SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETING SERVICES

The purpose of this acquisition is to extend the ordering period and ceiling of the current contract to meet the needs of the NIH for sign language and interpreting services. The ORS Interpreting Services Program, Events Management Branch (EMB), is centrally managed and funded to deliver essential communication services NIH-wide to deaf and hard of hearing employees, patients, and visitors, requesting an accommodation under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Since 2015, the program has grown to become the largest contract of its kind in the Federal Government, attracting Deaf researchers and other talent to NIH and developing a reputation for providing quality and dependable accommodation services easy to schedule and manage. Services include but are not limited to American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting (basic and scientific) and Computer Assisted Real-time Transcription (CART) delivered onsite and online by an experienced professional services provider. For patients and their families, these services are delivered round the clock including weekends, holidays and during Government shutdowns, and must include a Continuity of Operations Plan.

Specifically, this Justification and Approval was requested to prevent a lapse in service to support performance of the objectives stated above during the acquisition planning, negotiation, and award of the competitive small business set-aside requirement under Request for Proposal (RFP) No. 75N98025R00007 to be issued for American Sign Language Interpreting and CART accommodation services, required under Section 504, and Captioning and other accessibility services, required under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The requirement will be awarded for a base period of one-year with four (4) one-year option periods.

Furthermore, delays occurred during the acquisition planning phase because procurement and contract actions were paused to follow the HHS Acting Secretary’s directive “Immediate Pause on Issuing Documents and Public Communications – Action” (January 21, 2025).  Additionally, our office has received numerous data calls based on Executive Orders issued by the President of the United States of America; therefore, we were required to respond and complete actions expeditiously to ensure compliance.