NOAA | NMFS | Office of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce

Draft Performance Work Statement

Language Interpretation and Translation Services Five-year requirement (12-month base period plus four 12-month options)

In support of NOAA NMFS OIATC Draft date 31 March 2026

Performance start 1 June 2026 Document purpose Draft PWS for Sources Sought Notice

1. Objective The objective of this contract is to furnish accurate, timely, and secure language services that enable NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce (OIATC), to communicate effectively with foreign government counterparts and other international stakeholders regarding fisheries management, protected living marine resources, seafood inspections, foreign facility audits, and related international trade matters.

Services shall be performance-based and measured by the quality, completeness, timeliness, readiness, continuity, and confidentiality of the contractor’s outputs rather than by internal staffing methods alone.

2. Background OIATC has an ongoing need to translate documents to and from foreign languages and to interpret discussions during meetings with foreign nationals. Historical usage and current planning assumptions indicate that needs arise on an ad hoc basis, that meetings are generally pre-scheduled, that most interpretation support is remote and simultaneous, and that a rare in-person interpretation event in Alaska may occur approximately once every other year. Source materials may include editable Word or Excel files, PDFs, and occasional handwritten notes.

The subject matter of the requirement routinely includes legal, scientific, technical, inspection, and trade-related content. Representative materials include letters, agendas, presentations, government reports, harvest and landing records, shipment records, processing and storage records, and inspection or audit support materials.

3. Scope The contractor shall provide, on an as-needed basis, written translation, simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, related proofreading and editing, desktop publishing or formatting restoration, and the project management and quality control necessary to support those services. The contractor provided support services will be performed predominantly remote, with rare in-person support when ordered.

The contractor shall support English to and from the foreign language(s) identified in individual service requests.

Representative recurring languages are expected to include Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Russian, German, and Norwegian. This list is representative only and does not establish a guaranteed minimum quantity by language.

Workload is expected to vary. No minimum quantity is implied by this PWS. The contractor shall furnish all labor, supervision, management, internal quality controls, communications, and continuity necessary to meet the performance outcomes stated herein.

4. Definitions

Term Definition

Business day Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays, using Eastern Time unless otherwise stated in the request.

Critical error An error or omission that changes substantive meaning or legal/technical effect; misstates a number, date, unit, proper noun, speaker attribution, or instruction; omits material content; or otherwise creates a material risk of misunderstanding.

Minor error A non-substantive spelling, punctuation, grammar, or style issue that does not alter the intended meaning.

Routine request A request that is not designated by the Government as urgent or expedited.

Urgent request A request designated by the Government as requiring accelerated response or delivery, including short-turnaround translation or short-notice meeting support.

Source word count For editable files, the word count of the source document. For non-editable PDFs, images, or handwritten materials, the source count shall be based on a mutually understood estimate or another contractually established method before performance begins.

Interpretation assignment

A scheduled meeting or event for which the Government requests interpretation support.

Unless otherwise stated in the contract schedule, each assignment is ordered as one initial interpretation session unit plus any additional 15-minute increments specifically scheduled or ordered for the same assignment.

Initial interpretation session unit

The base interpretation unit for one scheduled assignment. The initial unit includes up to 30 minutes of active preparation/coordination with the Government team before the meeting to review agenda, acronyms, names, terminology, and roles, plus live interpretation for the scheduled meeting for up to 60 minutes. The preparation component is included in the unit price and is not separately billable.

Scheduled interpretation service price

The total price of the initial interpretation session unit plus any additional 15-minute increments specifically scheduled or ordered in advance for the same assignment, excluding travel.

5. Government-Furnished Information and Government Responsibilities

• The Government will submit service requests through the contracting officer’s representative (COR), technical point of contact (TPOC), or other authorized ordering official identified at award.

• Each request will, to the extent available, identify the service type, language pair, meeting date and time or document due date, requested deliverable format, and any priority designation.

• The Government will furnish source documents, meeting links, agendas, presentations, terminology references, prior translations, or other contextual materials when available and appropriate.

• The Government will review deliverables, identify acceptance issues, and provide clarifications when contractor questions are necessary to avoid material errors.

• The Government will not require the contractor to furnish interpretation equipment unless that requirement is expressly added elsewhere in the contract or in an authorized order.

6. Contractor Requirements

6.1 Program Management and Intake

• The contractor shall designate a program manager and an alternate who are authorized to receive requests, coordinate resources, resolve issues, and communicate with the Government during performance.

• The contractor shall acknowledge routine service requests within four (4) business hours and urgent requests within one (1) business hour.

• The contractor shall maintain a request log or equivalent tracker that assigns a unique identifier to each request and records the language pair, service type, date received, due date, date delivered or performed, quantity, and status.

• If a request is ambiguous, incomplete, or appears to contain unreadable or missing content, the contractor shall promptly seek clarification rather than make unsupported assumptions.

6.2 Written Translation Services

The contractor shall translate written materials to and from English and the ordered foreign language(s).

Translations shall be accurate, complete, readable, and appropriate to the intended audience and purpose.

• Representative materials may include short letters, agendas, talking points, technical memoranda, government reports, inspection or audit support records, harvest and landing records, shipment records, processing and storage records, presentations, and handwritten field notes or other partially non-editable materials.

• The contractor shall preserve substantive meaning, legal and technical terminology, proper nouns, dates, numbers, units of measure, and speaker or source attribution.

• The contractor shall preserve formatting, tables, footnotes, headings, and document structure to the maximum practicable extent when the Government requests a formatted deliverable and the source format reasonably allows it.

• For editable source files, the contractor shall return the translated product in an editable format when requested. For non-editable source materials, the contractor shall return a clean final product in the format specified in the request, typically Microsoft Word, Excel, or PDF.

• The contractor may use translation tools of its choosing; however, the contractor remains fully responsible for confidentiality, terminology control, and qualified human review, and shall not submit unreviewed machine output to the Government.

• Any contractor tool, platform, or artificial-intelligence-assisted process used in performance shall not retain, disclose, or use Government-furnished information for model training or for any purpose unrelated to contract performance unless expressly authorized in writing by the Contracting Officer.

• The contractor shall perform an internal quality-control review before submission that checks, at a minimum, completeness, terminology, grammar, names, dates, numbers, units, and formatting consistency.

• The contractor shall meet the due date specified in the request. When the Government identifies an urgent short-turnaround translation need, including shorter and less technical documents that may be needed within 24 hours, the contractor shall either accept the urgent request and meet the agreed turnaround or promptly decline so the Government can pursue another option.

• If the Government rejects a translated deliverable for quality reasons, the contractor shall correct and resubmit the deliverable at no additional cost within one (1) business day for minor corrections, or within another mutually agreed correction window for major rework.

6.3 Interpretation Services

The contractor shall provide simultaneous and consecutive interpretation services for scheduled meetings and events. Interpretation shall accurately and professionally convey the intended meaning between English and the ordered foreign language(s) in real time.

• Interpretation support is expected to be predominantly virtual and may occur through Government-approved platforms such as Webex, Zoom, Google Meet, or successor platforms identified by the Government. A rare in-person interpretation assignment in Alaska may be requested approximately once every other year.

• Most meetings are expected to require simultaneous interpretation; however, some meetings may require consecutive interpretation.

• Unless the contract schedule expressly states otherwise, the contractor shall provide two (2) interpreters for each interpretation assignment.

• For each interpretation assignment, the initial interpretation session unit shall include one active preparation segment of up to 30 minutes with the Government team to review agenda, acronyms, names, terminology, speaker roles, and other context necessary for performance. This preparation component is included in the initial session unit price and shall not be billed separately.

• The contractor shall ensure interpreters review meeting materials furnished in advance, when provided, and shall connect or arrive at least fifteen (15) minutes before the scheduled start time to complete coordination and connectivity checks.

• The contractor shall provide uninterrupted staffing for the scheduled meeting and shall immediately furnish an equally qualified replacement or contingency solution if an assigned interpreter becomes unavailable before or during performance.

• The contractor shall not record meetings, save audio, or distribute meeting content except when expressly authorized in writing by the Contracting Officer.

• The contractor is not required to provide interpretation equipment under this PWS unless the individual request specifically states otherwise. Any authorized travel for the rare in-person Alaska assignment shall be handled under the separate travel CLIN and shall not create a separate labor-hour billing basis.

• Because the requirement supports international engagements across multiple time zones, interpretation sessions may occur outside normal Eastern Time business hours when identified in the request.

6.4 Editing, Proofreading, and Desktop Publishing

When ordered by the Government, the contractor shall provide stand-alone proofreading, editing, and desktop publishing or formatting-restoration support associated with translated deliverables.

• Proofreading and editing shall improve readability, consistency, grammar, punctuation, and terminology while preserving the intended meaning of the original approved translation or source text.

• Desktop publishing or formatting restoration shall reproduce tables, page layout, numbering, headers and footers, charts, or similar structural elements to the maximum practicable extent in the requested output format.

6.5 Quality Management and Continuity

• The contractor shall maintain an internal quality-management approach sufficient to meet all standards in this PWS without requiring the Government to direct the contractor’s day-to-day methods.

• The contractor shall maintain terminology consistency across recurring work, including fisheries-management, seafood-inspection, audit, and trade-related terms, using a glossary, style sheet, translation memory, or another equivalent control method.

• The contractor shall monitor performance trends and, when recurring issues are identified, implement corrective action before the issue affects subsequent requests.

• The contractor shall maintain adequate surge and backup capability so that short absences, illness, or scheduling conflicts do not result in avoidable missed deadlines or unstaffed meetings.

6.6 Security, Confidentiality, and Data Handling

• The contractor shall protect all non-public Government information and any sensitive commercial or inspection-related information received under this contract from unauthorized use, access, disclosure, alteration, or loss.

• The contractor shall use secure transmission and storage practices appropriate to the sensitivity of the information provided and shall limit access to personnel with a need to know for contract performance.

• The contractor shall not disclose, publish, or use Government information for any purpose other than performance of this contract.

• Any actual or suspected unauthorized disclosure, loss, compromise, or misdelivery of Government information shall be reported to the contracting officer and COR within one (1) hour of discovery, followed by a written incident summary within one (1) business day.

• Unless the Government directs otherwise, the contractor shall return or destroy Government-furnished information remaining in the contractor’s possession at contract completion or transition and shall provide a written certification of disposition upon request.

6.7 Transition-In and Transition-Out

• Within ten (10) business days after award, the contractor shall submit a concise transition-in plan describing points of contact, intake procedures, proposed communication channels, and continuity arrangements.

• The contractor shall cooperate with the Government and any successor contractor during transition-out to avoid disruption of ongoing language support.

• Transition-out support shall include, at a minimum, the status of open requests, any Government-approved terminology resources developed during performance, and orderly disposition of Government-furnished information.

6.8 Cancellation and Rescheduling of Interpretation Assignments

(a) This subsection applies to scheduled interpretation assignments. Written translation requests may be cancelled at no charge before work begins. If a written translation request is cancelled after work begins, the Government shall pay only for accepted work performed through the time of cancellation.

(b) If the Government cancels or reschedules an interpretation assignment more than 96 hours before the scheduled start time, no cancellation fee will be due.

(c) If the Government cancels an interpretation assignment between 96 hours and 48 hours before the scheduled start time, the Government shall pay 50 percent of the scheduled interpretation service price for the assignment, excluding travel.

(d) If the Government cancels an interpretation assignment between 48 hours and 24 hours before the scheduled start time, the Government shall pay 75 percent of the scheduled interpretation service price for the assignment, excluding travel.

(e) If the Government cancels an interpretation assignment less than 24 hours before the scheduled start time, or if the Government fails to appear for the scheduled assignment, the Government shall pay 100 percent of the scheduled interpretation service price for the assignment, excluding travel.

(f) For purposes of this subsection, scheduled interpretation service price means the price of the initial interpretation session unit plus only those additional 15-minute increments that were specifically scheduled or ordered in advance for the assignment. Unscheduled overrun time that was not ordered in advance is not subject to a cancellation fee.

(g) In addition to any applicable cancellation fee, the Government shall reimburse only those travel costs that were specifically authorized in advance under the travel CLIN, were actually incurred, are non-refundable or otherwise not recoverable, and are allowable under the FTR and contract terms. The Contractor shall make reasonable efforts to obtain refundable reservations when practicable and shall promptly seek available refunds, credits, and cancellations to reduce costs to the Government.

(h) No cancellation fee or travel reimbursement shall be due when the failure to perform results solely from the Contractor’s fault, including failure to timely staff the assignment with qualified personnel.

(i) Neither party shall be liable for a cancellation fee when delay or nonperformance is caused by an occurrence beyond the reasonable control of the affected party and without its fault or negligence, such as acts of God, fire, severe weather, labor disputes, governmental order, or other comparable causes. However, the Government may reimburse preauthorized, actual, non-refundable travel costs to the extent allowable under the travel CLIN and the FTR, less any refunds or credits received.

7. Place and Hours of Performance Performance is expected to occur primarily at contractor facilities or other contractor-controlled remote work locations suitable for safeguarding Government information and meeting the contract requirements. All written translation services and the vast majority of interpretation services are expected to be performed remotely.

A rare in-person interpretation assignment in Alaska may be required approximately once every other year. The Government is not requiring the contractor to source local interpreters as a condition of performance; however, the contractor remains responsible for providing qualified personnel and uninterrupted performance in accordance with the contract requirements.

Any travel in support of an in-person assignment must be specifically authorized in advance and in writing by the Contracting Officer and shall be reimbursed only under the separate travel CLIN for actual, allowable travel costs incurred in direct support of the authorized assignment, in accordance with the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) and the contract terms. Travel time, local commuting costs, and any travel costs not specifically authorized are not separately reimbursable.

The contractor shall be available to coordinate requests during normal Federal business hours in Eastern Time.

Actual service performance, especially interpretation support, may occur outside those hours when required to support foreign counterparts in other time zones.

8. Deliverables and Reporting The deliverables below describe the minimum recurring outputs under this PWS. Section F of the solicitation or contract should mirror these deliverables in the final schedule of deliverables.

ID Deliverable Content Due date Recipient Format

D-1 Transition-in plan Program manager and alternate contacts;

intake process; continuity approach;

communication protocol

Within 10 business days after award COR / CO Word or PDF

D-2 Monthly service summary

Request log summary for the prior month, including request ID, service type, language pair, date received, due date, date delivered or performed, quantity, and any quality or corrective-action issues

No later than the 10th business day of the following month, only for months in which services were performed or when requested by the COR

COR; CO upon request

Excel, Word, or PDF

D-3 Written translation deliverable

Completed translation in the requested format, including any required formatting restoration

By the due date identified in the request COR / TPOC

Word, Excel, PDF, or other approved format

D-4 Corrected written translation

Revised translation responding to Government-identified deficiencies

Within 1 business day for minor corrections, or within another mutually agreed correction window for major rework

COR / TPOC

Same as requested output format

ID Deliverable Content Due date Recipient Format

D-5 Interpretation support

Live remote or in-person interpretation services for the scheduled meeting or event, including the active preparation segment, when requested, and pre-session readiness/connectivity checks

Preparation segment, if requested, before the meeting; interpreters ready at least 15 minutes before start; live support at the scheduled meeting time

COR / TPOC

Live remote or in-person support

D-6 Invoice support log

Line-item backup identifying request ID, service type, language pair, service date, quantity, unit, billed amount, and, when applicable, separately identified cancellation charges and preauthorized travel costs

With each invoice COR and payment office as directed

Excel or PDF

D-7 Transition-out package / disposition summary

Status of open items, transition notes, Government terminology resources developed during performance, and data-disposition certification if requested

Not later than 15 calendar days after contract expiration, exercise of 52.217-8 services, or earlier CO direction

COR / CO Word or PDF

9. Inspection, Acceptance, and Correction of Services The Government may inspect translated deliverables, observe interpreted sessions, review reports, and examine invoice support to determine whether the contractor has met the requirements of this PWS.

Services are acceptable when they satisfy the standards in this PWS and the Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) in Section 11. The Government may reject any deliverable or service occurrence that contains a critical error, is incomplete, is late without an excused cause, is improperly staffed, or otherwise fails to satisfy a stated requirement.

Rejected work shall be corrected or reperformed at no additional cost to the Government. Repeated failure may result in a required corrective action plan, rejection or nonpayment of affected services pending correction and acceptance, negative past-performance documentation, or any other contractual remedy otherwise available to the Government.

10. Period of Performance One-year base period beginning in June 2026, followed by four 12-month option periods, for a total potential ordering and performance term of five years.

Period Start date End date

Base period 1 June 2026 31 May 2027

Option period 1 1 June 2027 31 May 2028

Option period 2 1 June 2028 31 May 2029

Option period 3 1 June 2029 31 May 2030

Option period 4 1 June 2030 31 May 2031

11. Performance Requirements Summary (PRS) The PRS below is intended to support the Government’s Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan (QASP). Metrics apply only to months or periods in which the associated service was performed. When the volume of work in a given month is too low to yield a meaningful percentage, the Government may measure the standard over a rolling 90-day period.

Ref. Performance objective Performance standard AQL Surveillance Government action / remedy

6.1 Request intake and

acknowledgment

Routine requests acknowledged within 4 business hours; urgent requests acknowledged within 1 hour. Delivery commitment or status provided within 1 business day for routine requests and within 2 hours for urgent requests.

95% Request log review; COR sampling

Require corrective action plan (CAP) if the AQL is missed twice in a rolling 90-day period.

6.2 On-time written translation

delivery

Written translation deliverables submitted by the due date identified in the request or another due date mutually agreed in writing.

95% Request log review;

deliverable date comparison

Late deliverables may be documented as performance defects; repeated failures may trigger CAP.

6.2 Written translation quality

and completeness

No critical errors. At least 95% of deliverables accepted on first review without substantive rework. Minor corrections, if any, resolved within 1 business day of notice.

No critical errors; 95% first-pass acceptance

COR review;

customer feedback; spot checks

Rejected deliverables shall be corrected at no additional cost; repeated failure may result in CAP or rejection/nonpayment pending correction.

6.3 Interpretation readiness

and staffing

Required interpreters are assigned and connected at least 15 minutes before start time;

no avoidable unstaffed meetings.

95% readiness;

100% no avoidable unstaffed meetings

Meeting observation;

attendance log;

COR confirmation

Immediate service recovery or qualified replacement;

repeated failure may trigger

CAP.

6.3 Interpretation quality and

continuity

Interpreted sessions are completed without substantiated critical errors, material omissions, or avoidable service disruption attributable to contractor performance.

95% COR or attendee feedback; meeting observation

Service issue documented;

contractor shall explain cause and corrective action upon request.

6.6 Security and confidentiality

No unauthorized disclosure, recording, or misuse of Government information. Any actual or suspected compromise reported within 1 hour and followed by written summary within 1 business day.

100% Incident review;

COR/CO

monitoring

Immediate mitigation;

potential removal of personnel and other contractual remedies as appropriate.

8 Reports and invoice support

Monthly report submitted on time when required. Invoice support is complete, traceable to request IDs, and mathematically accurate.

98% Report and invoice review

Return for correction;

repeated issues may trigger

CAP.