Interpreting and translation services

Orange County Superintendent of Schools is requesting proposals for comprehensive interpretation and translation services across 27 school districts, 600+ schools, and 500,000+ students in Orange County, with proposals due August 14, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. PST. Pricing is the most heavily weighted evaluation criterion at 40 of 100 points.

Services include written translation of educational materials, forms, policies, reports, and digital content; oral interpretation for meetings, hearings, and events via in-person, telephone, video remote, and virtual modalities; and accessibility services including American Sign Language interpretation, real-time captioning, and closed captioning. Languages required include Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mandarin, Farsi, Arabic, Japanese, Khmer, Chinese, Armenian, Cantonese, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian, Hmong, Tagalog, Croatian, and other languages as needed. Services must be available on on-call, scheduled, emergency, and as-needed basis with no minimum volume of services guaranteed.

Respondents must demonstrate a minimum of five years in business, maintain general liability and professional liability insurance at $1,000,000 each, comply with FERPA and fingerprinting requirements under Education Code Section 45125.1, and submit financial statements attesting to fiscal stability. All personnel with student contact must pass Department of Justice fingerprint clearance. Proposals require five bound copies, one unbound copy, and an electronic PDF version limited to 40 double-sided pages maximum excluding covers, along with organizational charts, staffing resumes, and three client references from services within the past three years, preferably school districts or county offices of education.

The initial contract term is one year with four optional one-year renewal periods, not to exceed five years total. Proposals must include comprehensive fee schedules detailing rates for all service modalities, languages, overtime, rush jobs, cancellations, and reimbursable items. Sealed submissions are required at the Superintendent's Purchasing Department in Costa Mesa. Clarifications are due August 7, 2026; proposal reviews occur August 17–21; finalist notification is August 24; interviews are August 26–28; and contract award is anticipated September 7, 2026.