Translation services

Tender description

Cheshire East Council intends to create a Framework Agreement and appoint a single Provider to deliver a fully managed translation, Interpretation and Transcription Service. This Framework Agreement will be open for use by all services within the Cheshire East Borough Council, The Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, East Cheshire NHS Trust and all Cheshire East Borough Council's subsidiary and associated companies, including, but not limited to: Tatton Park Enterprises Ltd; East Cheshire Engine of the North; Ansa Environmental Services Ltd; Orbitas, Bereavement Services Ltd; and Everybody Sports and Recreational Trust Ltd (Trading as Everybody Ltd) and any other wholly or partly owned companies created by Cheshire East Borough Council after publication of the Contract Notice. Cheshire East Council are looking to setup a Framework Agreement for a single provider of Translation and Interpretation services. These services include the written translation of documents and information, telephone interpretation as well as verbal and non verbal language interpretation. The Council will also seek a second alternative provider to use as a back up in the event that the main provider cannot fulfil a specific requirement. The Council wants to work with local and regional partners to support Cheshire East residents with language services, to ensure access to economic prosperity for all. The Service shall actively champion the Council's aspirations to deliver upon its Social Value considerations and obligations which are to be supported through the service delivery. Interpretation and translation services are required by a varied cross section of the Council and its partners. The services are commissioned from all Council office locations across Cheshire East and can take place in a variety of locations, including but not limited to hospitals across the borough. The most frequent users of the services are the Child Protection Teams based in Crewe and Macclesfield. The locations for Face to Face interpretations are in resident's homes, schools, hospitals and offices throughout the borough. The Council intends to appoint a single Provider to deliver a fully managed translation, Interpretation and Transcription Service. The service shall include provisions for: — Face to Face Interpretation Services (Verbal), — Face to Face Interpretation Services (Non-Verbal), — Telephone Interpretation Services, — Video Interpretation Services (Verbal), — Video Interpretation Services (Non-Verbal), — Document translation, including Braille, Large Print, Easy Read and Audio Transcriptions. Video interpretation services are currently not utilised but they may be required at some point during the term of this Framework Agreement. In the event that the main Contractor is unable to fulfil a Service requirement, the Council reserves the right to award the specific Service to the Contractor ranked second in the selection process and named in the framework. The successful bidder will be able to provide translation and Interpretation services to a range of languages. The current Top 2 languages that the Council has requirements for are Polish and Slovak. The languages will be split into separate categories of: — Eastern European — The most frequently used language group, — Western European, — Asian, Arabic and Oriental, — African, — Specialist / Rare. It will be necessary for each bidder to provide a list of Specialist/Rare languages. Face to Face interpretations make up over 68 % of all translation and interpretation requests and the service provided must meet the highest standards of quality. Where the requirement is for Face 2 Face interpretation, there shall be a fee chargeable by successful bidders based on the below minimum chargeable hours: — Face to Face verbal — 1 hour, — Face to Face non verbal — 3 hours. There is a requirement for an out of hour's emergency face to face interpretation service. This is a rare requirement, but an out of hours contact number must be available. Telephone interpreting must also be available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week throughout the year.