Bidder(s) - Any company who has expressed an interest in this requirement on the Chest whether or not they intend to submit a response by the deadline.
Client(s) - An Individual within or a Service Area / Department / Wholly Owned Company of Cheshire East Council or a School / Educational Establishment within the Boundary of Cheshire East.
End User(s) - A citizen of Cheshire East Council (or another Council) / Pupil or parents of a pupil from a Cheshire East Educational Establishment etc. benefitting from the services of this framework agreement.
Successful Bidder(s) - Any Bidder which succeeds in being appointed to the Framework Agreement.
Supplier(s) - Successful Bidder(s)
Framework Agreement - Framework Agreements are used on a call off basis so that it is possible to select providers who can meet the needs of the purchaser when required. Their main purpose is for repetitive high volume spend. Guarantees cannot be made on the actual spend through a framework agreement nor commitments to use. Framework agreements can be used together with any other arrangements and are not exclusive. They stipulate the terms and conditions which shall apply to all call-off orders made under them.
1. Introduction
Cheshire East Borough Council (“the Council”) is a geographically and demographically diverse area. Our residents live and work in small to medium-sized market towns and rural communities. While many of our residents enjoy a good quality of life, there are inequalities in health, education and household income across the borough. We are working to meet the demands of an increasingly ageing population and to ensure a sustainable and robust economy. The area is well connected, with good regional, national and international transport links. Our visitor economy is strong and Cheshire East has a wealth of heritage, history and countryside.
The Council is the third largest unitary authority in the North West next to Manchester and Liverpool Councils.
As is the case with all local authorities and public services, we are currently under unprecedented pressure to deliver more for less – we seek bidders who understand the financial context in which we are working and can innovate and contribute to our delivery of excellent value to the citizens and businesses of the borough.
As a unitary authority we deliver a wide range of local public services to Cheshire East’s 360,000 residents including education, waste and recycling, highways, social care for adults and children, environmental health, economic development, leisure and green spaces and planning. We collect Council Tax and Business Rates and administer Housing and Council Tax Benefits.
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The audience, demand, specific requirements and budget for translation and interpretation services vary according to each service, project or initiative the work supports. While services will vary as described, we are seeking to secure, strengthen and develop the corporate presence of the authority and this agreement and the work commissioned under it will be crucial in delivering this.
The Council is committed to playing a major role in the delivery of the priorities identified in Cheshire East’s Sustainable Community Strategy “Ambition for All” available at http://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/community_and_living/pace_strategic_partnerships/sustainable_community_strategy.aspx
The services required under this agreement will support many aspects of this plan in communicating and engaging with citizens, residents and customers.
The Council is committed to achieving the objectives in our three year plan (2013 – 2016). The services required under this agreement will help in the achievement of some of these ambitions.http://centranet.ourcheshire.cccusers.com/tasks/finance/Site%20Documents/5%20-Cheshire%20East%20Council%20Three%20Year%20Plan.pdf
The Council is committed to delivering value for money whilst still maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction and service performance. In order to maintain and increase customer satisfaction it is critical that customers are well informed and feel involved in the decisions affecting the services they use and care about. Effective communication is essential in our efforts to drive up levels of customer satisfaction. The services subject to this agreement will be critical in communicating effectively with our citizens.
2. Scope of the Framework Agreement
The Council is reviewing its language support to customers and clients and requires translation and interpretation providers to provide language support to non-English speakers in the provision of:
(i) Face to Face interpreting for interviews, meetings, consultation and social service requirements (both spoken and non spoken);
(ii) Telephone interpreting to facilitate ease of communications (spoken);(iii) Document translation services, including Braille, Large Print, Easy Read and
Audio Transcription,(iv) Video Sign Language and(v) Video interpreting (i.e. video conference).
The intention is to achieve a consistent approach and make sure the Council receives excellent quality and value for money services.
The required languages are detailed below.
3. Users of the Framework Agreement
This framework agreement will be open for use by all services within the Cheshire East Borough Council and all Cheshire East Borough Council’s subsidiary and associated companies, including, but not limited to: Tatton Park Enterprises Ltd; East Cheshire Engine of the North; Ansa Environmental Services Ltd; Orbitas, Bereavement Services Ltd; Co-Socius Ltd and Everybody Sports & Recreational Trust Ltd (Trading as Everybody Ltd) and any other wholly or partly owned companies created by Cheshire East Borough Council after publication of the Contract Notice.
This framework agreement will also be open for use by all educational establishments, including early years settings within the borough boundary, regardless if they are maintained or academies.
The value provided in the OJEU notice includes all potential spend under the framework agreement by the above, bidders should bear in mind that the Council can not guarantee any level of spend. Should the level of spend look to significantly exceed this advertised amount at any time during its life, the Council may need to terminate the framework agreement and re-tender. This is in order to avoid legal challenges against the Council under the UK Public Contracts Regulations 2006 (and as amended).
4. Background to the Requirement and Historic Language Use
The Council has a varied demographic. Of the languages covered, Polish is the most commonly requested. However, there is growing demand for a wider range of languages, particularly those common to Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
For information, recent Census figures for Cheshire East give the breakdown of the main languages spoken within the Borough, and this is shown at Appendix 1. It is worth noting that 321 residents of Cheshire East declared that they were unable to speak English at all. In addition, information is available from the 2012 Annual Schools Census which shows that 4% of Cheshire East pupils, i.e. 1,968 children speak a language other than English as their first language at home.
Included at Appendix 2 is a representation of the volumes of services during 2012, as well as the period January 2013 to November 2013.
The historic annual cost of procuring the required language interpretation services is circa £50,000, however, this figure is based on Cheshire East Only Spend and not our educational establishments. We cannot guarantee this or any level of spend under the framework agreement.
5. Requirements – Description of the Services Required
Cheshire East provides a full range of services via different delivery vehicles to its stakeholders and so the interpretation requirements will cover a wide spectrum – from resolving simple enquiries through to school appeals, asylum interviews, benefit fraud interviews, care support at hospital as well as court appearances.
The majority of face to face interpretations will be approximately one and a half hours however there may be occasions where these may be extended to two hours and beyond.
The framework agreement will aim to provide language support to non-English speakers in the provision of the requirements outlined in 2. Scope of the Framework Agreement.
iv and v will not be a day to day requirement from the beginning of the life of this agreement, the Council shall consider the implementation of this requirement and shall work with successful bidders as to how this can be implemented successfully within their business models and how technological barriers can be removed.
6. Requirements – Languages
The service provider should have an ability to provide a range of language services, the current top two languages that Cheshire East has requirements for are:
Polish Slovak
These top two languages may be updated at any time throughout the framework agreement by request from the Council, in accordance with MI received from successful bidders. The
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languages to which these rates are apply shall be updated by all successful bidders within 24 hours of the request being made.
The transitional controls imposed by the UK (and seven other Member States) in 2007 when Bulgaria and Romania became Member States of the EU will end this year. From 1st January 2014 peoples from these two countries will be allowed the same freedoms enjoyed by all other EU Member States (i.e. Free Movement of People). Therefore, at framework signature the current most requested languages may be subject to change.
A wide range of languages may be required including those listed in Appendix 1 and those below. This list of required languages is non exhaustive.
7. Requirements for face-to-face and telephone interpretation
The services provided must meet the highest standards of quality based on both the needs of the customer and the Council. The Council is also keen that providers maximise the use of local skills, however, this is not able to be evaluated for award purposes.
It is envisaged that the successful bidders will work closely and in conjunction with the Council’s individual departments on a regular basis.
Interpreters must be qualified and/or experienced (see 9.1. Qualifications and Registers), fluent (able to convey the message from English to the target language accurately and vice versa), have good listening skills, and a good knowledge of vocabulary. The successful bidders should also be sensitive to ethnic cultures and gender of the end user and provide an appropriate interpreter.
The interpreter should be available within a reasonable time from booking (see 10. Bookings and timescales) and be able to attend any location within Cheshire East. On some occasions, the Council may need to provide further constraints on who should provide the interpretation. Examples may include:
Where for cultural, religious and gender reasons we need a male or female interpreter.
Where for reasons of confidentiality and the small size of some of the communities in Cheshire East we require a language provider who has no links with the local area.
Where someone with skills in a particular dialect is required.
Wherever possible, we will expect the same interpreter to be provided on an on-going basis when requested, this direct award mechanism is part of the operation of the framework agreement.
8. In Contract Savings and Efficiencies
The Council will be giving consideration to the DCLG report titled “50 ways to save”, Number 34:
“Stop translating documents into foreign languages: Only publish documents in English1. Translation undermines community cohesion by
1 Notwithstanding, in the constituent nations of the United Kingdom outside England, there are additional legal requirements to translate documents into other native languages of the United Kingdom.” [i.e. Wales]
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encourag[ing] segregation. Similarly, do not give community grants to organisations which promote segregation or division in society.”
Our web pages are translated using Google translate and we offer to provide consultation and survey documents in alternative languages. The Council’s position is that we do not translate documents routinely, but only do so on request and where there is a need. We would continue to arrange for translation/interpretation as required to ensure that we meet our obligations under the Equalities Act i.e.:
Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics.
Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people.
Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
In view of this, in the future, Cheshire East Council may not require the current levels of document translation.
It will be expected that successful bidders placed on the framework agreement disclose any identified savings and/or efficiency measures and discuss how these may be implemented with the Council through the life of their placement on the framework agreement, regardless of rank.
9. Constraints
9.1 Qualifications and Registers
The Council shall classify interpreters into 4 categories, these categories are detailed below. Where an interpreter is required to attend court, for benefits investigations, tribunals etc or other high risk areas an interpreter shall be provided who complies with either of the Category A’s below.
Unless otherwise detailed within this specification or requested by a Client during the commissioning process, what category of interpreter that attends appointments shall be left to the discretion of the successful bidders.
The appropriateness of the attending interpreter shall be monitored and reflected in the performance review, therefore care should be taken to ensure that neither under qualified / experienced nor overly qualified / experienced interpreters are allocated specific requirements. This is to ensure both quality provision and value for money are obtained.
Spoken LanguagesThe following categories and the associated minimum qualifications and criteria that shall apply, this should enable a sufficient degree of flexibility for Clients and deliver best value for each requirement:
Category A – SpokenInterpreters are required to have the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI) or equivalent qualification when working in the public sector legal environment e.g. for court cases, benefits investigation.
Interpreters to be registered as a Member with the National Register of Public Service Interpreters (NRPSI) or equivalent registration.
If it is not possible to source an interpreter from the NRPSI (for example where the language is rare), the interpreter may be sourced from some other list, for example the
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Association of Police and Court Interpreters (APCI), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), the British Deaf Association (BDA), the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) or the Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ASLI). It is, however, essential that any interpreter sourced from another list should meet standards at least equal to those required for registration with NRPSI or NRCPD in terms of academic qualifications or proven experience and professional accountability.Category B – SpokenInterpreters to hold the Diploma in Public Sector Interpreting or an equivalent qualification deemed acceptable by the Chartered Institute of Linguists and / or the Interpreters and Translators Institute and / or by any other appropriate professional body.
Documented evidence of a minimum of 400 hours experience of public sector interpreting in the United Kingdom, or equivalent experience
Documented evidence of language specific training and/or continuing professional development within the last 12 months.Category C – SpokenInterpreters to hold the Diploma in Public Sector Interpreting or an equivalent qualification deemed acceptable by the Chartered Institute of Linguists and / or the Interpreters and Translators Institute and / or by any other appropriate professional body.
Documented evidence of on going and developing experience of public sector interpreting in the United Kingdom, but not yet having attained the 400 hours threshold, or equivalent experience.
Documented evidence of language specific training and/or continuing professional development within the last 12 months.Category D – SpokenInterpreters to hold the Cambridge Proficiency in English or an equivalent qualification deemed acceptable by the Chartered Institute of Linguists and / or the Interpreters and Translators Institute and / or by any other appropriate professional body.
Documented evidence of a minimum of 100 hours experience of public sector interpreting in the United Kingdom, or equivalent experience.
Documented evidence of language specific training and/or continuing professional development within the last 12 monthsCategory E – SpokenInterpreters are native in a foreign language with a demonstrable command of spoken and written English, or native in English with a demonstrable command of spoken and written skills in a foreign tongue AND holder of a Diploma in Community Interpreting (or other appropriate qualification).
Documented evidence of some experience of public and/or private sector interpreting in the United Kingdom.
NRPSIAn interpreter needs to hold the Diploma in Public Service Interpreting or an equivalent qualification of at least that standard before being accepted onto the NRPSI. 'Full' and 'Interim' categories on the NRPSI reflect an interpreter's professional skill, qualifications and experience. For this reason, the successful bidder will need to satisfy themselves of the interpreters' suitability to interpret as required.
The NRPSI is available electronically via the following link: http://www.nrpsi.co.uk/.
NRPSI Ltd, Longcroft House Business Centre, 2/8 Victoria Avenue, London EC2M 4NS, telephone 020 3206 1400.
Non Spoken LanguagesThe following categories and the associated minimum qualifications and criteria that shall apply, this should enable a sufficient degree of flexibility for Clients and deliver best value for each requirement:
Category A – Non SpokenInterpreters to be registered as a Member with the National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deaflblind people (NRCPD) or equivalent registration, equivalent qualification levels (and / or speeds where appropriate) and / or equivalent experience in the discipline required.
If it is not possible to source an interpreter from the NRCPD, the interpreter may be sourced from some other list, for example the Association of Police and Court Interpreters (APCI), the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), the British Deaf Association (BDA), the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) or the Association of Sign Language Interpreters (ASLI). It is, however, essential that any interpreter sourced from another list should meet standards at least equal to those required for registration with NRPSI or NRCPD in terms of academic qualifications or proven experience and professional accountability.Category B – Non SpokenInterpreters to be registered as a Trainee Interpreter with the National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deaflblind people (NRCPD), or equivalent registration, equivalent qualification levels (and / or speeds where appropriate) and / or equivalent experience in the discipline required.Category C – Non SpokenInterpreter to be registered as a Junior Trainee Interpreter with the National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf and Deaflblind people (NRCPD), or equivalent registration, equivalent qualification levels (including speeds where appropriate), and / or equivalent experience in the discipline required, which is acceptable to the commissioning customer organisation
NRCPDSign Language Interpreters, Lipspeakers and Speech To Text reporters are listed in the NRCPD and not the National Register. The NRCPD details the interpreter's name, qualifications, specific areas of expertise, availability and contact details.
The NRCPD is available electronically via the following link: http://www.nrcpd.org.uk/.
The contact address is:NRCPD, c/o Mersey House, Mandale Business Park, Belmont, Durham DH1 1TH. Telephone 0191 383 1155.
9.2 Professional Accountability
The NRPSI contains a Code of Conduct which has been agreed with the Home Office and the Office of Fair Trading and details the standards expected of interpreters listed on the Register, including standards for competence, procedure, ethical and professional skills, and disciplinary procedures. A disciplinary panel will consider the standard and behaviour of interpreters where complaints are received. The Register also sets out recommended Terms of Engagement which detail the reasonable standards which interpreters may expect of those employing them and give guidelines as to best practice.
The NRCPD contains a Code of Ethics which details the standard expected of Registered Sign Language Interpreters, Lipspeakers and Speech To Text Reporters and sets out the
complaints and disciplinary procedures. The NRCPD also includes guidance on communication with people who are deaf.
9.3 Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
A DBS checked interpreter must be provided for every job being carried out for Children’s Services or in connection with Vulnerable Adults. Where another department requests a DBS checked interpreter this must also be provided if allowed under the definition of a Regulated Activity as per the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. Evidence may be requested to show that interpreters have an up-to-date DBS check (within 3 years). Should an incorrect DBS check have been sought, the Council will not be held liable for any subsequent impacts of this on the successful bidder We welcome successful bidders to challenge the Clients request for a DBS checked interpreter if they believe that it is not required.
9.4 Safeguarding
Successful Bidders who place on the framework agreement will be regarded as a Regulated Activity Provider with ultimate responsibility for the management and control of the Regulated Activity provided under this agreement and for the purposes of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 (and any regulations made thereunder, as amended from time to time or replacement Acts) hereafter referred to as the Safeguarding Act.
Successful Bidders shall ensure that all individuals engaged in the provision of the services in connection with Regulated Activity as defined by the Safeguarding Act are subject to a valid enhanced disclosure check undertaken through the Disclosure and Barring Service (or whatever other mechanism this may change to in the future) including a check against the adults' barred list or the children's barred list, as appropriate; and the Provider shall monitor the level and validity of the checks under clause 11 in the framework terms and conditions Error: Reference source not foundfor each member of staff.
Successful Bidders warrant that at all times for the purposes of the framework agreement it has no reason to believe that any person who is or will be employed or engaged by the Provider in the provision of the services in connection with Regulated Activity as defined by the Safeguarding Act are barred from the activity in accordance with the provisions of the Safeguarding Act.
Successful Bidders shall immediately provide to the Council any information that it reasonably requests to enable it to be satisfied that its obligations have been met.
Successful Bidders shall refer information about any person carrying out the services in connection with Regulated Activity as defined by the Safeguarding Act to the DBS where it removes permission for such person to carry out these services (or would have, if such person had not otherwise ceased to carry out these services) because, in its opinion, such person has harmed or poses a risk of harm to any end user / client / service users / children / vulnerable adults.
For the provision of services in connection with Regulated Activity as defined by the Safeguarding Act, successful bidders shall not employ or use the services of any person who is barred from, or whose previous conduct or records indicate that they would not be suitable to carry out Regulated Activity or who may otherwise present a risk to end users.
Safeguarding all functions of the services in connection with Regulated Activity as defined by the Safeguarding Act must be discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of Children / Young People / Vulnerable Adults including the use of safe equipment and selection practices, induction and ongoing training programmes and where
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necessary disciplinary and child protection procedures. The service will adopt the practices contained in HM Government’s ‘Guidance for safer working practice for adults who work with Young People’
The Cheshire East Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) provides governance and guidance to services for Children, Young People and families. The Service will be delivered in accordance with the policy and procedures of the Cheshire East LSCB.
Safeguarding documentation can be found at: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/social_care_and_health/children_and_families/lscsafeguarding_children.aspx
9.5 Standard of conduct
Cheshire East is a large organization delivering a wide variety of services meeting complex needs. The service provider should make available access points to enable service providers to be able to access service bookings in a simple easy to use way.
All bookings should be as per the Bookings and Timescales section in this specification. A jobsheet with individual job reference numbers should be provided for each interpretation job.
The service must be delivered according to this specification, best business practice and professional conduct is expected at all times, with the confidentiality of clients being respected.
Successful bidders are to ensure awareness of, as well as adherence to, any relevant, local or national legislation for the delivery of the services.
10. Bookings and Timescales
In most circumstances the Council will provide at least three (3) working days’ notice for an interpreter / translator (telephone, face to face and video). A response and confirmation of the ability to meet the requirement should be made by the successful bidder within 36 hours of the request.
In some circumstance bookings will need to be made at very short notice. A response and confirmation of the ability to meet the requirement should be made by the successful bidder within 1 working hour.
Timescales for delivery of a translated document will be dependant upon the document, its size and the clients urgency. The timescale for delivery of documents will be agreed between the successful bidder and the client at the time of booking.
Client likely timescales for commissioning services:
Requirement Non Urgent Urgent Document TranslationCEC Commissioning Timescale
Ideally 3 days (or more) in advance of the need, could be less
Likely to be same day as the need
When required
Regardless of weather the Client commissions the services in accordance with the above timescales, the successful bidders shall adhere to the below response times:
Requirement Non Urgent Urgent Document TranslationResponse required
Within 36 hours Within 1 hour with ability to be onsite within 2 hours
Within 12 hours – Delivery of output as agreed with Client
Cheshire East will require the service provider to allocate each service area an identifying service account number in order to identify the services delivered as well as enable ease of identifying payment of invoices. Shown in Appendix 3 is the list of Services and the Council’s identifying code for your reference.
While educational establishments will be invoiced separately, their use of the framework agreement should be recorded in the Council’s MI and indicated clearly.
11. Commissioning / Call-Off Process
Under this framework agreement, it is the Council’s intention to appoint 3 bidders, these successful bidders will be initially ranked in the order determined by the application of the award criteria. Under this mechanism all work will be awarded to the highest ranked successful bidder in the first instance, where this successful bidder declines to quote or is unable to provide the services at that time, the next highest ranked successful bidder will be chosen and so on.
There will be the option for Clients to make a direct award to a successful bidder; this ability shall be limited to those cases where the need is dictated by the end user. For e.g. when dealing with end users with specific needs, familiarisation, consistency through a court case etc. On these occasions it may not be the highest ranked supplier who is approached in the first instance, but the most suitable to fulfil the need.
After both internal consideration and discussion with market, this mechanism has been chosen in order to provide the Council with a sufficient supply base to ensure “on contract” service delivery, while also ensuring efficiencies in the commissioning process. Throughout the life of the framework agreement, monitoring and reviews will be undertaken on key performance indicators and other measures, this will have the affect of re-ranking the successful bidders so that the most economically advantageous and best performing successful bidder is always ranked 1st.
There shall be a standardised commissioning / ordering document (see Appendix 5) (with the intention of moving to an electronic ordering system through the life of the framework) for Clients to commission services from the successful bidders. This document shall aim to ensure that Clients provide the following details to successful bidders:
Urgent or Non Urgent Spoken Language / Non Spoken Language Face 2 Face / Telephone / Video Language Required Topic Gender of end user Age of end user Outcome required from appointment with end user and what this is intended to
lead on to Date and Time of required appointment Location of appointment
The commissioning process for the instruction of interpreters will not be dictated or overly defined within this specification of requirements. We do expect, however, that for the efficient commissioning of services order numbers shall not be a requirement before confirmation of the availability of an interpreter is provided to clients. We welcome ideas from bidders on how this commissioning process can work to the ease of both organisations, agreement on the final commissioning process will be undertaken with the successful bidders.
Such offers from bidders can include things like lodged cards or other mechanisms. A lodged card will allow ease of payments once services have been provided without the need
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for orders or additional approvals being required or the sending of invoices. It is efficient for both the Council and the successful bidders in that payments can be made quicker than with traditional invoicing processes. Should this be the proposed solution, clients will be expected to provide the successful bidder with a Service Code (as shows in Appendix 3), a Cost Centre and / or an Access Code if neither of the above, so that this information can be pushed through the Lodged Card to the Council’s Finance System.
12. Payments
In relation to the commissioning process:
Should lodged cards be agreed, the above section provides the relevant information.
Should a more traditional process for invoicing be required, bidders should note that the Council operates a No PO, No Pay policy, therefore any invoice received without an appropriate live purchase order number or with insufficient committed funds on the order, will be sent back to the successful bidder in question without payment.
In this scenario, separate invoices for each job must be provided unless otherwise specified, this is due to the Council’s inability, currently, to match one invoice against multiple order numbers. If this ability changes during the course of the framework agreement successful bidders shall be notified. The Council’s payment terms are thirty days from receipt of undisputed invoices.
Educational establishments will be invoiced separately by each successful bidder and the Council shall not be liable for any orders placed by educational establishments.
13. Normal Days and Special Days
All below times are indicated with reference to the 24 hour clock.
Normal Days
The Contract Hours shall be Monday to Friday between 08:00:00 & 19:00:59 every day.Out of Office Hours shall be between 19:01:00 and 07:59:59 Monday to Friday.Weekend Hours shall be between 19:01:00 Friday and 07:59:59 Monday.
Bank Holidays
English Bank Holidays shall be classed as an extension of the Weekend Hours with times applying as above. For e.g. A Bank Holiday Monday will mean Contract Hours will be deferred until 08:00:00 on the Tuesday morning. A Bank Holiday Friday will mean Contract Hours will cease earlier at 19:01:00 on the Thursday.
Special Days
Christmas Day shall be treated as a Special Day and subject to its own rates. These rates may apply from 19:01:00 the day before until 07:59:59 the day after (Boxing Day).
No other day/date shall have any other interpretation other than as defined above. Additional Special Days may be required from time to time and shall be at the sole discretion of the Council to the applicability and insertion of these into this agreement.
14. Rates
14.1 General Information
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All Rates (Interpretation and Document Translation) shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
Direct Labour Costs:o The basic rate paid by the Bidder to its personnel / freelance staff etc.
including any premium time payment, fringe benefits and bonus payments. Payroll Burden:
o All costs of taxes and contributions imposed by law, or regulations e.g. employer’s liability insurance, unemployment compensation, old age benefits, pensions and annuities and disability insurance.
o All costs of Bidders standard employee benefits e.g. retirement funds, health and life assurances and any bonus schemes.
o All costs associated with holidays with pay, sickness leave with pay, customary and public holidays.
Other Costs:o Overheads,o Criminal records checkso Administrationo Marketingo Profito Other costs associated with the provision of the services:
Costs of sourcing and scheduling interpreters Training and development costs
Costs relating to invoicing Payment Provision of management information All administration relating to management Control and payment of travel and related charges (where applicable) etc.
In other words the Council shall only be expected to pay a fixed fee for hours or words.
All rates must be fully inclusive of all second tier (and subsequent tier) supply chain partners commission/mark ups.
There shall be no cancellation fees up to and including 12 hours before the assignment is due to start. Any time after this up to 4 hours before the assignment is due to start shall be at no more than 25% of the minimum number of hours. Any time after this shall be at no more than 50% of the minimum number of hours.
14.2 Interpretation
Related to the hours stipulated above (see Normal Days, Bank Holidays and Special Days) there shall be specific rates that shall apply to the following:
Council’s top two used languages (see 6. Requirements – Languages) Rare languages. Bidders shall provide a list of rare languages that this rate applies
to. Should it occur that a rare language is also one of the Council’s top 2 languages the preferential rate described above shall apply.
Other Languages not specified in the above bullets.
Each of the above rates shall also be broken down into the categories according to 9.1 Qualifications and Registers.
All above prices shall be recorded in the matrix in the Pricing Schedule of the ITT Response Document.
14.3 Minimum Chargeable Hours – Face 2 Face
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Where the requirement is for Face 2 Face interpretation, there shall be a fee chargeable by successful bidders based on the below minimum chargeable hours:
2 hours for Spoken Languages 3 hours for Non Spoken Languages
The actual number of hours charged shall be dependant upon the length of time the interpreter is on site, should this be less than the Minimal Chargeable Hours stipulated above the actual fee payable by the Client shall be for the appropriate minimum chargeable hours. Should the interpreter be on site for more than the minimum chargeable hours stipulated above the actual number of hours on site shall be chargeable.
Bidders should bear in mind that currently the major location for service requirements is Crewe, the Council can not confirm that the status of this location shall remain the same throughout the life of the agreement. Crewe is not too far from the M6 and has direct rail links and regular trains to and from London, Manchester and Chester.
There shall be no specific rate for urgent requirements.
14.4 Document Translation
It is expected that document translation shall only need to take place during Contract Hours, even where urgent, rates shall therefore be applicable per 100 words for the following (per means; up to and including each 100 words):
Council’s top two used languages (see Requirements – Languages) Rare languages. The list of rare languages shall be the same as that provided
above. Should it occur that a rare language is also one of the Council’s top 2 languages the preferential rate described above shall apply.
Other Languages not specified in the above bullets.
Each of the above rates shall also be broken down into the categories according to Appendix 3.
All above prices shall be recorded in the matrix in the Pricing Schedule in the ITT Response Document.
Prices shall be fixed for the first 2 years of this agreement, at each annual anniversary rates may be amended. It is hoped that successful bidders will maintain the same rates through the life of the agreement without increases, however, any increases shall be linked to the Average Weekly Earnings Index (AWE) including bonuses for the published quarter before the anniversary or 3%, whichever is the lower. For the avoidance of doubt, AWE is based on earnings within a quarter (for e.g. July to September) compared with the same period the year before, the Average Weekly Earnings Index has been chosen due to the nature of these requirements being service based.
15. Expenses
Mileage expenses shall not be chargeable.
Rates shall not include subsistence, added in travel time or travel-related costs to and from an assignment.
Rates shall exclude meal breaks.
No other expenses shall be considered.
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16. Management Information
The following Management Information (MI) will be required every month: Successful bidders Booking Reference Number (or equivalent) Client (Service Name / Code) which sent the request (Not required but useful if this can be provided) – Name of person who raised the
request Urgent / Non urgent Response Time (time taken to confirm booking) Task: Spoken, Translation or Non Spoken? If Spoken or Non Spoken, was it: Face 2 face, Telephone or Video? If Spoken or Non Spoken, which language was requested? If Spoken or Non Spoken, was the language: Top 2, Rare or Other If Spoken or Non Spoken: length of job indicated in request If Document Translation was it: language to language, Braille, Large Print, Easy
Read or Audio Transcription? If Document Translation of language to language, which language was the
translation into? If Document Translation of language to language, was the language: Top 2, Rare
or Other If Document Translation: length of time to completion indicated in confirmation Interpreter / Translator who undertook job Actual length of job Cost
This information should be sent to both the Contract Owner and the Procurement Contact.
From time to time there may be ad hoc requests for this above information within certain time periods, successful bidders will be expected to provide this information within 3 days of such a request. Bidders should state what other information they are able to provide as part of standard reports, this information may be included in the above list at the time of signing the framework agreement should they become a successful bidder.
17. Contract Monitoring & Review and Re-Ranking of Successful Bidders
17.1 Monitoring Information
In addition to the MI above, successful bidders will need to provide the Council with monitoring information, which will include any complaints received about work carried out for the Council, and any other information requested by the Council from time to time, for the duration of the framework agreement. Monitoring information will include a mixture of qualitative and quantitative criteria, including the following as a minimum, this information is to be provided quarterly. (Where any of the below are attributable to the Council, these will not adversely affect any successful bidder):
Number of requests Fulfilment rates (Number of requirements fulfilled compared to those requested) Reasons for any non-fulfilment and where the cause of this is attributable Zip file containing all completed feedback forms for that quarter A spreadsheet containing the information on the returned feedback forms for that
quarter Have there been any issues? If so, for which job(s) (refer to Successful bidders
Booking Reference Number (or equivalent)) How quickly was each issue resolved? Details of the issues and what the solution was Any instances of known misconduct by successful bidders staff when handling a
Cheshire East service and the details related to this including results, implications, 15
disciplinary procedures instigated and how you will ensure this doesn’t happen again.
A feedback form which considers relevant bullet points above should be proposed by bidders within their tender. This form should be simple, quick and easy for Clients to complete. A standardised from will be decided by the Council all successful bidders will be expected to use this same form. The feedback form should be sent to Clients after the completion of every requirement (successful or otherwise).
17.2 Contract / Performance Monitoring
The contract performance will be monitored quarterly based on the above MI and monitoring information for that quarter, the below provides for what is required. Quarterly Contract Monitoring will take place without the presence of successful bidders based on the information required as outlined within this section (Contract Monitoring & Review and Re-Ranking of Successful Bidders).
The KPI’s have been split into Major Events and Minor Events (see below), these will be aggregated across all users of the framework and not per Client.
Major Events
KPI No.
Title Description Achievement Failure consists of:
MA1 Compliance with Response Times
Compliance with the Council’s stated response times
95%
Where any of the response times provided have been missed and the total exceeds 5.00% of the total number of requirements for the quarter (see Bookings and Timescales)
MA2 Qualified Personnel Suitably qualified / experienced personnel have attended the requirement (includes both under qualified / experienced and over qualified / experienced)
100%
Where unsuitably qualified personnel have attended a requirement in any one instance (see Constraints – Qualifications and Registers)
MA3 Instances of Misconduct
Any instances of known misconduct by successful bidders staff / associates / freelance workers etc when undertaking work under this framework agreement.
1 instance
Any single instance of misconduct is a failure against this KPI
MA4 Repetitive separate minor events
Where successful bidders are consistently recording the same minor event over any rolling 6 month period 7 instances
Were a successful bidder, in any rolling 6 month period, has repeated the same minor event 7 or more times.
MA5 Instance of non adherence to 9.3, 9.4 & 9.5
Any instances where there has been a non-adherence to 9.2. Professional Accountability, 9.3. DBS, 9.4. Safeguarding & 9.5. Standard Of Conduct
1 instance
Any single instance of non adherence is a failure against this KPI
Minor Events
KPI No.
Title Description Required (No or %)
Failure consists of:
MI1 Fulfillment Rate Number of requirements missed, (i.e. attendance was confirmed but there was a “no show” by interpreter, cancellation of an appointment by successful bidder etc.)
100%
Inability to meet requested requirement for any reason related to successful bidders supply chain, administration etc. not attributable to the Council
MI2 Number of Issues How many issues have there been in the last quarter (not already accounted
0 Any single instance is a failure against this KPI
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for in these KPI’s) and not attributable to the Council
MI3 Delays in provision of requested service
Lateness of interpreters, submission of completed document translation after agreed due date etc.
0Any single instance is a failure against this KPI
MI4 Inability to source interpreters
A decline to provide requested services due to inability of successful bidder to provide an interpreter / translator (excluding stated rare languages)
3
4 or more instances is a failure against this KPI
MI5 Timesheet inconsistencies
Where an interpreter requests sign off of a timesheet or a payment is requested which does not reflect the minimum chargeable hours or does not accurately reflect the time on site / undertaking the work
0
Any single instance is a failure against this KPI
A nominated officer will be provided by the Council and an Account manager should be nominated and made available by the service provider. The Nominated Officer and the successful bidders Account Manager shall arrange regular meetings as appropriate. There shall be an annual meeting between the Procurement Contact, Nominated Officer and Account Manager to review performance throughout the year, including aspects which are not covered above.
Any issues raised at any point may be monitored and followed up. Interpreters may be subject to spot check monitoring in house by the Council. The provider must share a copy of their Employers Liability insurance and Public Liability (Third Party) insurance with the Council once a year when these are renewed.
17.3 Re-ranking process / methodology
The Council will use the information gathered in regards to the KPI’s to re-rank successful bidders based on their performance, this shall occur every three months based on the previous quarters information.
The re-ranking process / methodology is outlined below:
Appointment of bidders to the framework agreement means that they are all capable of providing the services required and will provide quality services to the Council. Initial ranking will be based on the response to the award criteria of the tender process.
Approximately 2 weeks after the end of a quarter the review process will be undertaken.
If all successful bidders have less than 1 Major Event (i.e. none) and any 4 or fewer Minor Events then the re-ranking process shall not be invoked and all positions in the rankings shall be unchanged for the duration of the next 3 months. Only when any one successful bidder exceeds these thresholds will the re-ranking process kick in.
Where any one successful bidder exceeds the thresholds above, this shall invoke the re-ranking process. All successful bidders will have the below methodology applied to them regardless of their status in relation to the above thresholds. Each successful bidders number of Major and Minor Events shall be compared to the other successful bidders, the bidder with the lowest weighted score shall be re-ranked to 1st position for the next 3 months, the second lowest weighted score will be ranked 2nd and the highest weighted score will be ranked 3rd.
In the event that any successful bidders achieve the same weighted score then the successful bidder with the least Major Events shall achieve the higher ranking compared to the other(s). Should there be no Major Events to compare between successful bidders then
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the successful bidders that holds the higher ranking currently shall maintain the higher ranking for the next 3 months.
It may occur that as a result of the re-ranking process a successful bidder who has not had the opportunity to deliver services under this framework will be re-ranked in 1st position.
The result and anonymised scores of each re-ranking process shall be shared with all successful bidders.
Major Events shall have a weighting factor of 4 and Minor Events shall have a weighting of 2.
The number of events will be multiplied by the appropriate weighting factor to form the weighted score, weighted scores will be added together to create a total weighted score. This Total Weighted Score is what the new ranking will be based on. For e.g.
Successful Bidder 1 2 3Current Rank 1 2 3Number of Major Events 1 0 0Multiplied by Weighting Factor of 4 4 0 0Number of Minor Events 1 4 0Multiplied by Weighting Factor of 2 2 8 0Total Weighted Scores 6 8 0New Rank 2 3 1
17.4 Contract Termination
Should the number of all major events recorded be 3 or more or the number of all minor events recorded be 12 or more, the Council may initiate proceedings to terminate your position on the framework agreement for failure to perform in line with clause X and Schedule X (Monitoring Schedule) of the framework agreement. Such a decision will not be taken lightly or unreasonably and will be after consideration of the reasons for the failures, whether the failure is repetitive and what actions have been taken to prevent such failures from occurring again and how well these have been implemented.
18. Technology Development
Cheshire East Council is facing considerable financial challenges. The Council is open for service providers who are able to deliver innovative services, which meet the challenge of providing excellent services at reduced cost. Where new technology is capable of delivering services remotely or web based, at less cost, Cheshire East Council would welcome such progress. Cheshire East Council is keen to utilise new technology, for example Microsoft Lync, Skype, Apple Face time etc.
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Appendix 1
Results of Main Languages in Cheshire East according to the 2011 Census.
Main Language 2011 Percent
All usual residents aged 3 and over 358,268English 348,956 97.40%Polish 3,733 1.04%Slovak 338 0.09%German 307 0.09%French 286 0.08%Tagalog/Filipino 274 0.08%All other Chinese 271 0.08%Spanish 269 0.08%Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) 211 0.06%Urdu 171 0.05%Portuguese 169 0.05%Cantonese Chinese 165 0.05%Italian 157 0.04%Arabic 149 0.04%Thai 149 0.04%Welsh/Cymraeg 145 0.04%Malayalam 141 0.04%Tamil 138 0.04%Russian 129 0.04%Turkish 127 0.04%Hindi 119 0.03%Czech 105 0.03%Persian/Farsi 105 0.03%Dutch 103 0.03%Bulgarian 100 0.03%Swedish 85 0.02%Hungarian 80 0.02%Japanese 79 0.02%Kurdish 76 0.02%Panjabi 73 0.02%Greek 66 0.02%Romanian 64 0.02%East Asian Language (all other) 64 0.02%Telugu 62 0.02%Lithuanian 57 0.02%Gujarati 56 0.02%South Asian Language (all other) 49 0.01%Mandarin Chinese 47 0.01%Danish 39 0.01%British sign language 39 0.01%Northern European Language (non EU) 37 0.01%All other languages 36 0.01%African language (all other) 34 0.01%West/Central Asian Language (all other) 29 0.01%Any Sign Communication System 29 0.01%Finnish 27 0.01%Nepalese 26 0.01%Marathi 24 0.01%Shona 24 0.01%Latvian 22 0.01%Malay 20 0.01%
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Afrikaans 20 0.01%Pashto 19 0.01%Slovenian 16 0.00%Korean 14 0.00%Maltese 12 0.00%Ukrainian 12 0.00%Vietnamese 12 0.00%Sinhala 11 0.00%Akan 11 0.00%Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian 9 0.00%West African language (all other) 9 0.00%Sign Language (all other) 9 0.00%Albanian 8 0.00%Scots 7 0.00%Igbo 6 0.00%Hebrew 5 0.00%Gaelic (Not otherwise specified) 4 0.00%Swahili/Kiswahili 4 0.00%Gaelic (Irish) 3 0.00%Estonian 2 0.00%Any other European Language (EU) 2 0.00%Any other Eastern European Language (non EU) 2 0.00%Yoruba 2 0.00%Luganda 2 0.00%Gaelic (Scottish) 1 0.00%Cornish 1 0.00%Gypsy/Traveller languages 1 0.00%Total 1 0.00%Yiddish 1 0.00%Pakistani Pahari (with Mirpuri and Potwari) 1 0.00%Oceanic/Australian language (any) 1 0.00%
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Appendix 2
The annual volume of services delivered between January and December 2012, as well as January 2013 to November 2013:
Telephone translation:
Year No. of languages
Total Duration (minutes)
Average Duration (mins)
Total sessions
Average no. sessions per month
2012 12 3,917.72 11.66 336 282013 (01/01/13 to 30/11/13)
17 4,521.41 12.32 367 33
Face to Face translation:
Year No. of languages
Total Duration
Average Duration (hours)
Total sessions
Average no. of sessions per month
2012 15 570.37 1.41 407 342013 (01/01/13 to 30/11/13)
13 639.86 1.66 385 35
Document translation:
Year No. of languages Total Words Total tasks Average per
month2012 5 184,106 104 8.662013(01/01/13 to 30/11/13)
15 296,824 114 10
During 2012, the most common language request was Polish, with 202 requests for Polish telephone translation, 251 requests for Polish face to face interviews and 126,029 Polish words translated.
The top 5 languages for 2013 (01/01/13 to 30/11/13) were as follows:
The following are Client Service Codes, these could be used by successful bidders as the access code in conjunction with the Clients specific Centre Code as provided at the time of commissioning any services.
AA Integrated DeliveryAB LearningAC Improvement + AchievementAD Primary SchoolsAE Secondary SchoolsAF Special SchoolsAJ Standard FundsAK School CateringAL Social Care ProvisionAM Strategic CommissioningAN Individual CommissioningAP Leisure ServicesAQ Cultural ServicesAR Public HealthCA Streets + Open SpacesCB Safer & Strgr CommunitiesCC DevelopmentCD Highways + TransportEA Dir of Fin and Bus ServsEB Building MaintenanceEC County FarmsED Property ServicesEE Facilities ManagementEF ICTEG Revenue + BenefitsEH FinanceEJ ProcurementEK Shared Services ManagerEZ BLANKFA Hd of HR + Org DevtFB HR Strategy + PolicyFC Org + Workforce DevtFD HR DeliveryGA Borough SolicitorGB Legal ServicesGC Democratic + Reg SrvcsHA Head of Pol + PerfHB Cust Serv + LibrariesHC Planning + PerformanceHD AuditHE Performance+PartnershipsHF Communications + PRJA Internal AuditKA Organisational CapacityXA Asset ManagementXB CapitalXZ Central BalancesYA External Bodies
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Appendix 4
Slideshow from Market Consultation Day (See separate document)
