The Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts (AOIC) and the AOIC’s Access to Justice Division is charged with the certification of court interpreters, maintaining the AOIC Court Interpreter Registry, and encouraging courts to use court interpreters who have had their language skills tested and are on the AOIC Court Interpreter Registry.

The AOIC is using a competitive selection process (referred to herein as the Request for Proposals or RFP) to select a vendor to provide only remote (phone or online platforms like Zoom) foreign language interpretation services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation services for individuals who are hearing impaired in court and court-annexed proceedings throughout Illinois. Interpreting assignments may range from simple to complex. The RFP response may serve as the basis for subsequent contract negotiations with the selected Vendor.

Scope of Work

At the request of any court across the state of Illinois, the selected vendor will be expected to provide interpreters for court and court-annexed proceedings remotely via phone or online platforms. Whenever possible, the vendor is expected to provide interpreters that hold a certification status (certified, registered, and/or qualified status) on the AOIC Court Interpreter Registry and/or certified or qualified interpreters on a different state registry.

Bid Narrative

In the vendor’s proposal, the vendor shall detail:

• the specific measures it utilizes to regularly monitor the skills of interpreters who work for the vendor in a remote setting.
• how it will ensure the interpreters it hires are professionally trained, with a verified level of fluency in the specific target languages.
• how it will ensure all foreign language interpreters and ASL interpreters abide by the Illinois Supreme Court Code of Ethics.
• its ability to easily book and have interpreters available for court and court-annexed proceedings across the state.
• its ability to provide immediate on demand language services and in what languages.
• its ability to provide interpretation in languages of lessor diffusion and average length of time it takes for the vendor to procure services for those languages.
• its ability to provide quarterly reports of circuits and court annexed proceedings usages and languages.
• its ability to provide translation services upon request for documents.
• its ability to provide Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART).
• its understanding and agreement that it will invoice the AOIC for remote interpreting services provided and include the following information on its invoices: date of services, names of interpreters utilized and the language they interpret, certification status, and a verification from the circuit court or agency that the service was provided.
• its practices, if any, in limiting the concurrent or future employment of the interpreters it hires, such as the execution of a non-compete clause in the vendor’s employment contract.
• other information essential for consideration.

Price Proposal

In the vendor’s proposal, the vendor shall detail its prices for:

• remote interpretation rates per language.
• any hourly minimum requirement.
• cancellation fees with length of advance notice required before a cancellation fee is to be charged.
• any immediate, on-demand, services offered and for what languages.
• translation services, if the vendor offers the service.
• for CART, if the vendor offers the service.
• fees charged for any other purposes.

Directions

As outlined below, vendors shall submit proposals to AccessToJustice@IllinoisCourts.gov, no later than 5:00 p.m. CST on July 12, 2024.

The proposal must be submitted as follows:

• Section 1: Statement of Interest: Each bid must include a statement of interest. The statement of interest must be signed by an individual authorized to bind the vendor contractually, indicating the signer’s title position. The Statement of Interest must state that the offer will remain in full force and effect for 60 days beyond the deadline for submittal and that the offer may be accepted by the AOIC at any time during those 60 days. An unsigned Statement of Interest will result in rejection of the bid.
• Section 2: Vendor Bid Certification Form (Attachment A)
• Section 3: Bid Narrative (10 pages max) (see Section III)
• Section 4: Price Proposal (see Section IV)
• Section 5:   References. This shall include a minimum of three (3) business references from prior engagements of similar size and scope as the services requested by the AOIC. Please list the most significant engagements performed in the last three (3) years that are similar to the engagements listed in this RFP. Reference checks will be conducted for each finalist.
• Section 6: Up-to-date representative sample resumes for three interpreters that reflect experience and credentials for the type of interpreters who will be utilized to provide these services.

The selected vendor must be able to execute the AOIC’s Standard Vendor Agreement for Goods and Services (Attachment B) and fulfill all required services. If subcontractors are engaged, the vendor must include a complete list of all subcontractors intended to be used, their address, and a description of the work each subcontractor will be performing.

The AOIC anticipates executing a multi-year term with the initial contract, (i.e., minimum of 2 years), with the AOIC’s option to renew the contract for an additional period (i.e., 2 years).

All questions must be submitted to AccessToJustice@IllinoisCourts.gov no later than June 5, 2024, at 5:00 P.M. CST. The AOIC will respond to all submitted questions on this proposal by June 7, 2024, at 5:00 P.M. CST. A list of all questions/answers will be posted on the “Procurement Opportunities” page of the illinoiscourts.gov website as part of this RFP.

This RFP is neither a contract nor meant to serve as a contract and does not create any obligation on the AOIC to affirmatively engage with any vendor. It is anticipated that proposals submitted in response to this RFP may be selected as the basis for negotiation of a contract with the vendor. Such a contract is presently contemplated to contain, at minimum, the terms of the proposal submitted, as finally negotiated, and approved by the AOIC. The AOIC reserves the right to negotiate additions, deletions, or modifications to the terms of proposals submitted. The AOIC’s Standard Vendor Agreement for Goods and Services can be found as Attachment B. The State reserves the right to award the vendor that has the best overall proposal within the AOIC’s timelines and to issue supplemental solicitations as warranted.

Key Dates

• May 10, 2024, Request for Proposal issued.
• June 5, 2024, All vendor questions submitted via email to AccessToJustice@IllinoisCourts.gov.
• June 7, 2024, Answers to all vendor questions released.
• July 12, 2024, Proposal submission deadline no later than 5:00 PM CST via email to AccessToJustice@IllinoisCourts.gov.