CITY OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY Office of the Business Administration Division of Purchasing

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CITY OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY Office of the Business Administration Division of Purchasing Request for Proposals: Competitive Contracting: RFP 14-02 - CERTIFIED

1 CITY OF HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY Office of the Business Administration Division of Purchasing Request for Proposals: Competitive Contracting: RFP CERTIFIED LANGUAGE INTERPRETER/TRANSLATION SERVICES AL B. DINEROS, QPA Purchasing Agent City of Hoboken Division of Purchasing 94 Washington Street Hoboken, New Jersey 07030

2 SPECIFICATIONS COMPETITIVE CONTRACT CERTIFIED LANGUAGE INTERPRETER/TRANSLATION SERVICES Purpose The City of Hoboken is seeking proposals from qualified vendors to provide Court Language Interpreter/Translations Services. When required by court, the contractor shall provide qualified, competent, and experienced AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts) certified court interpreters to the City of Hoboken Municipal Court on as needed basis for all scheduled court sessions. The contractor shall provide interpreting services in a variety of languages to non- English speaking persons participating in the City Court hearing. Contract Term The term of the contract is for 24 months. Scope of Services When required by court, the contractor shall provide qualified, competent, and experienced AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts) certified court interpreters to the City of Hoboken Municipal Court on as needed basis for all scheduled court sessions. There are four (4) sessions a week, Tuesday through Thursday. - Tuesday 8:45 AM - Tuesday 5:45 PM (Night Court) - Wednesday - 8:45 AM - Thursday - 8:45 AM NOTE: 1. Special court session may be scheduled when needed. 2. Spanish interpreter shall be present in all court sessions. The contractor shall be solely responsible for the recruitment, screening, qualifying and scheduling of all interpreters assigned to the court. Interpreter may be required to interpret any language listed below and any language not listed but needed by the court. The interpreters are to comply with all applicable New Jersey AOC directives, job specifications, requirements, approval, certifications and qualifications for interpreters.

3 The contractor shall provide interpreting services for all the languages listed, but not limited to the following languages: Arabic Chinese - Cantonese Chinese - Mandarin Croatian Czech French Creole French Senegal Hebrew Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Persian Polish Russian Serbo-Croatian Sign Language *Spanish Tagalog Turkish Urdu Vietnamese Yiddish *Spanish interpreter shall be present in all court sessions. The contractor will be required to provide interpreting services "as needed" during normally scheduled court sessions when required by the court. Contractor will be notified in advance. The court reserves the right to request interpreters on short notice when necessary, for instance twenty-four (24) hours in advance. Written Proposal Format: Proposals must address all information requested in this RFP. Proposals which in the judgment of the City fail to meet the requirements of this RFP or which are in any way conditional, incomplete, obscure, contain additions or deletions from requested information, or contains errors may be rejected. 1. Mandatory Contents Each proposal submitted must contain the following sections described below - Title Page - Table of Contents - Technical Proposal - Vendor profile and Experience - Past and Present Contractual Relationship - Staff/Resume/Job Descriptions

4 - Staff Performance Evaluations and Training - Method of providing Services - Timing and Fees 1.1. Title Page The Proposal should include a title page, which identifies the services being provided, the name of the Firm, name of the vendor s primary contact, address, telephone number, fax number and primary address Table of Contents The Vendor s Proposal should include a Table of Contents, which lists the titles and page numbers for each major topic and sub-topic contained in the proposal Technical Proposal This section should include a summary of the key points and highlights of the Vendor s response. A discussion of the Interpreters that will be utilized should be contained in this section. The City requests that as part of the discussion here, the vendor should provide a list of languages it is prepared to interpret and the number of Interpreters for each language on staff. The vendor should also produce qualifications/certifications of each Interpreter. The technical proposal is compose of the following sub-sections Vendor Profile and Experience The vendor must specify how long it has been in the business of providing services similar to those requested in this RFP. The vendor must list all names it has used when conducting business. The vendor must explain their expertise or history in the provision of such services. The vendor must provide an organizational profile including, number of employees Past and Present Contractual Relationship The vendor shall describe any past or present contractual relationship with the City of Hoboken, or any other local and state agency including colleges and universities during the past five years. If no such relationship exists, so declare. Vendor must submit reference(s) where the firm performed same or similar service.

5 Staff/Resume/Job Descriptions The vendor must submit a resume or job description detailing the level of education, experience, training, skills, etc. which emphasizes previous experience in the service area as described in this RFP for all key personnel, including interpreters and translators who will be involved in providing the services/project. The vendor should indicate that it has sufficient staff to perform the services required in this RFP. If sufficient staff is not currently available, describe how the staff will be obtained to provide the services and the timeline for obtaining the needed staff. Indicate the number of anticipated staff for each position/title. Vendor must document their inclusion in the AOC registry Staff Performance Evaluations and Training Vendor must describe its staff development program regarding orientation, on-going staff evaluation and training that will be implemented throughout the contract period to ensure that delivery of effective services that adhere to the performance standard in accordance with the specification of this RFP References Vendor must submit reference(s) with the point of contact and telephone numbers where the firm performed same or similar or service. The City reserves the right to verify submitted information Method of Providing Services In this section of the proposal, the vendor should confirm its ability to provide interpreting services to the City. It should state what it believes to be the scope of the intended strategy within the City. The Vendor must provide a detailed description of the work plan and the methods to be used that will convincingly demonstrate what the vendor intends to do. The vendor must provide proof that they are capable of 1.5. Timing and Fees In this section, please describe. The timing and associated fees the vendor is proposing for the implementation. Vendors should include all associated expenses, in addition to professional fees. Vendor is to provide the hourly rate per language and also include if there is an hourly minimum for each language. The vendor should also provide a session rate for each language for this section;

6 There are four (4) sessions a week, Tuesday through Thursday. - Tuesday 8:45 AM - Tuesday 5:45 PM (Night Court) - Wednesday - 8:45 AM - Thursday - 8:45 AM NOTE: 1. Special court session may be scheduled when needed.

7 Cost Proposal Matrix LANGUAGE Arabic Chinese - Cantonese Chinese - Mandarin Croatian Czech French Creole French Senegal Hebrew Hindi Italian Japanese Korean Persian Polish Russian Serbo-Croatian Sign Language *Spanish Tagalog Turkish Urdu Vietnamese Yiddish Number of Interpreters Hourly Rate per Interpreter Rate per Session Per Interpreter Travel Fees per Interpreter * Spanish interpreter shall be present in all court sessions.

8 BASIS OF AWARD EVALUATION CRITERIA EXAMINATION OF PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS By submitting a proposal, the Vendor represents that they have thoroughly examined and become familiar with the work required under this RFP and that they are capable of performing quality work to achieve the City s objectives. PROPOSAL EVALUATION The City will select the most advantageous proposal based on a point system evaluation of all of the factors as set forth in this RFP (see evaluation form). However, cost is important to the City. The City will make the award that is in the best interest of the City based on cost and other considerations. Each proposal must satisfy the objectives and requirements detailed in this RFP. The features of the proposal, considered together with its economic and other benefits, will form the basis for the evaluation process as shown on the evaluation form. The City reserves the right to: - Not select any of the proposals. - Request the Vendor(s) to demonstrate by oral, in-person presentation any services described in their proposal prior to award. Vendor will not be compensated for making the presentation. - At the request of the City, give an oral demonstration/presentation at the Municipal Building of their services and equipment prior to award. Vendor will not be compensated for making the presentation.

9 EVALUATION CRITERIA COMPETITIVE CONTRACT CERTIFIED LANGUAGE INTERPRETER/TRANSLATION SERVICES The following is the criteria for evaluation of the proposal. Points shall be awarded based on the information contained in the proposal for each category as listed below on a scale of 1-10, with 10 meeting all required criteria and 1 not meeting the required criteria. The highest total score shall be the basis for the contract award. Each criterion shall be evaluated on a scale of one (1) to ten (10). EVALUATION CRITERIA SCORE/ POINTS 1. Does the vendor s proposal demonstrate a clear understanding of the scope of work and related objectives? 2. Is the vendor s proposal complete and responsive to the specific RFP requirements? 3. Does the vendor s proposal demonstrate experience and knowledge necessary for the task? 4. Has the vendor successfully provided similar services to other agency? 5. Does the vendor provided a comprehensive plan to deliver the required services? 6. Does the vendor have the qualifications, licenses and certifications necessary to deliver the required services? (Must submit documentation as proof of inclusion in the AOC registry) 7. Does the vendor have the appropriate staffing and interpreters/translators to provide the services required in accordance with this RFP? 8. How does the cost compare to other similarly scored proposals? 9. Does the vendor have sufficient financial resources to meet its obligations? 10. Is there a well-reasoned method of providing the required services? POINT GRAND TOTAL: At the request of the City, vendor may give an oral demonstration/presentation at the Municipal Building of their services and equipment prior to award. Vendor will not be compensated for making the presentation.

RFQ ATTACHMENT V: RESPONSE TEMPLATE

RFQ ATTACHMENT V: RESPONSE TEMPLATE Instructions are provided in blue and may be deleted. Please complete your response in the template provided, and indicate clearly where separate documents are provided. Executive Summary 1. Applicant