition, the Contractor must possess the capability and equipment to handle the challenges of defective or incomplete source materials and exceptionally high-quality product requirements, e.g., scanners, enlarging copiers.

b) To effect satisfactory preparation of a translation into or out of English, the Contractor shall provide the full, technically, and linguistically accurate rendition of the source(s) including annotations, table of contents, abstract, main text, references, tables, figures, charts, enlarged or reduced as necessary, for balanced, clear, and idiomatically correct exposition presented in a letter-perfect copy generated by an electronic processor. For projects for which the target language is English, the Contractor shall use only idiomatic American English with standard American spelling and internationally recognized abbreviations and symbols. With delivery, the Contractor shall provide the names of the translator and the reviewer/editor/certifier performing the work for the assignment/project with delivery.

c) Word counts shall be predicated on the source word count using software technology. Such software includes Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Excel. Word counts in the source document shall form the basis of invoicing, but the Government will not pay for repetitive/duplicative content (i.e., bank records where a template can be used). English word counts are to be used when a character-based language is either source or target (i.e., Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai). Translated word counts are to be used when a source document does not lend itself to automated word count technology (i.e., handwritten documents, documents that cannot be converted to text with optical character recognition (OCR).

d) Contractor shall use translation productivity tools that facilitate the efforts of linguists by building and using active databases for commonly used phrases (e.g., SDL Trados). The Contractor shall use these tools to save time, reduce costs, and increase consistency. These tools, however, shall never take the place of human translation/review since context is of upmost importance for accuracy. Further, Contractor shall ensure that using such a tool(s) is advantageous to the Government in terms of time, cost, and consistency. The Contractor shall turn over a copy of the developed language databases and electronic repositories to the Government at the end of the contract for future use.

e) If requested to do so by the Government, the Contractor shall testify in court as to the accuracy of translations.

C.4.5 Interpretation

a) The Contractor shall supply interpreters fluent in the languages specified in C.4.2.1(b). The Government may issue work orders to the Contractor for provision of interpreting services within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, or other domestic or international locations, in support of Department of Justice litigation or operations, or to assist foreign officials. The work order will specify the anticipated schedule and number of hours of the interpreting assignment (see C.4.5.c). The Government reserves the right to examine the qualifications of interpreter(s) to assess their suitability.

b) Interpreting is defined as the verbal rendering of speech from one language to another. The

Contractor shall be capable in performing simultaneous and consecutive as follows:

1) Simultaneous interpretation requires the interpreter to speak almost contemporaneously with the speaker whose words are being interpreted, without any pauses since both interpreter and speaker are talking at virtually the same time.

Simultaneous interpretation generally requires the use of special equipment.

2) Consecutive interpretation requires pauses on the part of both the interpreter and the speaker: the speaker will utter a sentence, phrase or thought, and then the interpreter will usually signal for the speaker to pause so that the interpreter can translate what has just been said. Interpretation requirements may be from the target language into English or from English into the target language.

c) The Government will only order half-day (4 hours) or full-day (8 hours) interpretation assignments (e.g., a 6-hour assignment will be ordered as a full-day and 3-hour assignment will be ordered as a half-day). Should the Government require assignments above a standard full day, the Contractor must bill for a full day, and only the additional hours beyond the full day (not a full day plus a half day). The billing structure shall, therefore, remain hour-for-hour, with the understanding that “half day” is 4 hours, “full day” is 8 hours, and beyond full day is 8 hours, plus the hours beyond 8.

d) In some instances, the Government may require short, consecutive interpretation by telephone, or virtual platforms such as Teams or WebEx. In these situations, the Contractor shall bill at an hourly rate;

there will be no half-day minimum. These short, consecutive interpretation requirements will not exceed two (2) hours. Should they exceed two (2) hours by more than fifteen (15) minutes, the contractor may bill the Government for the half-day minimum. Interpreters must ensure that they are in a quiet environment, and that no one who does not have security approval can see or overhear the telephone or virtual session.

e) The Contractor shall provide a minimum of two (2) interpreters for simultaneous assignments, except in cases of short assignments, and then only with the interpreter’s agreement to work alone .

f) The Contractor shall provide one (1) interpreter for consecutive assignments. The Government may require more than one (1) interpreter for consecutive assignments when the requirement is complex or too challenging for one (1) linguist.

g) When travel time for interpreters is authorized as a billable expense, it must be reduced by 50% of the established hourly rate for consecutive/simultaneous rate. See Section B.3.2 above for definitions of billable travel expenses.

C.4.6 Transcription

a) The Contractor shall perform verbatim transcription services in the languages specified in C.4.2.1(c), which consist of transcribing audio material into text. Such material may include recordings of interviews, phone calls, testimony in audio or video recording format. A verbatim transcription must include all elements of the recording (e.g., background noise, coughing, and sneezing). Transcription projects handled under this contract encompass only foreign language material. Projects that consist of only English to English transcription are not authorized. Work orders/ordering documents issued for transcription assignments may consist of more than one audio file for the project. Some projects may consist of several audio files with varying audio lengths.

b) The Contractor shall ensure that completed transcription projects are court-ready, i.e., captures every element of speech on the recording, including repetitions, false starts, syntactic and/or semantic errors in speech, background conversations and noise, overlapping and unintelligible speech, accompanied by a conceptually verbatim translation into English, and free of errors and/or omissions. The Contractor shall do its best to identify unintelligible [UI] audio before marking it as such in the completed transcription. The Contractor shall specifically outline in its Quality Control Plan (Section L) how it will review and ensure accuracy of completed transcription projects prior to their delivery.

c) The Contractor shall be familiar with the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters &

Translators General Guidelines and Minimum Requirements for Transcript Translation in Any Legal Setting (Attachment 5) as a framework for transcription services.

C.4.7 Projects Requiring Transcription and Translation

If a particular project requires both transcription and translation, the Contractor shall complete and invoice for the project under the specific CLINs for each language service. The transcription and translation shall be viewed and invoiced as separate language services; therefore, the invoice should reflect the hourly total for the transcription portion of the project, and the word count for the translation portion of the project.

C.4.8 Certification

C.4.8.1 Translation Certification Form

a) The Contractor shall certify each translation and return said certification (Attachment 2) with the completed translation. If the target language is other than English, the Contractor shall translate the certification form into the target language. The technical and linguistic accuracy of each translation is of paramount importance to the Government. The Contractor shall ensure that each translation is a complete, precise, idiomatically correct rendering from the source language into the target language and is reviewed and certified by the Contractor as a true and accurate translation of the document as admissible in court. The individual certifying the translation shall be a person other than the original translator and qualified in both the language being certified and English. The Contractor shall certify each document separately, as opposed to batch or group certifications, at the rates specified in Section B for translation.

The project will not be considered complete until the certification is received; therefore, if a certification is sent late, the vendor will be subject to the late penalty specified in Section F.8.3.

b) Periodically, the Government may waive or may not require the project to have a second linguist

(or reviewer) certify the translation. In these instances, the vendor shall reduce the cost of the project by the percentage specified in CLIN X-1703.

c) The Government may require that a previously translated document be re-examined by the

Contractor and re-certified. Such documents may include translations performed by another Contractor, translations performed at some time in the past for which certification was not finalized, or translations that are outdated for any of a variety of reasons. In such circumstances, the Contractor will be provided with the source language document and the translated version and asked to review and re-certify, as required.

d) On occasion, time constraints will dictate that the Government makes necessary corrections to a document (for example, if the Government is meeting a discovery deadline). Typically, these corrections will be made to minor errors, such as misspelled names. In these instances, the Government will provide the Contractor written notification of the error(s) and the corrective action taken by the Government. The Government will submit a request for Certification to the Contractor, accompanied by the final translation for review and certification.

e) If requested to do so by the Government, the Contractor shall testify in court as to the accuracy of translations (CLIN X-4003).

C.4.8.2 Interpretation Certification Form

The Contractor shall complete an Interpretation Certification Form for each Interpreter assignment. The certification shall outline the date the work was performed and the hours that services were provided. The certification form shall be signed after completion of the assignment by the requestor and/or a point of contact involved with the assignment. The signed certification, along with the work order for the assignment, shall be attached to the invoice submission to receive payment.

C.4.8.3 On-Site Work Certification Form

The Contractor shall provide an on-site work certification form for all work that is performed on-site and billed at the hourly rate (i.e., source material review and summarization). The Contractor shall complete this certification once the project has been completed. Like the Interpretation Certification, the form shall outline the date the work was performed and the hours that services were provided. The certification form shall be signed after completion of the assignment by the requestor and/or a point of contact involved with the assignment. The signed certification, along with the work order for the assignment, shall be attached to the invoice submission to receive payment.

C.4.8.4 Requesting Court Certified Interpreters

a) In some situations, the venue in which interpretation is to be conducted may require that the interpreter be certified. Certification refers not to security clearances or the Interpretation Certification Form, but to corroboration of interpreter competency by a governmental authority, in this case usually Federal or state courts. If certification is required for a specific venue, the Government will provide the Contractor with specific information about the venue in which the interpreter is to work. If certification is a requirement, the Contractor shall ensure that the interpreter is federally certified (for Spanish) or professionally qualified (other languages) for the specified purpose and venue. In addition to meeting certification or qualification requirements, the interpreter must meet the security requirements specified in the contract at H.6. If the interpreter has not previously met the security screening requirements under this contract, the Contractor must allow for additional time for completion of these requirements prior to assignment.

b) In accordance with the Court Interpreters Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1827, the Director of the

Administrative Office of the United States Courts prescribes the standards and guidelines for selecting and using interpreters in federal court proceedings.