Statement of Work for Language Services.docx

Statement of Work

For

Language Services

For

Academic Services/Air University Press 600 Chennault Circle Bldg. 1405, Room 143 Maxwell AFB, AL 36112

1. DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES.

1.1 Background. The Academic Services/Air University Press generates, manages, publishes and distributes the US Air Force Journal of the Americas (JotA) in three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) that are uniquely tailored for constituent readers and regional air forces. Publishing a journal in the main three languages spoken for our allied forces in the Western Hemisphere, is a critical mission requirement for Air University, established by Gen Vandenburg in 1949, and further recognized in 2019 as a USAF core function. JotA regularly requires translation of English language text into Spanish and Portuguese (and vice versa) for its readership. AU Press has traditionally used a translation contract to ensure cost effectiveness, timeliness, quality and compliance with regulatory guidance, which just expired in December of this year. This new contract would continue to provide this service. Failure to enact this contract would result in mission failure of this requirement for Air University.

1.2 Scope of Work: The contractor shall, except as specified in this Statement of Work (SOW) as government furnished property or services, provide all personnel, supervision, and any items and services necessary to perform translation services for AU Press as defined by this statement. The contractor shall conform to the professional standards identified in this contract, and shall follow all applicable instructions and directives as identified in this SOW.

1.3 Contractor tasks include the following: translating articles, book reviews, and other documents as required; quality checking translated documents, providing translated documents in specified electronic formats, and development of a style guide--to aid with future translations. The contractor shall submit reports and documentation as identified throughout this SOW. Requests for such reports and documentation and responses shall be coordinated through the government point of contact (POC).

2. PROGRAM OVERVIEW. AU Press requires translation services capable of translating documents, which are both scholarly and technical in nature for the US Air Force Journal of the Americas (JotA). Quality and timeliness of effort are the critical factors for this contract. Effort will be year-round with multiple spikes three times a year, as journal approaches deadline.

2.1 Nominally 35% of the translations will be from English, 45% from Spanish, and 20% from Portuguese to the other two respective target languages. JotA will submit 4-9 articles for translation three times a year. On average, articles run approximately 6,000 words in length. Additionally, one to three book reviews may be submitted annually. Book reviews generally run about 1,000 words.

2.2 The annual effort shall be approximately 305,000 words.

3. TRANSLATOR QUALIFICATIONS. All translators must be credible, certified in Spanish and/or Portuguese. For both languages, the minimum certification must be from one of several certification agencies:

3.1 Proficient at the Department of Defense (DoD) 3/3/3 Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale level. The ILR scale is the way in which the US Federal Government defines and refers to language ability. It was developed by the Federal Government’s Inter-Agency Language Roundtable from basic descriptions used by the Foreign Service Institute. With 6 levels, ranging from 0 (No Practical Proficiency) through 5 (Native or Bilingual Proficiency), with ‘plus’ levels at each stage, the scale covers a wide range of abilities) ...or...

3.2 Proficient at the fluent level if certified by a recognized civilian institute (i.e. ACTFL or American Translators Association (ATA) certification exam). American Translators Association (ATA) certification meets this requirement.

...Additionally...

3.3 Educated native speakers are required. It is our experience that non-native speakers are not generally sufficient to ensure proper context and nuance and register in the target languages.

3.4 Certification may be waived for translators who have previously completed satisfactory work with AU Press.

4. TRANSLATION DELIVERY TIMELINES.

4.1 Initial translations shall be delivered within 7 business days after receipt of government furnished materials. Allowing for the extremely difficult technical language and extended length of some submissions, request for extension of due date to 15 business days after receipt of government furnished materials may be accepted for no more than 20% of requested translations.

4.2 Translations returned by government for correction/rework shall be delivered no later than 5 business days after receipt of government furnished materials.

5. TRANSLATION QUALITY. Translation submissions must follow the language register of the document submitted for translation. JotA, in all versions, is a scholarly journal; translated articles must be written in styles and grammar appropriate to current journal's standards. JotA editors will reject articles, regardless of error rate, if the company submits an article to AU Press which does not meet the language register-quality requirement.

5.1 There must be fewer than three material errors in each completed work. Material errors include grammar, transposition of facts, and loss of meaning or coherency in translation.

5.2 Translations shall be accurate, clear and sensitive to the cultural, political and social environment of the target audience.

5.3 Translators shall be familiar with the normal phraseology of military forces, specifically air forces, in the target language.

5.4 A style guide shall be initiated within 60 days of award and submitted to JotA's editor, for consolidation and shared distribution to minimize repetitive errors when confronted with specific military jargon (e.g., proper translation and use of acronyms) or terms which may have multiple possibilities for translations. Updates will be due quarterly.

6. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS.

6.1 Work efforts will be accountable (paid for) by the piece by word count.

6.2 Submissions from the company to AU Press should be in the current version of Microsoft Word-docx and submitted electronically (via email or SharePoint upload).

6.3 There is no typesetting or specific format requirement. Contractors will follow the general format of the submitted paper.

6.4 All files for submission must be screened and cleaned by the author using an up-to-date virus/spyware scanning program before sending to AU Press.

9. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT.

9.1 Quality Control: The contractor shall develop and maintain a quality control program to ensure services are performed in accordance with commonly accepted commercial practices. The contractor shall develop and implement procedures to identify, prevent, and ensure non-recurrence of defective translation services. As a minimum, the contractor shall develop quality control procedures addressing all areas previously identified in this SOW.

9.2 Quality Assurance: The government will evaluate the contractor's performance by appointing technical representatives to monitor performance to ensure services are received. The technical representatives will evaluate the contractor's performance through analysis of technical representative reports on the technical and cultural accuracy of translations for the target audience and region. The government will investigate complaints from AU Press about the contractor's management of the translation efforts (i.e. schedule compliance, product delivery, cost control, etc... ). Technical representatives shall be responsible for initially validating and documenting substandard customer complaints and disagreements. If the contractor challenges the validity of any complaint, and the technical representatives and contractor cannot come to agreement, the complaint in question shall be forwarded to the Contracting Officer for resolution. The contracting officer shall make final determination of the validity of customer complaint(s) in cases of disagreement with the contractor.

10. CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL.

10.1 Contract Manager: The contractor shall provide a contract manager who shall be responsible for the overall performance required to satisfy this SOW. The name of contract manager shall be designated in writing to the contracting officer not later than the pre-performance conference. Any change in the name or home phone number of either party shall be communicated in writing to the contracting officer twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the change if planned and within eight (8) hours of the occurrence if unplanned. The contracted translator may also be the contract manager.

10.2 Contracted Translators: The contractor shall be responsible for the overall performance required to satisfy this SOW.

10.3 Security requirements.

10.3.1 The contractor(s) will not be working on a government installation or on a government network.

10.3.2 Reporting Requirements. The contractor shall comply with AFI 71-101, Volume-1, Criminal Investigations, and Volume-2 Protective Service Matters, requirements. Contractor personnel shall report to an appropriate authority any information or circumstances of which they are aware may pose a threat to the security of DOD personnel, contractor personnel, resources, and classified or unclassified defense information.

10.3.3 Place of Performance: The work required will be performed at the location of the contractor.

10.3.4 Media: All Deliverables shall be submitted in electronic format using Microsoft Word.