AGENDA REPORT
TO: G. Harold Duffey FROM: Ian Appleyard
Interim City Administrator Director, Human Resources
Management
SUBJECT: Increase Contract with International
Contact, Inc.
DATE: 2/1/2023
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Adopt A Resolution Increasing The Contract For On-Call Translation And Interpretation Service With International Contact, Inc For Three Years, From April 1, 2022 To March 31, 2025, By An Additional Amount Of $300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Dollars) Per Year For A $900,000 Total Increase For The Three Year Period, To A New Total Contract Cap Of $1,360,000 (One Million Three Thousand Sixty Dollars) For The Five Year Contract Term.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
City Council approval will authorize the Human Resources Management Department (HRM) staff to increase the as-needed service contract with The International Contact, Inc. (“International Contact”), to continue to provide on-call translation, interpretation, and language support services to City departments to ensure the City’s compliance with the City of Oakland Language Access Plan and the Equal Access to Services Ordinance (Ordinance No. 12324 C.M.S., OMC Section 2.30).
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
In November 2019, the Department of Workplace & Employment Standards (Formerly known as Contracts and Compliance Division) released a formal Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for On- Call Translation and Interpretation Services. The RFP stated that the duration of the contract was anticipated to be two (2) years, with a renewal provision for three additional years.
International Contact was awarded a contract with the City. Pursuant to City Administrator’s purchasing authority, the City Administrator executed a two-year contract for one hundred sixty thousand dollars with International Contact. In December 2021, with Resolution No. 88974 C.M.S., the contract was extended and increased for three additional years to a contract cap of four hundred sixty thousand dollars. This request is to increase of the contract with International Contact by an additional three hundred thousand dollars per year for a three-year period to a total contract cap of one million three hundred and sixty dollars. Please see Table 1, which summarizes the contracting history below.
Finance & Management Committee
March 14, 2023
Mar 1, 2023
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Increase Contract with International Contact, Inc.
Date: February 1, 2023 Page 2
Finance & Management Committee
March 14, 2023
Table 1: Summary of Contract History
Contract Annual Cap Contract Period Cap Total Contract Cap Initial Contract 2020-22 (2 years) $ 80,000 $ 160,000 $ 160,000 Amendment #1 2022-2025 (3 years) $ 100,000 $ 300,000 $ 460,000 Amendment #2 Proposed Increase $ 300,000 $ 900,000 $ 1,360,000
International Contact can provide experienced professional interpreters, American Translator Association accredited translators; and is equipped to conduct bilingual language proficiency testing to service the needs for City departments per Equal Access to Services Ordinance requirements. International Contact has been providing live interpretation to City Council Meetings per City Clerk’s Office request. There is a request for interpretation service for approximately forty (40) City Council Meetings in a year. Based on the last six months’ actual service usage, an average of $5,000 is needed to support interpretation for one City Council Meeting in Spanish and Chinese. At a minimum, two hundred thousand dollars is needed to support interpretation for forty City Council Meetings ($5,000 X 40 = $200,000). Some flexibility in the contract cap is needed in anticipation of public requests for interpretation at City Council Committee Meetings and other public requests. As such, the administration is requesting a three hundred thousand dollar per year increase to support the provision of language access support at City Council Meetings. This is an On-Call Service Contract; expense will only be incurred if there is actual usage. Funding to pay for interpretation expenses at City Council meetings is provided by the City Clerk’s Office. The Translation and Interpretation Service Contract to support City of Oakland City-wide needs is managed by the HRM’s Equal Access Office. With this report, HRM’s Equal Access Office is requesting an increase in the contract cap for an existing Translation and Interpretation Service Contract.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
Increasing the contract with International Contact will enable the administration to maintain necessary service levels and provide City Council Meetings with interpretation services in accordance with City Council directions and the City’s Language Access Plan. Without increasing the contract cap, the current contract limit will be reached in March 2023. Without the ability to continue City-wide language access service, the City of Oakland will not be compliant with the local Equal Access to Services Ordinance (Ordinance No. 12324 C.M.S., OMC Section 2.30), and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI)).
Citywide Priorities include: (1) Holistic community safety, (2) Housing, economic, and cultural security, (3) Vibrant, sustainable infrastructure, (4) Responsive, trustworthy government.
Language access service enables all Oakland communities to access vital government services, including public safety services, housing resources, economic opportunities, health and human services, and civic engagement participation. Adoption of the proposed resolution advances the Citywide Priorities in all areas.
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Increase Contract with International Contact, Inc.
Date: February 1, 2023 Page 3
Finance & Management Committee
March 14, 2023
FISCAL IMPACT
Approving the resolution will enable the City Administrator to raise the 2022-2025 contract amount with International Contact by nine hundred thousand dollars ($900,000) to a total contract cap of one million three hundred and sixty thousand dollars ($1,360,000).
The contract specifies that work is to be performed on an as-needed basis upon request by the City, so increasing the contract cap as proposed does not in itself obligate funds. The source of funding for general translation and interpretation is funded through the Equal Access Program (05221) within the General Purpose Fund. In addition, departments are directly charged for specialized or rushed services they request to their respective budgets within the General Purpose (1010), Miscellaneous Contract Services (54919), and Miscellaneous Services (53719). The source of funding for City Council Meetings interpretations is funded through the City Clerk’s Office (03121) within the General Purpose Fund (1010), Miscellaneous Contract Services (54919).
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
The formal RFP issued by Department of Workplace & Employment Standards (formerly known as Contracts & Compliance Unit) in 2019 included postings in the Bay Area News Group, Sing Tao Daily and El Mundo newspapers and dissemination of information about the opportunity to firms already on the City’s list of approved contractors.
COORDINATION
HRM staff coordinated with the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (formerly known as Contracts & Compliance Unit) to issue the formal RFP which preceded the execution of the contract agreements. This staff report and resolution have been reviewed by the Office of the City Attorney and by the Budget Office.
PAST PERFORMANCE, EVALUATION AND FOLLOW-UP
International Contact has been serving the City of Oakland since the inception of the Equal Access Ordinance in 2001 with satisfactory results. The company has over forty years of experience in the translation industry with the capacity to work with over one hundred languages. It has been providing experienced professional interpreters, American Translator Association accredited translators to service the needs for City departments. International Contact has been providing live interpretation to City Council Meetings per City Clerk’s Office request since mid-2022. Based on past performances and evaluation, staff recommends expanding the contract cap to facilitate the availability of language services at City events.
SUSTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: International Contact provides document translation, oral interpretation and bilingual testing services to City departments. Contracts are on-call in nature and do not pose any Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Increase Contract with International Contact, Inc.
Date: February 1, 2023 Page 4
Finance & Management Committee
March 14, 2023
financial impact to the City until service is rendered.
Environmental: The services provided by International Contact do not have any direct environmental impact, however, through translated materials; limited-English-speaking Oakland residents can be better equipped with information related to environmental preservation, recycling, waste management, and energy use.
Race & Equity: The work performed by International Contact helps City maintain compliance with the Equal Access to Services Ordinance and ensure Oakland residents have meaningful, fair and equitable access to City services, regardless of English language proficiency. By providing translation and interpretation services, International Contact enables limited-English- speaking individuals to have full and equal access to government services.
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Increase Contract with International Contact, Inc.
Date: February 1, 2023 Page 5
Finance & Management Committee
March 14, 2023
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution increasing the contract for on-call translation and interpretation service with International Contact, Inc for the three-year period, from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025, by an amount not to exceed $900,000 (nine hundred thousand dollars) to a new cap of $1,360,000 (one million three hundred and sixty dollars) for three years, for the five-year contract term.
For questions regarding this report, please contact May Tam, Program Analyst III, at (510) 238- 3112.
Respectfully submitted,
IAN APPLEYARD
Director, Human Resources Management
Department
Reviewed by:
Tina Pruett, Human Resources Manager
Prepared by:
May Tam, Program Analyst III
Equal Access Program
Human Resources Management