REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION. No award will be made as a result of this request. This Request for Information (RFI) is for informational purposes only; this is not a Request for Proposal (RFP), or Request for Quotation (RFQ). No solicitation document exists, and a formal solicitation may or may not be issued by the Government as a result of the responses to this RFI. The Government will not be liable for payment of any RFI response preparation expenses and is in no way obligated by the information received. Interested parties are responsible for adequately marking proprietary or sensitive information contained in their responses. The purpose of this RFI is to engage industry, identify industry best practices and businesses interested in, and capable of providing the following services. Responses to this notice may be considered in determining the best approach for any potential acquisition. BACKGROUND/DESCRIPTION: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Procurement, Office of Business Solutions Acquisition (OBSA) is conducting market research in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 10, on behalf of Multilingual Agency and Services (MAS) organization, for Written Translation Services to improve Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). The IRS is seeking human linguistic services as well as non-human/automated written translation services. SCOPE: IRS offers a growing number of products and services in Spanish, Chinese (Traditional and/or Simplified), Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese to fulfill the key initiative for the Language Assistance Program. These LEP products include a steadily increasing number of IRS forms and publications and a burgeoning inventory of web pages designed for non-English speakers. Frequently, outreach and other types of documents also need to be translated into other, less commonly encountered languages. Also, MAS’s initiative to continue to provide written translation services to IRS employees (revenue agents, criminal investigators, tax attorneys, etc.) tasked with investigating cases of possible tax fraud, tax evasion, or other illegal activities that prevent the IRS from collecting taxes due by law. Documents associated with such cases are typically highly technical and of a legal or financial nature, originating in any corner of the world and in any written language. REQUIREMENT: MAS wants to expand written translation services of supported languages using multiple methods; human linguistic written translation services and an automated tool compatible of written language translation. This RFI seeks to identify sources with the capability to provide both methods in the languages designated as priorities by the IRS, exotic and uncommon languages. The automation tool capable to provide written translation services from source language to target language is needed in conjunction with human written translation services to augment/supplement written translation services for use by multiple Business Operating Divisions (BODs) in the IRS. The automation tool must have the technical capability to support translation services in the languages designated as priorities by the IRS (Spanish, Chinese (Traditional and/or Simplified), Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese), as well as any other languages requested by the IRS as needed. Many translation requests are to or from exotic and uncommon languages. Automated written translation capability must be commercial items with or without modifications or, non-developmental items with or without modifications. RESPONSES: All responsible sources are requested to identify their interest, brief summary of the company (limited to 3 paragraphs) and capabilities. To include each language, even those not designated as priority by the IRS, the company can deliver to the IRS in fulfillment of this requirement. Cover Sheet. Provide the following information about your company in a cover sheet: a) Company Name b) Point of Contact, Phone Number, Email Address c) Company Address d) Website (if available) e) Business Type (e.g., Large Business (LB) Concern - Small Business (SB) Concern - 8(a) - Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) - Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) - Historically Underutilized Business Zone (HUBZone) - Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB) - Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) g) Cage Code and DUNS Number h) GSA Federal Supply Schedule Number (if applicable) Note: Please identify your company's small business size standard based on the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code of 541930. The Small Business Size Standard for NAICS code 541930 is $7.5 million. For more information, refer to http://www.sba.gov/content/table-small-business-size-standards. NO TELEPHONIC INQUIRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED OR HONORED. Response, with cover sheet, shall be submitted via email to Machelle Monroe, Contracting Officer, at email:
[email protected], within 15 calendar days of the date of this notice. Include "RFI-20-5000094683-Written Translation Services" in the subject line. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: Company’s may submit supplemental material, in the form of briefings, product descriptions, data sheets, information papers, etc. as desired. Response is limited to 15 pages and format is limited to .pdf, .xml or .doc. All requests for additional information and any supplemental material shall be submitted to Machelle Monroe at email:
[email protected]. Include "RFI-20-5000094683-Written Translation Services" in the subject line.