Interpreting, translation and transcription services across 250 languages and dialects. For all public sector.
Updates
07/04/2020 – The contract award notice for this agreement has been extended.
27/03/2020 – Due to the current coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, we are calling on Regulation 72 (1) (c) to extend this agreement for 12 months. This will relieve pressure on the supply chain while short staffed, to help businesses to continue to deliver services and goods to customers. We intend to deliver replacement agreements as quickly as possible after the initial COVID-19 impact.
17/03/2020 – Update – The development of the new commercial agreement for RM6141 is underway. A PIN will be released the week commencing 16 March 2020 as an indication to the market of our intention to create a replacement for the expiring agreement. As part of this process CCS would like to gather feedback from interested customers and suppliers. This will be captured through the following surveys which should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.
Description
This agreement provides all public sector organisations with access to quality interpreters, translators and transcription services (often required at short notice). The agreement ensures that public sector organisations that have an ethical and legal obligation, and are bound by the Human Rights and Equality and Diversity Acts, are able to provide equal access to their services regardless of cultural/linguistic background. The agreement provides an enhanced scope of services through the use of technology, increased SME supplier numbers and regional presence. A 12 month extension will be available.
Benefits
- Regional structure including SMEs
- Managed service provision suppliers (lot 1) to reduce your costs
- Fixed pricing model for telephone interpreting and video language services (lot 3)
- Security-cleared translators
- Alternative translation formats including braille, audio, large print and transcription
- Secure exchange of documents.
Products and suppliers
Please read the 'How to buy' tab below for detailed instructions on how to find out which suppliers are on this framework.
How to buy
Direct award
Suitable if there is only one supplier that meets your requirements, or you can clearly establish which supplier is cheapest. You cannot use any supplementary terms and conditions with the agreement if you choose this option. Schedule 6 of the framework agreement (see documents tab) has more about direct order.
Further competition
You invite suppliers to compete for your business to get the best value. You can specify service levels, security clearance required or minimum qualifications, for example. You are free to amend the call off agreement to reflect these.
Schedule 5 of the agreement (see documents tab) has more about placing an order through further competition.
CCS can provide the pricing template with weighting calculations plus a basic invitation to tender and an NHS based tender.
Full documentation, including pricing, is also available on our eSourcing tool:
Log on to the eSourcing tool
Register for the eSourcing tool
Read the guidance to using the tool and guidance on viewing rate cards.
Call off agreement
Whichever option you choose, your call off agreement will set out the legal relationship between you and your chosen supplier. It is based on a standard set of terms and conditions which can be found in Schedule 4 of the agreement (see documents tab). There are two parts: part one, the order form, and part 2, the terms and conditions.