The US State Department is looking for 1,000 freelance linguists to renew the one-year contracts it first awarded in October 2017. Up to USD 20m has been earmarked in total with individual limit set at USD 150,000 annually.
Large framework contracts for language services continue to gain popularity across the United Kingdom as Scotland aggregates public sector translation demand into a four-year contract. This is expected to put pricing pressure on language service providers.
Joshua Gould, CEO at thebigword, on what makes public sector RFPs so lucrative. Shares behind-the-scenes glimpse into why rolling out big contracts is not for the faint of heart.
Government body knocks down AllWorld’s complaint against competitor over USD 18m contract; says even if AllWorld’s protest had merit, it would not have won because it quoted highest price. Same body sustained similar appeal by AllWorld in 2016.
Democratic Congressman seeks to motivate Trump to restore Spanish-language WhiteHouse.gov by filing bill. Former congressional staffer says bill will never pass in a GOP Congress.
Two Finnish language industry associations merge to step up government lobbying. Initiative comes in wake of EUR 17.5m framework contract, which one association head says was structured very differently from how language services are typically procured.
Para-Plus Translations ordered to pay USD 1.5m after former billing department staff turned whistleblower reveals company overcharged government clients for interpretation services. Whistleblower to receive USD 0.33m.
Minister in charge of Canada’s Translation Bureau says they will hire a new CEO, a new Chief Quality Officer, and 50 students a year to develop the next generation of talent; cancels rollout of controversial freelancer hiring system.
After some very public translation mistakes, Singapore responds with trademark government activism. Minister calls on government agencies to tighten vetting process for translations and prevent gibberish text in government material.
Request for information by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons asks interested parties to submit their pitch for a system or device that understands and translates pretty much anything—slang, colloquialisms, textspeak—and can be updated on the fly.
Business owners made USD 55,630, educators, USD 17,344 in 2014 per the latest ATA survey. Meanwhile, the Basque Government ran up an EUR 5.8m translation tab and the EU Court of Justice ruled a Flemish Decree contrary to EU Law.
Swiss Supreme Court forces federal government to disclose spend on external contractors. Data reveals USD 17m spent on external translation services in 2014, sharply up from 2011. RR Donnelley’s MultiCorpora only language industry-related mention on contractor list.
New language policy states all public documents in Kenya should be available in Kiswahili and English, while promoting 53 other community languages. Owner of Kenyan LSP puts country’s translation rate at USD 0.05–0.10 per word.
No holds barred at vendor association ATC as it lists down the perceived shortcomings of the UK’s language services procurement and issues 29 recommendations
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