Attachment 2 PWS Transcription Service IDIQ.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice

Performance Work Statement for Transcription Services for DOJ IDIQ

RFP NO. 15JPSS25R00000088

Attachment 2 August 13, 2025

Performance Work Statement Transcription Services for DOJ/EOIR

1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this Performance Work Statement (PWS) is to establish the necessary transcription services including court reporting required by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review.

1.1 Background

The Department of Justice (DOJ)’s mission is to uphold the rule of law, keep our country safe, and protect civil rights. The Justice Department is composed of more than 40 separate component organizations —including all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ offices, our law enforcement agencies, grantmaking components and litigating divisions.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) was established in January 1983 and includes the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The BIA has the authority to review appeals of decisions made in individual cases by Immigration Judges, District Directors, or other immigration officials. The Immigration Judges are part of the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge (OCIJ) at EOIR. OCIJ has 68 immigration courts and more than 600 immigration judges throughout the United States. The immigration courts vary in size; there can be one to approximately 30 immigration judges per court. Immigration Judges are responsible for conducting formal court proceedings, and act independently in their decision-making capacity;

their decisions are administratively final, unless appealed or certified to the BIA. EOIR is currently transitioning from paper to electronic documents. BIA submits requests for transcription of proceedings, where appropriate, after receiving a properly filed appeal from a decision of an immigration judge or a District Director.

The Contractor shall have the capability to process all transcription requests electronically.

A. For transcription purposes, EOIR is currently utilizing a combination of manual and electronic processes:

1. For cases that had hearings before the complete transition to EOIR Digital Audio Recording (DAR) and in other rare circumstances where the hearings are done on variable speed cassette tapes, the tapes used must be picked up at the Government site.

2. Even if a case has tapes associated with it, the EOIR DAR and work packages are sent electronically.

Currently, regardless of the delivery mechanism for the medium (e.g., tapes or EOIR DAR) that contains the hearings, transcripts are expected to be returned electronically, and the paper copies are hand-delivered (i.e., delivered by contractor personnel rather than a courier or postman) to the Government site. However, it is the intention of the Government to explore opportunities to implement a fully electronic process (except for rare circumstances), thus eliminating the need for paper for most work.

As EOIR is transitioning from paper to electronic documents and hearings are occasionally still recorded on tape, the Contractor is expected to perform both processes as needed, or a combination thereof. However, as EOIR moves toward a fully electronic process, the Contractor shall have the capability to process all transcription requests electronically. This includes the receipt of EOIR DAR and work packages and the electronic delivery of transcripts and invoices.

2.0 Scope of contract.

The scope of this contract, on an as-needed basis, provides transcription services to support DOJ and DOJ’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

The Contractor shall furnish all resources (labor, equipment, supplies, software, materials) necessary to deliver typed transcripts of Government-owned recordings of proceedings and or immigration hearings on an as-ordered basis in 1) hard copy; 2) electronic format; or 3) both hard copy and electronic format. The contractor shall be responsible for obtaining all necessary licenses, permits and fees, and conformance with all laws, regulations, and ordinances applicable to performance under this contract. Depending on the nature of the assignment, work may be performed at the Contractor site or at a site designated by the Government.

3.0 Objectives.

The objective of this indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) task-order type contract is to provide the necessary transcription services required by DOJ to support its programmatic requirements.

EOIR’s objective is to timely transcribe the immigration proceedings, as needed. Most of the transcript requests will be for appealed immigration proceedings. As the Agency moves toward a digital process and utilizing digital records, the contractor’s performance will require access to EOIR’s Transcription application which uses a secure DOJ server using a DOJ/EOIR server, see section 4.3 of this document.

4.0 Description of Services.

All work to be performed under this contract will be specified in individual task orders issued under the contract and may fall under the following tasks.

DOJ Office(s) may require courtroom reporting, transcription from recordings, including but not limited to court certified transcription of audio recordings and witness interviews in a close hold situation or that may involve, sensitive matters on an "as needed" basis. Transcripts of proceedings conducted may be requested from time-to-time by the parties in the proceedings.

General Tasks:

Task 4.1 Program Management Task 4.2 General Requirements Task 4.3 Original Transcripts Task 4.3 On-Site Transcription Task 4.4 Transcription Format Task 4.5 Accuracy of Transcripts Task 4.6 Management of Transcripts and Media Task 4.7 Transcription Requests Task 4.8 Transcription Requests Workload

4.1 Program Management

The Contractor shall provide all management, administration, staffing, planning, scheduling, equipment, procurement, storage, etc., necessary to provide the services required by the contract and/or task order (TO). The Contractor is solely responsible for managing all the work performed under this contract and supervising all contracted employees. All the management and administration requirements described in this section shall be provided within the unit prices contained in Attachment 1 and are not separately billable under the contract or any task order.

The Contractor’s Program Manager shall be responsible for technical and administrative performance of all services required hereunder. The Contractor’s 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.

4.1.A Program Manager: Duties, Responsibilities, and Qualification Requirements A Program Manager (PM) shall be provided by the Contractor at no additional cost. Duties, experience, and responsibilities shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

A. Supervision of its contractor personnel and consistent and timely management of the support services to be provided under this contract.

B. All activities associated with recruiting and hiring staff, such as advertising, screening applicants (to include security clearance requirements), interviewing, reference checking, etc.

C. Maintaining “in-house” skills, teaming and/or subcontract arrangements to ensure that staff members with the requisite experience, skills and knowledge including training on privacy and confidentiality requirements are available on short notice.

D. Providing and supervising sufficient numbers of effective transcribers.

E. Assembling billing data and billing support (Justification) materials, including all time and materials needed for preparing any responses to Government billing rejection letters. 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, etc.

F. Tracking and reporting on Government furnished media. The Contractor is responsible for adequate care and safekeeping of all Government furnished materials, including inventorying, tracking, and reporting, including submitting breach notifications and ensuring compliance with DOJ breach notification requirements, etc. The Contractor shall reimburse the Government for any Government furnished materials lost or stolen while in the Contractor's safekeeping.

G. All activities associated with managing subcontractors, such as identifying and qualifying them, negotiating subcontracts, reviewing invoices, ensuring compliance with the confidentiality, privacy and security and other requirements of this contract, etc.

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

4.1.1 Personnel: 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/safeguarding the work.

The Contractor shall ensure that each transcriber is proficient in grammar, vocabulary, and punctuation, and is familiar with legal terminology, legal citation, and have completed annual privacy training. The Contractor shall make its best efforts to retain staff members who have gained experience on this contract, and to minimize staff turnover. Some contractors’ employees assigned to perform work under this contract will have access to DOJ facilities and IT systems. The contractor must be a United States citizens and have completed required annual DOJ privacy and security training and agree to the DOJ Rules of Behavior form.

A. The Contractor shall ensure that individuals assigned work under this contract are knowledgeable of contract-specific issues such as confidentiality, privacy, 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.

B. The Government reserves the right to require the Contractor to reassign from 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.

C. The Contractor shall remove any employee from performance of contract work within five working days of receiving written notice from the CO 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.

4.1.2 Staffing Qualifications:

The following minimum requirements apply to transcribers providing services under this order:

A. Certified by the American Association of Electronic Reporters and Transcribers

(AAERT); or a minimum of one year of experience transcribing, often without log notes, digital audio recordings of multi-channel courtroom or other fast-paced and sometimes lengthy legal proceedings involving multiple parties.

B. Knowledge of and experience with using transcription equipment and software to facilitate the transcription of digital audio recordings in which more than one speaker is speaking at once.

C. Strong customer service skills.

D. Attention to detail, the demonstrated ability to balance multiple priorities, adhere to detailed policies and procedures, meet strict deadlines, and maintain organized billing and other records.

4.1.3 Security Clearances: Each employee of the Contractor working under this contract is subject to the security clearance requirements as set forth in the Security Personnel Clauses contained in the IDIQ Contract. Prior to assigning an employee to the contract, the Contractor must submit for that employee the completed trainings and forms as specified in PWS Section 4.1.1, above, and all DOJ Personnel Security Requirements for Contractor Employees. All contractors performing on this contract are required to obtain and maintain security clearance at the Public Trust level.

A. The Contractor is responsible for screening all prospective employees for suitability for work on this contract as delineated in the Contractor's proposal. Guidelines for this screening function are also provided in PWS Section 4.1.1, above.

B. The Contractor shall maintain a 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, 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 upon request.

C. Materials must be stored in a locked room and/or container to protect Personal

Identifiable Information.

D. Materials must be transmitted by cleared courier or approved electronic means.

4.1.4 Quality Control

The Contractor shall be solely responsible for the quality of services provided. The Contractor shall also be liable for Contractor employee negligence, and any fraud, waste, or abuse.

A. The Contractor shall utilize a Quality Control (QC) System to ensure that services are completed in accordance with acceptable principles of internal control, and meet specified, acceptable levels of quality. The operation of the Quality Control Program shall be described in a written Quality Control Plan (QCP), maintained, and made available to the COR. The Contractor shall maintain this plan, revise it as necessary throughout the life of the contract, and provide updated copies to the COR as necessary.

The QCP and process must ensure deliverables produced are of acceptable quality to EOIR for its mission functions and related administrative operations. A quality transcript is a verbatim transcript of recorded hearings with the lowest rate of error that can be reasonably achieved and conforms to the requirements and objectives identified throughout this Statement of Objectives. EOIR uses transcripts for a variety of reasons, and QCP and processes may vary to a reasonable degree in accordance with the agency’s particular uses for the transcript.

1. If services are performed by the contractor but the services do not conform to the quality contract requirements established, the contract price for services performed shall be reduced as specified in the BPA. Payment deductions will be taken as specified in the resultant contract.

2. Types of errors consist of but are not limited to late deliveries, inaccurate materials, and lost/damaged media.

4.1.5 Post Award Task Order Meetings / Conferences. Technical meetings and/or post award orientation conferences may be necessary to resolve problems and to facilitate understanding of the requirements of the Contract and/or of each awarded task order (TO).

Records of these meetings/conferences shall be made by the Contractor and submitted to the Government within five business days after conclusion of the meetings/conferences.

4.1.6 Periodic Government Inspections and Quality Control. As applicable to each transcription TO, the Government has the authority to perform inspections and reviews to assure compliance and adherence to DOJ and Federal policy, standards, guidelines, and established Industry best practices throughout the TO performance period. The Contractor shall be responsible for taking corrective action based upon the impact and severity of identified risks and weaknesses.

4.2 General Requirements

A. EOIR only The Contractor shall furnish typed transcripts of Government-owned and furnished recordings of immigration hearings. The hearings are primarily recorded on Government digital audio recording system and, when necessary, on cassette tapes using analog recording equipment. The Contractor shall provide, on an as-ordered basis, the transcription of immigration hearings and oral decisions or other recordings in hard copy and/or electronic format.

The Contractor shall deliver the electronic deliverables to the Government by any one of the following means, as designated by the COR:

• Secure Shell (SSH) File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

• Server an electronic Portal or Gateway (e.g., via the Internet) or

• on electronic media (e.g., a CD, thumb drive, etc.)

1. To participate in the EOIR eTranscription program and utilize the application, there are technical requirements for the vendor to fulfill. This section discusses the basic requirements the vendor must adhere to.

2. Some of the language spoken in the hearing may be in a foreign language. There will be an interpreter present in the courtroom to interpret the foreign language into English.

The Contractor is responsible for transcribing the English language portions of the hearings only. The Contractor shall transcribe verbatim everything that is spoken in English during the hearing unless the Immigration Judge or Appellate Immigration Judges direct otherwise. On occasion, the Immigration Judge may state the wrong hearing date; the contractor shall type the hearing date as reflected on the case summary sheet if provided.

3. The Contractor shall provide sufficient equipment and personnel to perform required services in the time frame specified in the contract. The Contractor shall type, edit, and correct all transcriptions in accordance with the directions specified in Section 4.2. In safekeeping material to be transcribed as well as material that has already been transcribed, the Contractor shall perform the following:

a. The Contractor shall ensure that personnel password protect files and software used to produce transcriptions, so that they cannot be accessed by unauthorized individuals.

b. The Contractor shall provide total redundancy for its word processing/computer system to ensure no loss of data. Contractor word processing/computer systems shall not be used to access the Internet during the performance of services under this contract unless specifically required by the Government for that performance.

c. The Contractor shall archive all transcripts on removable media (e.g., removable hard drives, diskettes, compact discs, thumb drives, etc.) for a period of five years after the hearing has been transcribed. The Contractor shall label the removable media with the appropriate data sensitivity level.

d. At the end of the five-year period, the Contractor shall either destroy, degauss the data on the removable media or preserve and deliver the removable media to the Government in boxes grouped by year, at the Government's option and in accordance with the COR’s instructions.

4. Transcribers shall not perform a final proofread or edit of their own work. The

Contractor shall use one transcriber per case; the transcriber shall use one proofreader per case. For unusual situations, such as an extremely long transcript with an expedited (less than 20-day) delivery schedule, the Contractor shall obtain prior written permission from the COR to use more than one transcriber on a case.

5. The Contractor shall possess and use in the performance of this contract the following equipment:

a. For analog tapes a SONY 147-BEC/T 4-channel transcriber, or equivalent, to interface with the EOIR’s BM-146/246 Sony court confer orders (4 track, 4 channel 250-7000 Hz for 4.8 cm/sec). To be considered equivalent, the Contractor’s transcribing equipment shall include, at a minimum, the following features, without modification to the original manufacturer’s specifications: Transcribing tape speeds of 1.2, 2.4, or 4.8 cm/sec. Tone and volume control in the play back mode Channel select buttons: ALL, CH-1, CH-2, CH-3, CH-4 – Capability of play back of any mix of channels 1-4 Play back level indicators for channels 1-4 that energize in response to level of signals recorded on tape speed control slide to adjust the play back speed capable of functioning ONLY when a variable speech control switch is set to ON. Channel select switch capable of selecting channels to be played back or selecting a channel which is assigned to a particular person’s voice time control switch, enabling repetition of a few words of dictated material variable speech control switch, allowing play back of recorded tape at faster than normal speed without distorting the voice (i.e., increase to 80% faster than normal speed or decrease to 20% slower speed) and Does NOT have “Record” or “Erase” capability.

b. Tapes shall be returned to Government simultaneously with the transcript.

c. For Digital Audio Recordings (DAR), a personal computer (PC) capable of interfacing with DAR via the RCplayer© software (or equivalent software authorized by the Government).

To process DAR, the Contractor must be able to use Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) software for accessing DAR, have the capability to read DAR on compact disc and have access to a USB foot pedal.

6. The Contractor shall ensure that each transcriber uses a spell check verification word processing software package on every transcript. The transcribed data shall exactly match the official transcript, with page and line numbers in proper sequence, page by page, and line by line.

7. The Contractor shall proofread 100% of each transcript prior to delivery.

"Proofreading" is defined as sight reading of the entire transcript for errors or omissions. If the transcript contains errors, the Contractor (Proofreader) shall then audit 100% of the transcript to ensure accuracy. "Auditing" is defined as reading the transcript, line-by-line, while listening to the recording. All new transcribers will have their transcripts audited, until consistent quality is assured. Failure to follow these or like procedures could result in erroneous transcripts which the Government reserves the right to return to the Contractor for retyping, at no expense to the Government.

8. All costs associated with pick-up, and delivery shall be the responsibility of the

Contractor. The Contractor shall ensure that both the Program Manager and proofreaders are at the contractor site during the hours of operation specified in PWS Section 4.8 below to make administrative decisions and transcript corrections whenever necessary, and that a "dedicated telephone line" is available to Government during these core hours.

9. Transcripts shall not be sold to anyone other entity or person than the Government under any circumstance.

B. DOJ Component Activity The contractor shall provide English to English transcription services from a variety of electronic formats into text for trial.

The Contractor shall:

1. Perform verbatim English to English transcription 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). 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.

2. 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.

3. Ensure transcripts are accurate and articulate for the case team to review.

4. Provide edits and adjustments if the POC finds inconsistencies with the final product.

5. The DOJ may require work to be performed overtime, on weekends, evenings, and/or holidays if the matter is urgent.

6. Each DOJ office may require header accounting line to reflect the needed funding for each section. The section technical point of contact will communicate their transcription needs to the vendor as they arise. Section POCs will work with Attorneys for quality control purposes. If a section finds a major problem with the transcribed materials, they will be sent back to the vendor for revision.

4.3 Original Transcripts - Unless otherwise stated, the Contractor shall ensure all transcripts are delivered within the turnaround times as set forth below. Colloquy will not be transcribed unless requested by the DOJ.

Transcription of Recordings: Turn-Around Time (TAT) Definitions

A. Routine Category: 20 Business Day Transcripts: Transcripts shall be completed and delivered on or before the 20th business day after the Contractor receives a request from the

DOJ.

B. Priority Category I: 10 Business Day Transcripts: Transcripts shall be completed and delivered on or before the 10th business day after the Contractor receives a request from the DOJ. This request will sometimes be made the same day as the proceedings.

C. Priority Category II: 5 Business Day Transcripts: Transcripts shall be completed and delivered on or before the 5th business day after the Contractor receives a request from DOJ.

This request will sometimes be made the same day as the proceedings.

D. Premium Category: 1 Business Day Transcripts: Transcripts shall be completed and delivered on or before the next business day after the Contractor receives a request from DOJ. This request will sometimes be made the same day as the proceedings.

E. Rush Category (Court Reporting Only): Next-Business Day Transcripts: Transcripts shall be delivered before 9:30 am on the following business day after conclusion of each day's proceedings. This may require performance after normal business hours. The Contractor may not be notified in advance of the testimony of this requirement.

F. Same-Business Day Transcripts (Court Reporting Only): Transcripts shall be delivered by 9:00 pm on the same day as the proceedings. The Contractor may not be notified in advance of the testimony of this requirement.

G. Condensed Transcripts: All condensed transcripts shall include four original transcript pages in reduced format on a single 8 ½ x 11inch page. All condensed transcripts shall be completed and delivered to the DOJ, as ordered, within the same turnaround times as set forth for delivery of an original transcript.

H. Key Word Indexing: The keyword index gives an alphabetical listing of each word within the transcript and provides a page and line reference.

I. Additional Copies of Transcripts: Even though the Government has the right to copy and distribute transcripts acquired under this contract, the Government may order additional copies of any transcript. Additional copies of transcripts shall be provided to DOJ, as ordered, within the same turnaround times as set forth above.

J. Other Transcription Requirements:

1. A transcript of all witness testimony shall be produced only when the DOJ makes a specific request that a transcript be produced. Some witness testimony may never be transcribed. Colloquy will not be transcribed unless the DOJ requests it.

2. Each witness' testimony shall be in a separate transcript.

3. If the DOJ does not request that a transcript be produced, charging for estimated pages shall NOT be allowed. Only the Appearance fee will be paid.

Transcripts may not be sold to anyone other than the Government under any circumstances. All DOJ transcripts will remain the property of the Government.

K. Appearance Fee (Court Reporting Only): The Contractor is entitled to an Appearance Fee as set forth in the Price List of this Contract. The fee is payable for each hour the Contractor's court reporter appears at a scheduled proceeding. The minimum charge for any single day is three hours. Attendance fees will be paid for each hour the Contractor's reporter appears for a scheduled proceeding.

Proceedings are presently scheduled for 9:00am to 12:00pm and 1:00pm to 5:00pm with a one hour lunch break in between. The Contractor is not paid during this lunch break. These hours are subject to change. The Contractor will generally be asked to report at 9:00am and be dismissed at 5:00pm. A shorter day may be scheduled.

The Government guarantees payment of a minimum of three hours. If there are time periods during the day during which no testimony is taken, and the reporter is required to remain available for testimony later in the day, the Contractor will be paid the hourly Appearance Fee during those time periods. If a reporter's presence is required for a whole day and no testimony is recorded, the Contractor will be paid one cancellation fee or be paid the number of hours the reporter was available (charged at the Appearance Fee hourly rate), whichever is higher.

L. Cancellation Fee-DOJ (Court Reporting Only): The Contractor may wish to charge a cancellation fee. The Government will notify the Contractor by telephone of any cancellations no later than 5:00 pm the day before the scheduled proceedings. If the DOJ does not notify the contractor within the designated time, the Contractor may request a cancellation fee.

4.4 On-Site Transcripts - The Contractor shall provide a fully qualified on-site transcriber at EOIR headquarters or at a location specified by the COR within 24 hours of DOJ’s request for transcription services to be performed on-site. The Contractor shall ensure the transcriber has the appropriate security clearance and necessary equipment to transcribe the recordings on-site. The Government will provide the equipment or appropriate medium necessary to play the recorded proceedings.

4.5 Transcripts Format - The Contractor shall adhere to the following format when transcribing material for the Government:

Oral Decisions The oral decision will be initiated by the Immigration Judge. Normally the oral decision is rendered in the last hearing. The Immigration Judge will start dictation by instructing transcriber to start the oral decision.

For example, the Immigration Judge will state phrases such as “transcriber switch to standard oral decision format.” Also, during the oral decision dictation, the Immigration Judge will give formatting instructions such as new heading, new paragraph, and/or next line.

A. Paper Transcripts

1. The Contractor shall complete all printed transcripts with black ink on one side of good quality, 20-weight, 8 ½" by 11" bond paper.

2. The transcriber shall begin each transcript and subsequent individual hearings with a cover/title page containing the following information: judge’s name, the attorneys’ names, alien’s name and number, the location of the hearing, the hearing date, the interpreter's name, and the type of hearing. (i.e., exclusion, deportation, removal, review, rescission, or bond). The cover page shall not be numbered.

3. The Contractor shall use Arial 12-Point type, double spaced, beginning 1.2" from the top of the page and continuing to 1" from the bottom on the page.

4. The Contractor shall begin typing immediately ten spaces from the left side of the paper and continue to the right side of the paper within ten spaces (allowing for properly hyphenated words). The lines of type shall be aligned with the printed numbers 1 through

25. The Contractor shall left-justify all transcripts.

5. The Contractor shall number pages of the transcripts or other documents in consecutive order. The Contractor shall type page numbers at the bottom center of each page of the transcript, numbering separately the immigration hearing and the Immigration Judge’s decision.

6. For Immigration Court proceedings, the Contractor shall type the hearing date in the lower right-hand corner and the alien number in the lower left-hand corner of each page of the transcript on the same line as the page number. The Contractor shall not abbreviate dates. Reserved decisions should have no dates on the headers or the footers.

7. The last page of the finished transcript shall be the certificate page, which shall appear as follows:

Certificate Page:

I hereby certify that the attached proceeding before Judge , in the matter of

[A #,XXX-XXX-XX]

[City],[State] was held as herein appears, and that this is the original transcript thereof for the file of the Executive Office for Immigration Review.

(Signature of Transcriber) (Name of Transcriber)

Name of Transcription Company:

Address of Transcription Company:

Telephone # of Transcription Company:

(Completion Date)

8. The Contractor shall two-hole punch each collated set (centered at the top of each page with holes 2 -7/8" apart) and assemble the set-in proper page number sequence. Cases having more than one hearing date are to be kept together. The final assemblage shall have the transcripts of the original case and its respective hearings bound together and one copy of the Immigration Judge’s decision.

9. The Contractor shall fasten the original printed transcript with a rubber band. The

Contractor shall ensure that the two-hole punches are aligned while fastening the transcript.

10. The Contractor shall fasten the entire transcript, its corresponding copies (if any) and the

“Tape Transmittal Record (TTR)” envelopes together as one package.

11. The Contractor shall affix a “Post-It” or equivalent tape flag to the last numbered page of the original, locating the flag at the bottom right corner.

12. The Contractor shall affix barcode labels (when supplied by Government staff) on the backside of the certification page at the bottom-right.

13. When additional copies are requested, the Contractor shall secure the photocopies to the original by a rubber band. The Contractor shall secure transcript photocopies of shorter lengths by paper clips.

14. The Contractor shall use rubber bands with the following specifications:

a. 1 pound;

b. 7” length x 1/8” width; and

c. Size 117

B. Electronic Transcripts

The Government has created a manual (eTranscription Technical Specification for Vendors) with processes and technical information for the EOIR eTranscription application.

Specifically, this document covers the technical and procedural interface between EOIR and transcription vendors for the EOIR eTranscription application.

1. The transcriber shall begin each transcript and subsequent individual hearings with a cover/title page containing the following information: judge’s name, the attorneys’ names, alien’s name and number, the location, the hearing date, the interpreter's name, and the type of hearing. (i.e., exclusion, deportation, removal, rescission, and bond). The cover page shall not be numbered.

2. The Contractor shall use Arial 12-Point type, double spaced, beginning 1.2" from the top of the page and continuing to 1" from the bottom on the page.

3. The Contractor shall begin typing immediately ten spaces from the left side of the paper and continue to the right side of the paper within ten spaces (allowing for properly hyphenated words). The lines of type shall be aligned with the printed numbers 1 through

25. The contractor shall left-justify all transcripts.

4. The Contractor shall number pages of the transcripts or other documents in consecutive order. The Contractor shall type page numbers at the bottom center of each page of the transcript, numbering separately the immigration hearing and the Immigration Judge’s decision.

5. For Immigration Court proceedings, the Contractor shall type the hearing date in the lower right-hand corner and the alien number in the lower left-hand corner of each page of the transcript on the same line as the page number. The Contractor shall not abbreviate dates. Reserved decisions should have no dates on the headers or the footers.

6. The contractor shall arrange the set of hearing transcripts in proper page number sequence. Transcripts having more than one hearing date are to be kept together. The final arrangement shall have all of the hearing transcripts, Immigration Judge’s oral decision, and a completed certificate page.

4.6 Accuracy of Transcripts - The Contractor shall furnish complete and accurate transcripts.

The transcripts shall be completely free of typographical and spelling errors and without the omission of any word(s) from the text when it is clearly audible. Nothing spoken at the hearing will be “off the record” unless so designated by the Immigration Judge. No part of the hearing shall be omitted from the record unless directed by the Immigration Judge and/or the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Transcribers shall not make any corrections on hard copies of the transcript. The use of white correction fluid, correction tape, etc., is not permitted. The Government reserves the right to return any transcript(s) that contains errors, including missing or illegible pages. The COR will notify the contractor at the time of normal pick-up and delivery of transcripts which require corrections. The contractor shall furnish the corrected transcript(s) within five business days or the original turnaround time, whichever is less, after notification by the Government, at no additional cost to the Government. The Contractor shall reassemble the corrected transcripts in accordance with Sections 4.6 of this contract.

4.7 Management of Transcripts and Media - The Contractor shall make all arrangements for transportation of TTR envelopes and paper transcripts between the Government and Contractor sites for SBU Information only. The Contractor shall repair all tapes, regardless of the reason for damage as described at B.1 and 2, below. The Contractor shall return all media in the TTR envelopes attached to their respective transcripts, in covered, sealed, and secured containers. The container contents shall be put in order by city and alien number, mirroring the transcript shipment list provided by the Government at the time of the scheduled pickup. The Contractor shall deliver the completed transcript and TTR envelopes directly to the designated Government representative. The Contractor shall also submit two copies of the transcript shipment list, corresponding to that shipment, to the designated Government representative.

A. For electronic transcription delivery, the Contractor shall abide by the approved processes and procedure mechanisms. Currently, the EOIR eTranscription delivery mechanism is via the SSH SFTP mechanism specified in Section 4.6 B and described in the attached eTranscription Technical Specifications for Vendors; however, the EOIR reserves the right to adjust this electronic delivery mechanism during the course of this contract period. Details of the existing SSH SFTP delivery mechanism are covered in Appendix 2.

B. The Contractor shall verify the number of tapes on the Government-provided transcript shipment list and check the tapes for damage.

1. The Contractor shall report any damage it finds to the Government within one business day from the date of receipt of the tapes by the Contractor. The Contractor shall repair those damaged tapes reported within the one business day reporting period at the fixed price shown in CLIN sheet, Attachment 1. The tapes shall be repaired within two business days.

2. The Contractor shall repair, at no cost to the Government, all damaged tapes in its possession that have not been reported to the Government within the one business day reporting period. These tapes shall be repaired within two business days.

C. All contractor work-products, including transcripts, tapes, CDs, thumb drives, digital audio recordings, reviews, materials, or documents resulting from transcription, in part or in whole, will remain the property of the Government. The Contractor shall secure all such work-products when not in use.

D. Records of Proceedings for cases involving SBU information may require additional protection. SBU information includes, but is not limited to grand jury information, informant and witness information, investigative material, Federal tax and tax return information, Privacy Act information, and information which can cause risk to individuals or be sold for profit. The Contractor shall label or identify SBU information by placing the caveat "Sensitive But Unclassified" on the first page, by a notation in a covering memorandum, or by affixing an SBU label or cover sheet to the material to ensure recipients are aware the information requires protection. Provided the Contractor has minimum physical security safeguards in place, sensitive information may be stored, when not in use, in locked offices, desks, or cabinets. The Government reserves the right to impose additional protective measures as necessary.

E. It is the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure that all data and documents submitted as electronic media are virus-free.

The Contractor shall shred all draft or excess copies of transcripts disposed of by the Contractor at the place of performance. The Contractor may use commercially available strip-cut or cross-cut shredders. Electronic drafts shall also be destroyed in compliance with Section 4.2 B.4.

4.8 Transcription Requests Workload - The average length of a transcript resulting from one immigration hearing is approximately 100 pages. The average hearing is 2.6 hours in length;

some may be considerably longer. Most of the transcription requests require a 5-day or 20-day transcription turnaround time (TAT). The Contractors should be able to accept 200 hours per week. The following is an estimate of the total volume of audio the Government expects to produce on a weekly basis for which transcription will be required:

A. 50-100 hours of audio* per week with a 5-day TAT B. 175-200 hours of audio* per week with a 20-day TAT

*most audio contains simultaneous interpretation

Note: This total volume of audio per week requiring transcription is an estimate only; it is not a minimum or maximum workload commitment or guarantee by the Government, in no way binds the Government, and the Contractor is not guaranteed this volume, in whole or in part.

Electronic Application Requirement – The government will assess the extent to which the Contractor is able to obtain Security and Privacy Risk Assessment Certification (see Appendix 2).

5.0 Deliverables

Executive Office for Immigration Review, Board of Immigration Appeals 6810 Loisdale Road, Springfield, VA 22150 and/or 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite [unknown], Falls Church, VA 22041

B. DOJ Component Activity

Deliverables will be specified in each task order issued under the Transcription Services Contract.

6.0 Place of Delivery

The ordering officials and their respective locations are listed below:

Pickup/Delivery Locations and Ordering Officials Location Ordering Officials

Executive Office for Immigration Review Board of Immigration Appeals 6810 Loisdale Road Springfield, VA 22150

Tamara Scott Moraima Alvarez

Pickup/Delivery Locations and Ordering Officials Location Ordering Officials

U.S. Department of Justice 2 Constitution Square 145 North Street, NE Washington, DC 20530

TBD

7.0 Performance Standards.

Performance Assessment Standards Inspection Who When

Audio is correctly transcribed via eTranscription and/or manually Personnel After delivery Transcript is correctly formatted via eTranscription and/or manually Personnel After delivery Deliverables are timely via eTranscription and/or manually Personnel Weekly Invoices are correct via eTranscription and/or manually COR Bi-weekly Contract Program Manager responsiveness responding to email, IM or calls COR As requested

8.0 Place of Performance

Most of the work performed under this contract will be accomplished at the Contractor’s facilities.

Materials must be transmitted by cleared courier or approved electronic means.

On occasion, pursuant to Section 4.5, the Government may request on-site transcription, and the Contractor will be required to perform work at the Government’s facility at 5107 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA, 22041. The processing of SBU may be permitted at the Contractor site.

B. DOJ Component Activity Most of the work performed under this contract will be accomplished at the Contractor’s facilities.

Materials must be transmitted by cleared courier or approved electronic means.

On occasion, pursuant to Section 4.5, the Government may request on-site transcription, and the Contractor will be required to perform work at the Government’s facility at 2 Constitution Square, 145 North Street, NE, Washington, DC 20530-0001 or a location of the Government’s choosing (travel rates may apply).

9.0 General Invoice Requirements

A. EOIR Only The Contractor shall submit invoices using the eTranscription application, see eTranscription Technical Specification for Vendors, see PWS Attachment 1.

1. The Contractor shall render a pre-invoice upon successful submission of each batch of transcribed material (deliverables). Invoicing shall be bi-weekly or monthly. Invoices should include all accepted deliverables not previously invoiced. Invoices must be submitted through vendor portal platform; exemptions may apply with COR approval.

2. To constitute a proper invoice, the following information and/or attached documentation shall be included with the invoice (as applicable):

a. Name and address of the Contractor

b. Invoice date

c. Invoice number

d. Contract number

e. Task order number

f. Cases/hearing numbers

g. CLIN number and description, quantity, unit price and extended total for the shipment covered

h. Shipping and payment terms

i. Name and address of Contractor official to whom payment is to be sent (must be the same as that in the contract or in a proper notice of assignment)

j. Taxpayer Identification Number

k. DUNS Number

3. The COR will certify the invoice for payment and forward the invoice to the Finance

Office specified in paragraph 4 below for payment. Negative inspection results will be reported immediately to the Contracting Officer.

4. The office that will make the payments due under this contract (i.e., the designated payment office) is:

U.S. Department of Justice 2 Constitution Square, Room 7W-1004 145 N Street, NE Washington, DC 20530-0001

5. All follow-up invoices shall be marked "Duplicate of Original”. Contractor questions regarding payment information or check identification should be directed to the ordering agency’s designated payment office unless otherwise specified in the task order.

10.0 Payment Deductions for Nonconforming Services

10.1 If services are performed by the contractor but the services do not conform to the contract requirements, the contract price for services performed shall be reduced as specified in this section. Payment deductions will be taken as specified in the following two tables for each delivery where services fail to conform to the contract requirements.

Payment Deductions for Late Deliveries

Deficiency Deduction Amount

Maximum Deduction

Late delivery of a transcript:

1-3 business days late 4-5 business days late >5 business days late

3% per day late 5% per day late 10% per day late

$125.00 per case

Late delivery of a dictated decision in electronic medium:

1-3 business days late 4-5 business days late More than 5 business days late

1% per day late 3% per day late 5% per day late

$75.00 per case

Late delivery of repaired Government tapes (CLIN series 9000)

$20.00 per day late

$40.00 per tape

Late delivery of tapes transferred to CDs (CLIN series 10000) $5.00 per day per CD $20.00 per CD

10.2 Business days late” as stated in the above table means any delivery that is received by the Government later than 10:30 am on the specified delivery date. For example, if a transcript is required to be delivered by 10:30 am on Monday, and it is delivered to the Government at 4:00 pm Monday afternoon, the delivery is considered to be one business day late. If it is a non-detained transcript that is one business day late, the Contractor will then have a deduction of 1% assessed against its invoice amount. However, if the non-detained transcript is six business days late, the Contractor will then have a deduction of 5% assessed against its invoice amount for each day late.

Payment Deductions for Inaccurate Transcriptions

Deficiency Deduction Amount Maximum Deduction

Errors in transcript(s) within returned manifest:

5-10 errors per hearing 11-20 errors per hearing >20 errors per hearing

3% of invoiced amount 5% of invoiced amount 10% of invoiced amount

$500 per manifest

Audio omissions within transcript(s):

1 hearing 2-3 hearings >3 hearings page

3% of invoiced amount 5% of invoiced amount 10% of invoiced amount

$250.00 per case

Errors in corrected transcript 5% of invoiced amount per error $125.00 per case

10.3 The COR will be responsible for assessing payment deductions and will apply such deductions against the Contractor’s invoice amount. The COR may, at his/her discretion waive the imposition of payment deductions provided the Contractor notifies the COR of an anticipated delay in advance of the due date.

10.4 Payment deductions will not be assessed when the delay in delivery or performance is beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the Contractor as defined in the Default -- Fixed-Price Supply and Service clause in this contract.

11.0 Liquidated Damages

If recordings in the possession of the Contractor become lost or damaged, the Contractor shall pay to the Government as liquidated damages the amounts specified in the table below.

Liquidated Damages

Deficiency Liquidated Damages Amount Notes

Lost media. $250.00 Assessed per occurrence

Media damaged (portion of hearing…