Audio Description Services

The Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is conducting a small procurement solicitation (K26-0026-25) for Audio Description Services to enhance video accessibility across their Court Help Video Library on YouTube. The project requires a vendor to provide audio descriptions for 171 videos, including 138 English-language videos and 33 videos in Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Korean, and French, with the goal of achieving WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance. Bidders must demonstrate at least three years of comparable audio description experience and provide both standard audio descriptions (during existing narration pauses) and extended audio descriptions that may require temporary video pauses. Deliverables include separate MP3 audio files and MP4 video files with narrated descriptions of physical actions and scene changes, utilizing voice talent fluent in the respective languages. The pre-bid conference was held on August 12, 2025, and the project timeline requires all work to be completed by December 31, 2025. Proposals are due by August 25, 2025, at 4:30 PM EDT, with bidders required to submit a lump sum price for the identified work and unit pricing for potential additional videos.

The procurement encourages participation from Minority Business Enterprises (MBE) and Veteran-owned Small Business Enterprises (VSBE), though these designations are not mandatory for contract award. The AOC will retain all rights to deliverables, including scripts, voice recordings, and edited files, and requires the successful bidder to provide at least three rounds of script revisions at no additional cost. Insurance requirements include $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate Commercial General Liability coverage, as well as $500,000 Worker's Compensation coverage. While no specific incumbent vendor is mentioned, this appears to be a new contract with no existing service providers. The procurement does not specify a precise budget range, but requires fixed-price proposals with per-minute pricing for the initial 171 videos and potential additional video descriptions. Contractors must be prepared to submit voice talent samples for AOC approval and potentially complete background checks for personnel working on the project.