EIHR-Contact Scotland BSL

Tender description

The Scottish Government is seeking to establish a BSL/English Video Relay Service which enables BSL users to make short video calls using a BSL/English interpreter and emerging services on offer that complement a Video Relay Service. The Scottish Government requires a service that provides quality in terms of BSL/English interpreter translation and by reliable technical infrastructure. Suppliers should be able to demonstrate a high degree of cultural and linguistic awareness of Deaf and Deafblind BSL users who will use the service. Lot 1: The existing service, Contact Scotland BSL, has been in operation since 2016 and has been expanded to provide a 24 hour a day, 365 days a year national service. BSL users are able to call any public service, third sector organisation, private service or friends and family and can also receive calls. The service also handles calls using a Braille display for deafblind people. It should be noted it is not an emergency service. The objectives of the Contract are to: - Ensure that, through the Contact Scotland BSL service, public services, third sector organisations, as well as private sector services and personal calls to family and friends in Scotland are made accessible to Deaf BSL users who need to interact with them; - Ensure that the Contact Scotland BSL service is delivered to the highest possible standard, with optimal reliability, integrity and fitness-for-purpose; is future-proofed, continuously improved and able to be developed and scaled-up; is protected from inappropriate use or abuse; - Provide value-for-money to the public purse through delivery of an effective, efficient, competitive and comprehensive service. The service comprises four main elements: - Comprehensive management of the service; - software; - hardware; - BSL/English interpreting and interpreting personnel. The service will go live on 1 December 2025 following an implementation period.. Economic operators may be excluded from this competition if they are in any of the situations referred to in regulation 58 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.