Statewide interpretation & translation

The State of Michigan, through the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, is soliciting proposals for statewide interpretation and translation services to support compliance with Public Acts 241 and 242 of 2023. The procurement seeks one or multiple qualified vendors to deliver comprehensive language access services across Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas through ten designated prosperity regions and all Michigan counties. Required services include simultaneous and consecutive interpretation, over-the-phone interpretation (OPI), video remote interpretation (VRI), sign language services, on-site/in-person interpretation, Communication Access Real Time (CART), machine translation post-editing, document translation, and multifaceted projects in over 50 languages and dialects including Spanish, Arabic, Chinese dialects, Vietnamese, Somali, and many others. Standard service hours are Monday through Friday, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM Eastern Time, with 24/7/365 availability mandated for the Michigan Department of Corrections, Michigan State Police, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Treasury, and Michigan Gaming Control Board. The contractor must employ certified interpreters with medical, legal, and cultural competency and ATA-certified translators, maintain HIPAA and IRS Publication 1075 compliance, achieve 100% ADA compliance, meet 98% or better customer satisfaction scores, and deliver OPI/VoIP connections within one minute and VRI connections within five minutes 98% of the time. Translation turnaround times range from 1-2 hours for expedited requests under 500 words to 6-9 business days for multifaceted projects exceeding 10,000 words. An optional pre-proposal meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern via Microsoft Teams; bidder questions are due by March 12, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern with answers posted by March 19, 2026; and complete proposals must be submitted through the Michigan.gov SIGMA VSS system by April 3, 2026, at 1:55 p.m. Eastern, with an anticipated contract start date of September 13, 2026. Evaluation will be weighted 45% for Product Quality, 25% for Service Capabilities, and 30% for Vendor Questions Worksheet responses, with proposals scoring 80 points or higher advancing to pricing evaluation; the State will also consider overall economic impact including principal place of performance, Michigan employment, and capital investments.

The RFP does not specify set-aside designations or restrictions limiting eligible bidders to particular organization types or disadvantaged enterprises. No incumbent vendor is identified in the solicitation documents, and no existing infrastructure or legacy technology requiring integration is referenced. However, contractors must integrate with the State's MiLogin identity and access management environment through SAML, OpenID, or OAuth federated identity protocols and support Microsoft Teams integration. The contract will be effective September 13, 2026, through September 12, 2031, with options for up to three additional one-year renewal periods at the State's sole discretion, and is subject to State Administrative Board approval if valued at $250,000 or greater. Contractors must maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including $1,000,000 Commercial General Liability per occurrence, $1,000,000 Automobile Liability, $3,000,000 Privacy and Security Liability/Cyber Liability, and comply with strict data security requirements including FISMA, NIST standards, FedRAMP authorization or annual SSAE 18 SOC 2 Type II audits, encryption standards, multi-factor authentication, and vendor rules established by the Michigan Department of Corrections. The RFP does not disclose estimated contract value, budget ranges, or pricing constraints, though all pricing must be submitted on a per-minute basis for interpretation services, per-hour basis for on-site interpretation and CART, and per-word basis for translation services with differentiation between standard business hours and 24/7/365 urgent/emergency services.