Translation Services

The Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is seeking a translation services provider through Invitation for Bids (IFB) K26-0003-26N to support the Judiciary's translation program. The procurement targets comprehensive translation services for legal documents including court forms, brochures, posters, webpages, video scripts, slides, handwritten documents, and case transcripts, with approximately 70% of work involving bi-lingual court forms. Key qualifications include American Translators Association (ATA) certification for ATA-certified languages or three years of legal translation experience for non-ATA certified languages, with core language focus on Chinese, French, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. Translators must utilize cloud-based project management software, translation memory tools, and maintain established quality assurance policies with separate proofreading processes. The evaluation criteria will weight technical proposals at 60 points and financial proposals at 40 points, with the contract term spanning one base year and four optional renewal years. Proposal submissions are due by August 26, 2025, at 4:30 PM EST, following a pre-proposal conference held on August 8, 2025, which was attended by 41 participants from 25 different organizations.

The solicitation does not mandate specific Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) or Veteran-owned Small Business Enterprise (VSBE) subcontracting goals, though such enterprises are encouraged to respond as prime contractors. The incumbent contractor is Prisma International Inc., which was previously awarded Contract No. K21-0024-25J on December 1, 2020, for $424,500.00 with no reported performance issues. The AOC processed 208,892 words for translation in FY2024 and will provide reference materials including previously translated forms and legal glossaries. Specific technology requirements include support for Adobe Acrobat Pro and Adobe InDesign CC 25, with all work products required to conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standards. The contract follows an indefinite quantity structure with no minimum or maximum dollar amounts specified, and requires emergency translation capabilities with 24-hour turnaround for core languages. Contractors must also provide desktop publishing services, maintain translation glossaries, and secure mandatory insurance coverage before contract award.