Request for Quotations Amendment No. 1
RFQ# 8000.0002
Written Translation Services
FHI 360
1825 Connecticut Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20009
Issue date:
January 22, 2014
Issued by:
Dandy Manning, Contracting Officer
The purpose of this Amendment No. 1 is to provide responses to the questions submitted to the
date of issuance of this Amendment in relation to RFQ No. 8000.0002:
Question 1:If you know could you please specify the languages:
For Spanish is it: (Latin American, European)
For Portuguese is it: (Brazilian, European)
For French is it: (European, Canadian)
Response:
The correct languages for the translations are as follows:
European Spanish
European Portuguese
European French
Question 2: Attachment 1) Corporate Qualifications:
Business Licenses – Registration Papers, Tax Payment Certification, etc.;
By registration papers – do you mean Articles of Organization?
Is Tax Payment Certification meant for corporate or is it meant for individual freelancer?
Response:
By registration papers FHI 360 means Articles of Organization. By Tax Payment
Certification FHI 360 means corporate tax payment certification.
Question 3: Attachment 2) Price Schedule
Offerors shall provide a detailed segregation of costs per source-language, word count, per-page,
per additional number of words per language being translated into and any associated costs, as
well as process(es) covered in the rate: translation, editing, proofreading, QCing, etc. and shall
indicate what is your discount policy for translation memory, volume discount or other
discounts.
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Should this information be provided at the end of the Attachment 2) because your tables for rates
are only “per page”.
Response:
2.
Offerors may provide the aforementioned documentation at the end of Attachment
Question 4: Attachment 2) Price Schedule:
Normally when we quote per page,that is a fix price per standard page (200 words per page).
Do we assume correctly that you here in fact want a fix price per document (which then is rather
related to the amount of words then to the amount of pages)? So do you expect us to take the
total price for the document and then divide it through the amount of pages you stated?
For everybody clearer might be if you would ask for a price /word (especially for new documents
– it probably will save you money as many documents do not have 200 words per page)– as it is
a very precise way and there can be no discussion about that – but of course this is only advise,
we accept the system you will decide on. Delete this section as this is an Offeror’s approach.
Response:
As a result of this RFQ, FHI 360 expects to establish firm-fixed-prices per page.
Offerors may propose (including modifying the RFQ format to reflect their approach) an
approach that in their view will provide FHI 360 best value be it in the form of costs per page or
costs per words per page. Further, if an Offeror utilizes a fix price per standard page (200 words
per page) approach, the total price for the document and then divide it through the amount of
pages stated in the RFQ may be presented as an approach.
Question 5: Can you please explain what is meant with “Option Year 1 Price per Page” and
“Option Year 2 Price per Page”.
Response:
As a result of this RFQ, FHI 360 expects to establish translation prices for years
1, 2 and 3 of the service agreement. However, FHI 360 at the moment only has a bona fide need
for services under year 1. In order to be able to extend the service agreement an option to extend
services will be built in the service agreement thus allowing FHI 360 to exercise the option to
extend services for subsequent years (2 and 3). To that effect, Offerors are expected to propose
prices for option years 2 and 3. This means that should FHI 360 exercise its option to extend
services, Offerors will agree to firm-fixed-prices for the option years 2 and 3.
Question 6:
Is the bid due by a specific time on January 24th?
Response:
Yes. All Offers should be received by 16:00 (Eastern Standard Time).
Question 7:
If two contract awards are made, how will you determine the allocation of work?
Response:
Both contracts will incorporate a fair opportunity process. Under this process, the
selected contractors will be required to indicate: total cost and timeframe for specific translation
services. Orders will then be placed to the contractor that offers the best price and the shortest
timeframe.
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Question 8:

Regarding Pricing:
Can you please provide an example of how you would like the segregated pricing
to appear in the pricing matrix? It is unclear. We can provide the most
competitive rates if we are able to line-item each cost, including desktop
publishing services.
Response:Please refer to Question/Response No. 3.

What file formats will be used for the materials to be translated? Is there
provision to provide pricing desktop publishing services as a separate price as
formatting charges will vary based on the format of the source file?
Response:Contractors are expected to produce documents in Microsoft Word. Any
translation associated cost, such as pricing desktop publishing services may be presented
under the detailed segregation of costs. As indicated in the SOW, Offerors shall segregate
the cost of process (es) covered in the rate: translation, editing, proofreading, QCing,
etc…”

It sounds as if you have already finalized the documents for translation. Is it
possible to receive electronic copies of these files that we may provide an exact
quote?
Response:Yes. All documents have been finalized. Unfortunately these documents will
only be shared with the selected contractors as part of the fair opportunity process for the
issuance of specific firm-fixed-price orders.

The price sheet mentions pricing per page. Industry standard is price per word.
Please advise if this is acceptable.
Response:Please refer to Question/Response No. 4.
Question 9:
What is the anticipated contract value for this RFQ?
Response:The service agreements will not contain a specific ceiling amount, nor will
they contain any minimum guarantee. Funding will be provided at the time orders are
placed. FHI 360 envisions issuance of at least two (2) orders upon signature/award of the
service agreements.
Question 10: Please clarify the languages requested. Is Portuguese for Portugal or Brazil? Is
French for France or Canada?
Response: Please refer to Question/Response No. 1.
Question 11: Can you please confirm the target audiences for each language?
Response: The target audience for each language is FHI 360 contractual and program staff, as
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well as indigenous non-governmental organizations.
Question 12: Can we review the documents in question to have an accurate estimate of
repetitions? This will allow us to provide a more competitive and realistic quote.
Response: Please refer to Question/Response No. 8.
Question 13: Our fees are per word, not per page. This allows us to be fair across all projects,
and to offer discounts for repetitions. Your template for pricing requests a price per page. Can we
modify this to quote per word instead?
Response: Please refer to Question/Response No. 4.
Question 14: Also, we would like to offer one price across the board per language. We are
assuming the volume and the long term relationship so we will quote our very best rate per word
for three years. The tables would like look this:
Translation
Language
Spanish
Words
count
Rate
per
word
French
Portuguese
TOTAL
Subtotal
Is this OK with you?
Response: Please refer to Question/Response No.4.
[END OF AMENDMENT No. 1]
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