STATE OF WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL AND HEALTH SERVICES PO Box 45811, Olympia WA 98504-5811 DATE: October 22, 2020 TO: RFP #2034-765 – ALTSA-DDA - Translation Auto Systems FROM: James O'Brien, Solicitation Coordinator DSHS Central Contracts and Legal Services SUBJECT: Amendment No. 1 – Questions and Answers DSHS amends RFP #2034-765 solicitation document to include: - Bidders' Questions and Answers - Updated Attachment G - List of Language Names and Codes - Template for LTC Service Summary - Temple of a Client Specific Service Summary Document (redacted) - Samples of a Form in Large Print (LP) 1 Bidder’s Questions and Answers RFP #2034-765 Question #1: Can companies from Outside USA can apply for this solicitation? (like from India or Canada) A: The Contractor must be located within the United States. Question #2: Would the selected Company be required to come to DSHS offices for meetings? A: Meetings can be conducted remotely, especially in the current world pandemic situation. Question #3: Can we perform the tasks (related to RFP) outside USA? (like from India or Canada) A: The Contractor must be located in the United States. With respect to the translators'/reviewers’ locations, DSHS prefers to use linguists residing: a. within our state when possible, b. then within the country, c. and only in rare instances when no qualified linguists for the languages of lesser diffusion are available in a. and b. would the Contractor use the outside resources. Question #4: Can we submit the proposals via email? A: Yes. Electronic submittal of the proposals is acceptable. Please send to the Solicitation Coordinator, James O'Brien, at [email protected]. Question #5: Regarding Section E. 7. Bidder’s References: Once the written evaluations are completed, DSHS may contact the references provided by the top-ranked Bidder(s) in order to investigate past performance and validate information in Bidder Responses. Please specify the Form and Section where references should be included. A: DSHS will seek references from the top-ranked bidders once the written evaluations have been completed. Please see page 27 of the RFP document under section 7. Bidder's References. 2 Question #6: Regarding Section 4. Bidder Minimum Qualifications Note: Currently there are 25 different templates in use. Are the 25 templates references already translated into each of the Primary Languages? A: Yes. Question #7: Please indicate the anticipated volume (total number of pages) of orders for Large Print per year. Alternately, please indicate the historic volume (total number of pages) of orders for Large Print per year. A: Not to exceed 100 pages per quarter. Last year DSHS ALTSA/DDA requested 263 pages of documents for LP formatting. Question #8: Please indicate the anticipated volume (total number of words) of orders of each of the Primary Languages per year. Alternately, please indicate the historic volume (total number of words) of orders of each of the Primary Languages per year. A: DSHS ALTSA and DDA do not have this information. Question #9: Can you provide samples or access to the 25 templates? A: DSHS will include a couple of templates and will attach them to the end of this Amendment #1. All pre-translated templates will be provided to the Apparent Successful Bidder. Question #10: Can you be more specific about the average number of words to be requested for translation and inserted into the foreign language templates? A: This information is not available, as it differs from client to client. Question #11: Are these entire paragraphs of text, or pages of text to be translated? A: Mostly paragraphs and words, also checking the boxes. Question #12: Of the 25 existing templates, how many are 10 or more pages? A: Currently 10 templates are 10 or more pages long 3 . Question #13: Please provide a sample order that includes new translation with the template and English text to be translated. A: We will provide some samples and will attach to the end of this Amendment #1. Question #14: Do you anticipate extending the bid due date? A: No. Question #15: What additional details are you willing to provide, if any, beyond what is stated in bid documents concerning how you will identify the winning bid? A: All relevant information for the RFP process has been listed in the RFP document. Question #16: Please let us know whether you have received this email, and when and how answers will be provided. A: All questions received by the solicitation coordinator will be acknowledged with a return email confirmation to the sender. All answers to all of the questions will be posted in Amendment #1 to this solicitation. Question #17: Other than your own website, where was this bid posted? A: This RFP was posted, in addition to DSHS website, on the Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) page https://pr-webs- vendor.des.wa.gov/Search_BidDetails.aspx?ID=44495 as required by state regulations. Question #18: What is the minimum and maximum amount of documents the DSHS expects to be translated/formatted per week? A: This information is not available, as it depends on many individual factors. Question #19: Will the vendor be provided with any previously translated templates? A: Yes, the selected Contractor will receive pre-translated templates. 4 Question #20: Can samples be provided of the templates to be processed under this contract? Or do they exist in a publicly accessible online repository? A: Samples will be provided as a part of the responses to the questions and will be attached to the end of this Amendment #1. Question #21: Can examples be provided of a client letter for which large print formatting has been applied? A: We will provide DSHS form in large print as an example and will be attached to the end of this Amendment #1. Question #22: Will the client letters submitted by the requestor be scanned from physical paper? A: Most of the documents will be in PDF created from the electronic written documents. In very rare cases the document may be a scanned one. Question #23: What is the estimated daily volume of letters? A: This information is not available, as it has not been tracked under previous contract. Question #24: What is the approximate percentage of the total requests that are Translation-related, and what approximate percentage are Large Print Formatting-related? A: Ratio of translations vs LP requests is unknown. Annual number of requests for formatting as LP documents did not exceed 300 pages. Please see the answer to Q #7. Question #25: Regarding Section 3. Project Scope b. Service Requirements ‒ ii. Translation Quality Requirements. To ensure and promote translation accuracy, the Contractor must: • Use Translators who are certified, authorized or qualified by one or more of the following authorities: • American Translators Association (ATA). • DSHS Language Testing and Certification program. • Approved Contractor Translator testing programs. -What information will you need in order to approve a Contractor’s Translator testing program? A: Description of process applied to determine translator/reviewer qualifications. 5 -The firm in question is a member of the American Translator Association (ATA) since 1995 and employs a pre-approved linguist testing and vetting process as documented in their ISO 9001:17100 certification. They also have a robust Quality Management System established with ISO 9001:2017 certification. Would this qualify as an “Approved Contractor Translator testing program”? A: The firm will need to provide the mentioned documentation and the description of their Quality Management System. Question #26: What are the primary 15 languages? A: Please see the definition on page 19 of Attachment A; list of languages in the first table of worksheet - Question 7 on “Bidder Response Form Management Response” Attachment D1. Question #27: We have a database of over 4,000 linguists. It would not be possible to send a comprehensive list of all the translators and reviewers that could be working the DSHS contract. Would it be possible to provide the names of a few translators we may use? A: Please respond to the Q7 on abovementioned “Bidder Response Form Management Response” (Attachment D1) as you deem appropriate. Question #28: In regards to Large Print, does DSHS require the documents to be 508 compliant, or simply to have larger font size? A: Please see the requirements for Large Print formatting description in the Statement of Work of Sample Contract (Attachment A, pages 34-35) and Attachment H documents. Question #29: Can a rush fee be adding to the cost work sheet for expedited turnaround times? A: 4, 8, and 10 workdays turnaround time frames will be sufficient under this contract. Question #30: Can we provide rates for translation memory? A: Software programs that use Translation Memories are broadly used by the translation service industry. DSHS will not be responsible for purchasing, maintaining or reimbursing for these products. 6 Question #31: 508 compliance/large print is charged per hour, can we change the pricing to per hour? A: No, we use the pricing per page. Question #32: Keying and formatting I also charged per hour as it changes per document. Can we also price this per hour? A: No, per word charge must be applied. Question #33: Can we price translation per word differently for differently languages. For example, Spanish is much cheaper than Somali and we want to give the most competitive pricing. A: No. Question #34: Are you able to provide the name of the current incumbent and their prices? A: Please refer to current contract 01714 information on the Department of Enterprise Services (DES) website: https://apps.des.wa.gov/DESContracts/Home/ContractSummary/01714 and refer all additional questions to DES contracts specialists. Question #35: Have you experienced any difficulties with the current incumbent? A: No.