Over-the-Phone & Video-Remote Interpretation

The City of Boston's Office of Language and Communications Access is requesting proposals for over-the-phone and video-remote interpretation services with proposals due November 6, 2026, at 2:00 PM EST and a pre-proposal Q&A conference call on October 15, 2026, at 10:00 AM EST.

The vendor must provide 24/7/365 services in 17 required languages for over-the-phone interpretation (Spanish, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Vietnamese, Greek, Cabo Verdean Creole, Arabic, Russian, French, Cantonese, Hindi, Brazilian Portuguese, Albanian, Korean, Somali, Mandarin, and Italian) and 18 required languages for video-remote interpretation (the above plus American Sign Language). The vendor must also demonstrate capacity to provide services in an extensive list of additional languages. All interpreters must hold Federal Court Certified, Massachusetts State Court Certified, or Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) certification or equivalent recognized ISO certifications. Response-time standards are no more than 30 seconds for phone interpretation and no more than two minutes for video-remote interpretation. Accuracy rates must be at least 95 percent.

The maximum contract value is $1,000,000 per year, not to exceed $3,000,000 over the three-year term (November 2026 through October 2029), with payment based on actual services rendered. The vendor must submit pricing separately from the technical proposal and include per-minute rates for each language in both modalities plus technology and platform fees.

The vendor must achieve 99.9% uptime, provide WCAG 2.1 AA digital accessibility compliance, integrate with Cisco Webex call center infrastructure, and maintain comprehensive reporting with API or REST endpoint access. Insurance must include workers' compensation, general liability, cyber liability, professional services, and third-party crime coverage with the City of Boston named as additional insured. Questions are due October 23, 2026, at 5:00 PM EST; consolidated responses will be posted October 30, 2026. Contractor selection is expected by December 6, 2026. Vendors must complete the WAGE-2 Vendor Agreement (including Boston living wage certification at $19.36 per hour minimum for covered vendors), submit a Certificate of Authority (Form CM-06), and certify CORI compliance (Form CM-15A). Proposals must be submitted through the City of Boston Supplier Portal or by mail as separate technical and price documents.