Department of Enterprise Services



Solicitation Amendment

IFB 01714 – Translation Services – DSHS & HCA Systems Generated Client Letters

|Amendment number: |One |

|Date issued: |May 29, 2014 |

Effect of the amendments:

All revisions or additional requirements detailed below are to be considered official and binding on the bidder for this solicitation and become official contract language upon execution of the contract, unless specifically amended later in time.

Purpose of the amendment(s):

1. Change the prebid conference date from June 17, 2014 to July 1, 2014 – 8:00 am to 11:00 am

2. Provide the call in information for the prebid conference as follows:

-Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-877-668-4493

-Attendee Access Code: 795-759-17

3. Extend the bid closing date from July 2 to July 22, 2014 – 2 pm

3. Note that a revised sample document for Appendix J will be provided at time of the prebid conference/subsequent Amendment if required

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response.

Procurement Coordinator: Connie Stacy (360) 407-9403 email: connie.stacy@des.

Solicitation Amendment

IFB 01714 – Translation Services – DSHS & HCA Systems Generated Client Letters

|Amendment number: |Two* |

|Date issued: |June 6, 2014 |

Effect of the amendments:

All revisions or additional requirements detailed below are to be considered official and binding on the bidder for this solicitation and become official contract language upon execution of the contract, unless specifically amended later in time.

Purpose of amendment one:

1. Change the prebid conference date from June 17, 2014 to July 1, 2014 – 8:00 am to 11:00 am

2. Provide the call in information for the prebid conference as follows:

-Call-in toll-free number (US/Canada): 1-877-668-4493

-Attendee Access Code: 795-759-17

3. Extend the bid closing date from July 2 to July 22, 2014 – 2 pm

4. Note that a revised sample document for Appendix J will be provided at time of the prebid conference/subsequent Amendment if required

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response

*Purpose of amendment two:

1. Provide list of Bidder questions and the state’s responses (see attached)

2. Provide sample documents for Appendix J (see attached embedded files) and clarify which category sample documents pertain to (some of these are the same as originally provided but are reiterated here for clarification purposes)

3. The remainder of the RFP is unchanged

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response

Procurement Coordinator: Connie Stacy (360) 407-9403 email: connie.stacy@des.

1. BIDDER QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES:

| |Question |Response |

|1 |Who is the incumbent for this service? What is their price? |Dynamic Language Center: |

| | |Keying-in and formatting of “Client Letters”= |

| | |$10.33 per client letter. Translation of |

| | |“English text into requested language”= $.22 per|

| | |English word. |

|2 |What is the services start date? |January 1, 2015 |

|3 |Will there be a single award for Category 1 and a single award for Category |Yes |

| |2? | |

|4 |What is the average number of words translated per language per month? |This information is not available for either |

| | |Category. Each document consists of a |

| | |combination of full translation, text block and |

| | |keying. |

|5 |Proficiency: what is the “required certification examination or screening |Please reference Appendix F, Section 1.5. |

| |evaluation”? | |

|6 |Translation turnaround times are measured by number of words. It is industry |While this was considered by the RFP team, it |

| |standard to provide turnaround times by number of words. Can the agency amend|was determined as not applicable because each |

| |the solicitation to include turnaround times by number of words? |document requires a full set of services (see |

| | |item 4) rather just words. |

|7 |Do you want 1 translator per document or translation, editing, and Quality |Please reference Appendix F, Section 1.5. We |

| |Assurance? The latter would require more than 1 translator per document. |would expect you to rely on your own internal |

| | |Quality Assurance Program to assure accuracy and|

| | |consistency. |

|8 |In the attachment “Responses to Management Questions” section 6a, why do you |No, providing a Quality Management Plan will not|

| |require three translator’s names? It is against the contractor’s security |suffice. |

| |policy to reveal the names of our independent contractors. Will providing a |As noted within the Service requirements, names |

| |Quality Management Plan suffice? |of the translators who translated a specific |

| | |document are required, which under state |

| | |statute, becomes public information. |

|9 |Appendix B Bidder Profile: the contractor works with independently |Yes |

| |contracted, freelance individual linguists. Does this apply as a | |

| |subcontractor? | |

|10 |Appendix B Pricing Worksheet: there is no per word price per language. As the|No, the costs requested are to be “all |

| |cost of languages differ, would the agency consider amending the pricing |inclusive” and have intentionally not been split|

| |worksheet to include a cost per language? |by language. |

|11 |Appendix B Pricing Worksheet: the agency is asking for a formatting charge |We took the hourly fee into consideration when |

| |per document. This is usually done as an hourly fee. |we determined that the cost should be by |

| | |document. |

|12 |Appendix J: which of these samples are for Category 1 and which are for |Please see response below |

| |Category 2? | |

|13 |Appendix F, 1.2: “have the ability to store and manipulate translated text |Save blocks of translated text into your data |

| |blocks, combining them into multiple documents”: what do you mean store text |base for future use. |

| |blocks? | |

|14 |Appendix F, 1.3: “It is the Contractor’s responsibility to pick up client |Yes, we mean physically pick up/drop off. At |

| |letters needing translation and drop off client letters that have been |this point it cannot be done electronically. |

| |translated, each business day, from a pre-arranged DSHS office. Repeated or |Yes, documents are hard copy. |

| |multiple failures to collect and/or drop off translation work daily may | |

| |result in contract termination.” Do you mean physically, pick-up/drop-off? | |

| |Can this not be arranged electronically? Are documents to be received | |

| |physical hard-copy documents? | |

|15 |Appendix F, 1.3: “the contractor will be required to track all translated |Yes, the contractor will be required to keep a |

| |text blocks using the unique DSHS numerical identifier and DSHS Primary |bank of previously translated text per language |

| |Language Codes (see appendix H)”. Does this mean that the contractor will |since they will be utilized in future |

| |keep a bank of previously translated text per language? What counts as a |documents/projects. A “translated block” means a|

| |“translated block”? Please clarify. |block of previously translated text that has |

| | |been assigned a unique number by the requester. |

|16 |Appendix F, 1.4: What is the requested deliverable by DSHS? Are you asking |Category One – Hard copies. |

| |for hardcopy deliverable or electronic deliverable? |Category Two – electronically via secure email |

| | |set-up by DSHS |

|17 |Appendix F: in what format will the contractor receive the documents? Excel? |Category One – hard copy |

| |Microsoft Word? Please clarify. |Category Two – templates in Microsoft Office |

| | |Word with Client Specific documents sent from |

| | |the field in PDF format |

|18 |Appendix F: What does an “approved Contractor translator testing program” |Yes |

| |mean? Does this mean Quality Assurance process? | |

|19 |Appendix F: what does it require to “key-in English names, addresses and |This information will be provided by the |

| |phone numbers? How will the contractor get that information? |customer. |

|20 |Appendix F: “identifying which coded text has been translated”: what does |The contractor will be receiving hard copy |

| |this mean? |letters for translation. At the time of |

| | |receipt, the contractor will need to review the |

| | |text in the letter to determine whether or not |

| | |the text has been previously translated (and |

| | |stored for future use). Text that has not been |

| | |translated will need to be translated (and |

| | |stored for future use). |

|21 |Appendix J, “Planned Action Notice”: Is the yellow highlight text the text |No, the yellow highlighted is not text for |

| |for translation? Would this be provided in a word document? |translation, and yes, this would be provided in |

| | |a word document. |

|22 |Appendix J: DSHS Sample 1 is 104 pages and there is highlighted text as well |For the most part, the highlighted text does not|

| |as corrected text. What is the text that is to be translated? Is this the |need to be translated and banked because the |

| |average length for Category 2 documents? |contractor has already done so. The average |

| | |length for a DSHS document is six to sixty |

| | |pages. |

|23 |Appendix J: P1 Letter Sample has blue coding. Is this entire document to be |No, the blue font is not representative of what |

| |translated? What is to be done with the blue coding? |is to be translated. The blue font would remain |

| | |as is. The contractor(s) will receive specific |

| | |instructions with each document. |

|24 |Appendix J: will any of the source documents be hand-written? |No |

|25 |Appendix J: will we need to translate anything for a sample translation? Or |No sample translation is required. These |

| |are these documents purely for reference? |documents are for reference only. |

|26 |“Within 15 days of request, submit a comprehensive list of all translators |Please see the response to Question #8. |

| |Contractor’s agency will utilize to meet the terms of the contract. The | |

| |translator list must be electronically updated and sent to DES whenever a | |

| |change in translator staff is made. These updates will be sent to DSHS and | |

| |HCA within five days of any change”: it is the contractor’s policy to keep | |

| |the names and identifiable information about a translator confidential. The | |

| |contractor suggests amending this policy to asking for a Quality Assurance | |

| |Plan or translator ID number. | |

|27 |“Any subcontractors not listed must be pre-approved, in writing, by the |No. The referenced quotation is from Appendix A,|

| |Purchasing Authority”: does this also apply to freelance, individual |Master Terms and Conditions, and Section One of |

| |independently contracted interpreters? |the RFP takes precedence. |

| | | |

|28 |The cost for formatting/typesetting (DTP) is charged on an hourly basis; |No, please see response to Question #11. |

| |versus on a per page or document basis.  Is this something that can be | |

| |modified? | |

| | | |

| | |This document contains them. |

| |Do you have the current list of questions/answers for our review? | |

| | | |

|29 |Will there be any formatting rules such as font size and pagination? |Yes, contractor(s) will receive instructions |

| |For both categories, are requests based on submissions or on a per language |with each document. |

| |scale? | |

| |Can you have the same linguists for Category 1 and 2? |Upon submissions. |

| | | |

| | |Yes |

|30 |Can you please tell me who had won the bid on the previous contract expiring |Dynamic Language was awarded the current |

| |in December of this year for this project? What set them apart from other |contract, and award was based upon the sum of |

| |bidders? |cost and non- cost factors, similar to those |

| | |contained in this RFP. |

|31 |Will preference be given to in-state contractors? If so, what is the specific|No, the state is a “free trade” state. |

| |evaluation allotment of points that will go towards that preference? | |

| | | |

| |What is your definition of an “error”?  Under which circumstance would we |An error is a mistake on the contractor’s part. |

| |need to make a “correction”? |You would make a change upon customer request. |

| | | |

|32 |Considering that there are three (3) timeframe tiers identified, for the type|The customers prefer an all- inclusive rate(s). |

| |of correspondence requiring services, would DES consider separate rates for | |

| |those requests that far exceed 10 or more pages? | |

|33 |Are contract translators considered subcontractors as defined in Appendix A, |If translators are not employees of the |

| |Section 2 – Standard Definitions? |contractor, they are considered to be |

| | |subcontractors. |

| | | |

| |Per Appendix F, Service Requirements, Item 1.3 it says: It is the |Any DSHS office that accesses mail through the |

| |Contractor’s responsibility to pick up client letters needing translation and|campus mail service. Potential bidders can ask |

| |drop off client letters that have been translated, each business day, from a |about specific locations and we can let them |

| |pre-arranged DSHS office. Which DSHS offices may the Contractor potentially |know if the service is available at that |

| |pick up and drop off the client letters? |location. |

| | | |

| |Will electronic copies of the client letters be made available to the | |

| |Contractor?  If so, what format will the files be in? |Category One – No, at this point, letters will |

| | |not be made available electronically. |

| | |Category Two – originally submitted |

| | |electronically. Format will be Microsoft Office|

| | |for the most part. |

| | | |

| |Are the turnaround time frames, as detailed in Appendix F, Service |Per packet, and no, word counts will not be |

| |Requirements, Section 1.6.1, per letter or packet? Are word counts taken into|taken into consideration. |

| |consideration? | |

| | | |

2. Please reference Appendix J – Sample Documents:

a) the embedded files below are samples for Category One:

[pic][pic]

b) the embedded files below are samples for Category Two:

[pic][pic]

-End-

Solicitation Amendment

IFB 01714 – Translation Services – DSHS & HCA Systems Generated Client Letters

|Amendment number: |Three |

|Date issued: |July 2, 2014 |

Effect of the amendments:

All revisions or additional requirements detailed below are to be considered official and binding on the bidder for this solicitation and become official contract language upon execution of the contract, unless specifically amended later in time.

Purpose of amendment three:

1. Publish list of prebid conference attendees (see attached)

2. Provide list of additional questions and responses, and/or clarifications (see attached)

3. The remainder of the RFP is unchanged, including the closing date of July 22, 2014 at 2:00 pm

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response

Procurement Coordinator: Connie Stacy (360) 407-9403 email: connie.stacy@des.

1. The following is a list of attendees of the July 1, 2014 optional attendance prebid conference:

|Name |Represented |

|Linda Sylte |Department of Social & Health Services |

|Tom Johnson |Department of Social & Health Services |

|Sothy Uon |Department of Social & Health Services |

|Jason Selden |Dynamic Language |

|Katia Hadjiyska |MasterWord Services |

|Chris Erskine |CTS Language Link |

|Maureen Tan |CTS Language Link |

|Shamus Sayed |Interpreters Unlimited |

|Helena Green |Quick Translation S! |

|Patty McDonald |Department of Social & Health Services |

|Elena Safariants |Health Care Authority |

|Alisha Ghanie |Department of Enterprise Services |

|Connie Stacy |Department of Enterprise Services |

2. The following is a list of the additional bidder questions, and issues that required clarification:

|Question/Issue |Response/Clarification |

|How many locations require physical |There is only one location and it is located in Seattle. The specific address will be |

|pick-up/delivery, and where are they |provided to the successful contractor. |

|located? | |

|Does the state have any requirements |We consider the person to be your responsibility and if required, are bonded and licensed |

|regarding the person facilitating | |

|pick-up? | |

|How we can find the current contract? |Here is the link: |

| | |

|How many accounts does Category Two |There are approximately 122 reporting units in the CARE program, with at least thirty |

|have? |requiring that separate accounts and billing be established. All of the accounts will be |

| |submitting documents to the contractor in a PDF format. |

|Appendixes C and F – Subcontractors |A - If you prefer that your list of subcontractors be considered “confidential”, please |

| |indicate by placing in a separate sealed envelope and marking “confidential” |

| |F 1.1Bc – Please see above. Also, clarify that if an interpreter is an actual employee, |

| |this information need not be submitted. If an interpreter is a subcontractor, they must be|

| |made fully aware of contractual obligations. |

|Payment by credit card |The potential of payment by credit card by state customers has been deleted (thus |

| |eliminating the concerns of passing along merchant transaction fees into bid pricing) |

|Prompt Payment Discount |Clarify that if bidder offers a prompt pay discount for payment for thirty days or more, |

| |that bid pricing will be discounted by that amount for evaluation purposes |

|Contractor Requirements |All bidders/successful contractors are required to be knowledgeable and adhere to all |

| |federal and/or state rules and regulations to conduct business within the state of |

| |Washington for interpreter services |

-END-

Solicitation Amendment

IFB 01714 – Translation Services – DSHS & HCA Systems Generated Client Letters

|Amendment number: |Four |

|Date issued: |July 17, 2014 |

Effect of the amendments:

All revisions or additional requirements detailed below are to be considered official and binding on the bidder for this solicitation and become official contract language upon execution of the contract, unless specifically amended later in time.

Purpose of amendment four:

3. Provide list of additional questions and responses, and/or clarifications (see attached). No additional questions will be accepted at this time.

3. The remainder of the RFP is unchanged, including the closing date of July 22, 2014 at 2:00 pm

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response

Procurement Coordinator: Connie Stacy (360) 407-9403 email: connie.stacy@des.

3. The following is a list of the additional bidder questions, and issues that required clarification:

|Question/Issue |Response/Clarification |

|There are two prices for each Category 1 and 2: charge per client letter, and charge |The price per letter and price per word will |

|per English word. How will the evaluation total for each Category 1 and 2 be |be added together. |

|calculated? Is it the addition of the per client letter plus per English word cost? |yes |

|RFP states we are to in-person pick up the forms for translation and drop off the |For Care documents (Category One), |

|translated forms. Do we get both printouts and electronic files? Do we deliver both |transmission of files will happen |

|printouts and electronic files? |electronically. For ACES (Category One) and |

| |P1 (Category Two), correspondence/ hard |

| |copies of English materials will have to be |

| |picked up by vendor and completed |

| |translations will have to be delivered on |

| |hard copy attached to English original. At |

| |this point, correspondence will be ready for |

| |mailing. DSHS and HCA send translated |

| |correspondence to their clients along with |

| |English original. |

| |At this time, only hard copies of documents |

| |(printouts) for Category Two will be dropped |

| |off by the state and delivered by the |

| |contractor |

|Do you have a list of number of requests per language for any given period of time (1|[pic][pic][pic] |

|month 6 months….) | |

|Item 2.9 mentions a quarterly sales report provided by the vendor. Could you kindly |[pic] |

|send us a copy of the last 4 sales reports from Dynamic Language for the current | |

|contract? | |

|Could you please send us a copy of any other reports (item 2.10) that Dynamic |Please see response to question three |

|Language has sent over the past year? | |

|If we are awarded the contract, will we get a copy of all the translated text blocks |yes |

|from the current contract holder? | |

|Are there any pick-ups and deliveries on weekends? |No |

|Braille and Large Print English are also part of the new contract ? Same price as |Braille – no, LPE – yes (please reference |

|other languages? |Appendix H – Language Codes), and yes, same |

| |price as other languages |

|Do you have a breakdown of the types of requests, according to turnaround times |No |

|(Appendix F, turnaround timeframes): | |

|Within 4 business days for correspondence which requires keying-in or formatting or | |

|previously translated text in all languages | |

|Within 8 business days for correspondence which requires keying-in, formatting, and | |

|new translation. | |

|Within 10 business days for 10 or more pages long CARE correspondence which requires | |

|keying-in, formatting and new translation | |

|Do you also have a total for the number of words translated per period? |No |

-END-

Solicitation Amendment

IFB 01714 – Translation Services – DSHS & HCA Systems Generated Client Letters

|Amendment number: |Four and Five |

|Date issued: |July 17, 2014 |

Effect of the amendments:

All revisions or additional requirements detailed below are to be considered official and binding on the bidder for this solicitation and become official contract language upon execution of the contract, unless specifically amended later in time.

Purpose of amendment four:

4. Provide list of additional questions and responses, and/or clarifications (see attached). No additional questions will be accepted at this time.

2. The remainder of the RFP is unchanged, including the closing date of July 22, 2014 at 2:00 pm

3. Please note category clarification in Question Two (attached)

Note to bidder: This amendment need not be included in its entirety with your bid response

Procurement Coordinator: Connie Stacy (360) 407-9403 email: connie.stacy@des.

4. The following is a list of the additional bidder questions, and issues that required clarification:

|Question/Issue |Response/Clarification |

|There are two prices for each Category 1 and 2: charge per client letter, and charge |The price per letter and price per word will |

|per English word. How will the evaluation total for each Category 1 and 2 be |be added together. |

|calculated? Is it the addition of the per client letter plus per English word cost? |yes |

|RFP states we are to in-person pick up the forms for translation and drop off the |For Care documents (CategoryTwo), |

|translated forms. Do we get both printouts and electronic files? Do we deliver both |transmission of files will happen |

|printouts and electronic files? |electronically. For ACES (Category\One) and |

| |P1 (CategoryOne), correspondence/ hard copies|

| |of English materials will have to be picked |

| |up by vendor and completed translations will |

| |have to be delivered on hard copy attached to|

| |English original. At this point, |

| |correspondence will be ready for mailing. |

| |DSHS and HCA send translated correspondence |

| |to their clients along with English original.|

| |At this time, only hard copies of documents |

| |(printouts) for Category Two will be dropped |

| |off by the state and delivered by the |

| |contractor |

|Do you have a list of number of requests per language for any given period of time (1|[pic][pic][pic] |

|month 6 months….) | |

|Item 2.9 mentions a quarterly sales report provided by the vendor. Could you kindly |[pic] |

|send us a copy of the last 4 sales reports from Dynamic Language for the current | |

|contract? | |

|Could you please send us a copy of any other reports (item 2.10) that Dynamic |Please see response to question three |

|Language has sent over the past year? | |

|If we are awarded the contract, will we get a copy of all the translated text blocks |yes |

|from the current contract holder? | |

|Are there any pick-ups and deliveries on weekends? |No |

|Braille and Large Print English are also part of the new contract ? Same price as |Braille – no, LPE – yes (please reference |

|other languages? |Appendix H – Language Codes), and yes, same |

| |price as other languages |

|Do you have a breakdown of the types of requests, according to turnaround times |No |

|(Appendix F, turnaround timeframes): | |

|Within 4 business days for correspondence which requires keying-in or formatting or | |

|previously translated text in all languages | |

|Within 8 business days for correspondence which requires keying-in, formatting, and | |

|new translation. | |

|Within 10 business days for 10 or more pages long CARE correspondence which requires | |

|keying-in, formatting and new translation | |

|Do you also have a total for the number of words translated per period? |No |

-END-

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