logo image
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs
MENU
  • News
    • People Moves
    • Deal Wins
    • Demand Drivers
    • M&A and Funding
    • Financial Results
    • Technology
    • Academia
    • Industry News
    • Features
    • Machine Translation
    • — Divider —
    • Slator Pro
    • — Divider —
    • Press Releases
    • Sponsored Content
  • Data & Research
    • Research Reports & Pro Guides
    • Language Industry Investor Map
    • Real-Time Charts of Listed LSPs
    • Language Service Provider Index
  • Podcasts & Videos
  • Events
    • Design Thinking – February 2021
    • — Divider —
    • SlatorCon Coverage
    • Other Events
  • Directory
  • RFP Center
  • Jobs

Advertise on Slator! Download the 2021 Online Media Kit Now

  • Slator Market Intelligence
  • Slator Advertising Services
  • Slator Advisory
  • Login
Search
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Advertisement
US Army Awards USD 4.5m Worth of Machine Translation Contracts

2 years ago

August 17, 2018

US Army Awards USD 4.5m Worth of Machine Translation Contracts

Deal Wins ·

by Gino Diño

On August 17, 2018

2 years ago
Deal Wins ·

by Gino Diño

On August 17, 2018

US Army Awards USD 4.5m Worth of Machine Translation Contracts

On July 20, 2018, the US Army awarded two contracts for its Machine Foreign Language Translation System (MFLTS) project. According to US Federal business opportunity portal FedBizOpps, one contract was officially awarded to Applications Technology (AppTek) amounting to USD 1.55m, and another to Raytheon Technologies worth USD 2.99m.

According to the RFP documentation, the MFLTS is “software only program that provides an automated foreign speech and text translation capability in order to augment and complement limited human linguistic resources across all Army echelons in all environments.”

The contracts were meant to evaluate “the suitability and effectiveness” of off-the-shelf commercial text-to-text language packs when used in conjunction with government-owned MFLTS. Additionally, the contracts can potentially last five years. The languages included in the contract are Russian, Modern Standard Arabic, Dari, Pashto, Urdu, Farsi, Polish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Ukrainian.

Advertisement

The MFLTS first deployed in full in 2017, and even before deployment the US government had been funnelling millions into its development. Projected total spend on MFLTS Research, Development, Test & Evaluation from 2013-16 amounted to USD 12.5m as of 2014. When Slator initially covered the project that was still under development, the MFLTS worked with, at least, two possible vendors: SDL for text-to-text and Raytheon Technologies for speech-to-speech.

In early August 2018, AppTek distributed press releases confirming they won a USD 1.5m machine translation contract for the US Army. According to the releases, the contract includes machine translation software, support, and engineering services for automated text-to-text translation of foreign language documents.

There appear to be no news about this new contract with Raytheon Technologies as of this writing, though aside from being involved with MFLTS since its earlier stages, the company also won the USD 4m contract for its first large scale deployment in 2017.

Both of the new contracts are classified under the NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Code 541930, which represents Translation and Interpretation Services. In 2017, US government spending on translation and interpretation surpassed USD 500m, according to government spending database USAspending.gov. The database included over 1,100 providers and showed the lion’s share of government contract work typically went to the top 20, which accounted for 77% of the total USD 517m in contracts towards the end of November 2017.

Interestingly, neither AppTek nor Raytheon were in the top 20 for this specific translation-related NAICS category. Furthermore, some government contracts that require a certain level of confidentiality are not included in the database.

To stay up-to-date on global tenders, subscribe to Slator’s RFP Center and receive daily tender alerts.

TAGS

AppTekRaytheon TechnologiesUS government
SHARE
Gino Diño

By Gino Diño

Content strategy expert and Online Editor for Slator; father, husband, gamer, writer―not necessarily in that order.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SLATOR WEEKLY

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

SUBSCRIBE

SlatorSweepSlatorPro
ResearchRFP CENTER

PUBLISH

PRESS RELEASEDIRECTORY LISTING
JOB ADEVENT LISTING

Bespoke advisory including speaking, briefings and M&A

SLATOR ADVISORY
Advertisement

Featured Reports

See all
Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

Slator 2020 Language Industry M&A and Funding Report

by Slator

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

Slator 2021 Data-for-AI Market Report

by Slator

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

Slator 2020 Medtech Translation and Localization Report

by Slator

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

Pro Guide: Sales and Marketing for Language Service Providers

by Slator

Press Releases

See all
Across Systems will be part of the Volaris Group

Across Systems will be part of the Volaris Group

by Across Systems GmbH

How Localex Made It Through the Pandemic

How Localex Made It Through the Pandemic

by Localex

Join Us for the First Virtual Together 2021 Next Month!

Join Us for the First Virtual Together 2021 Next Month!

by Elia

Upcoming Events

See All
  1. Handling Sensitive Information Webinar

    Handling Sensitive Calls with Limited English Proficient Consumers

    by Lionbridge

    · February 10

    Learn more about how Lionbridge Over-the-Phone Interpretation Services can help bridge communication gaps with limited...

    More info FREE

Featured Companies

See all
Text United

Text United

Memsource

Memsource

Wordbank

Wordbank

Protranslating

Protranslating

Seprotec

Seprotec

Versacom

Versacom

SDL

SDL

Smartling

Smartling

Lingotek

Lingotek

XTM International

XTM International

Smartcat

Smartcat

Translators without Borders

Translators without Borders

STAR Group

STAR Group

memoQ Translation Technologies

memoQ Translation Technologies

Advertisement

Popular articles

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

Why Netflix Shut Down Its Translation Portal Hermes

by Esther Bond

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

Top Language Industry Quotes of 2020

by Monica Jamieson

The Most Popular Language Industry Stories of 2020

The Most Popular Language Industry Stories of 2020

by Seyma Albarino

SlatorPod: The Weekly Language Industry Podcast

connect with us

footer logo

Slator makes business sense of the language services and technology market.

Our Company

  • Support
  • About us
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy

Subscribe to the Slator Weekly

Language Industry Intelligence
In Your Inbox. Every Friday

© 2021 Slator. All rights reserved.

Sign up to the Slator Weekly

Join over 13,000 subscribers and get the latest language industry intelligence every Friday

Your information will never be shared with third parties. No Spam.