RFP-IT-2026-212-RB-Voice-To-Text Translation Program

The Judicial Council of California is requesting proposals for a next-generation voice-to-text translation program with implementation, configuration, deployment, and managed services for statewide court operations, with proposals due September 22, 2026 at 2:00 PM PT and questions due September 2, 2026. A five percent small business preference for DGS-certified small businesses or microbusinesses and a three percent Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) incentive requiring at least three percent of contract goods and services from qualifying DVBEs apply to eligible proposers.

The solution must deliver real-time multilingual translation and speech-to-text transcription supporting 16 languages (Spanish, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Punjabi, Hindi, French, Cantonese, German, Persian, Arabic, Tagalog, Korean, and Japanese) for use at court clerk counters, public windows, and self-help centers. Core requirements include bidirectional speech-to-text with minimum 85 percent accuracy, real-time translation with less than 3-second latency and minimum 90 percent accuracy, text-to-speech capabilities, and tablet or kiosk-based deployment with minimal court development effort. The solution must be commercial off-the-shelf with vendor-performed configuration and no custom coding required. Accessibility compliance is a material core requirement: WCAG 2.1 Level AA and WCAG 2.2 Level AA for new development, PDF/UA for tagged PDFs, ADA Title II effective-communication compliance, and submission of a current Accessibility Conformance Report. Security mandates include AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2 or higher in transit, SOC II Type 2 certification, ISO 27001 certification, and 99.90 percent availability. Proposers must demonstrate five or more years of relevant experience, maintain SOC II Type 2 certification, and provide defined Service Level Agreements.

The contract term runs November 2, 2026 through November 1, 2030, with three optional one-year renewals. Proposers must submit firm fixed pricing covering all materials, implementation, training, licensing, support, and taxes for the full term and option years. Evaluation uses a 100-point scale: 25 points for ability to meet requirements, 10 points for timing, 5 points for work plan quality, 7 points for terms-and-conditions acceptance, 3 points for DVBE incentive eligibility, and 50 points for cost. The contractor must maintain commercial general liability ($1 million per occurrence/$2 million aggregate), professional liability ($1 million per claim/$2 million aggregate), cyber liability ($2 million), and technology professional liability ($2 million). Evaluation is estimated September 23–October 7, with public cost opening October 9 and Notice of Intent to Award October 13. All questions and proposals must be directed to Solicitations@jud.ca.gov; the full solicitation is published at https://courts.ca.gov/request/rfp-it-2026-212-rb/rfp/voice-text-translation-program.