For public agencies
How agencies buy from us.
A written quote same business day, terms your purchasing office already uses, and everything a department needs to raise a purchase order.
Quotes
Four things and we can price it.
Send them to quotes@civictranslation.com or through the quote form. If something is missing we ask; these four are what turn a request into a number.
The file
Word, PDF, InDesign, a scan, or a link to the page. A scan is fine; we flag it at quote if it is too poor to read reliably.
The language or languages
Price is per language, so the quote separates them and you can drop one without re-quoting the rest.
The date you need it
The real deadline, including internal review time. The delivery date we quote is the date the file is in your inbox.
The delivery format
Usually the format you sent. Say so if you need something else: a tagged PDF, web-ready text, or a print-ready file.
A written quote, same business day, itemized:
- Word count and page count for each document.
- Price for each language, separately.
- A delivery date, not a range.
- Every assumption we made, written down.
- Anything not included, stated as not included.
If we cannot hold your deadline, the quote says so.
Purchasing
Set up the way your purchasing office already works.
Before the purchase order
A completed W-9 is available on request. If your vendor file needs anything else, ask and we send what we hold plus the status of anything in process.
Terms
Standard net terms, or your department's own where they differ.
Invoices
Every invoice carries the purchase order number, the documents, the languages, and the delivery date, so it reconciles without a phone call.
Blanket and term orders
We work against a blanket purchase order or a term contract, drawing down job by job, each one quoted in writing before it starts.
No minimum
A one-page notice is a real job we take. No minimum order, no small-order surcharge.
Under a prime contractor
Where the award sits with a prime, we work as a subcontractor on their paper and their process.
Subcontract terms are set out separately for language service providers.
Turnaround
Deadlines, and what a rush changes.
- Standard
- Documents up to roughly 2,500 words, per language.
- Priority
- Documents up to roughly 1,200 words, per language. Same-day intake before 11 a.m. PT.
- Scheduled
- Handbooks, manuals, and multi-document programs, delivered on a milestone schedule.
- Tell us the deadline at intake. It decides which tier the job runs in, and the quote names the tier.
- A rush changes the schedule and the staffing. Review runs at full length on every tier.
- Our hours are Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Pacific. Work outside them is by arrangement, agreed in the quote.
Handling
Confidentiality, records, and what the delivery has to survive.
Confidentiality.
Draft, deliberative, and pre-decisional documents are handled as confidential by default; you do not have to ask or flag the file. Reviewers are engaged under confidentiality terms and see only the job they are assigned. We sign your department's own nondisclosure agreement. Client work is not published, quoted, or named.
Records.
Civic Translation retains the source file as received, the delivered translation, and the signed certificate of accuracy, each carrying a reference number that appears on both the certificate and the invoice. A lost delivery is reissued from the record. A later revision is quoted against the original. If your retention rules require us to destroy our copies after a set period, say so at intake and we confirm the schedule in writing.
Accessibility of the delivery.
Text comes back as live text (selectable, searchable, and reflowable). Heading structure, lists, and table headers survive the language change. The document is tagged so a screen reader pronounces it correctly. Send a tagged PDF and you get a tagged PDF back. Our accessibility commitment.
Vendor file
Documents we can provide.
Ask for what your department's vendor file needs and it comes back in writing, same business day, where it exists.
- California certified Small Business
- Certified by the Department of General Services (Cal eProcure).
- A completed W-9.
- A signed confidentiality or nondisclosure agreement on your department's own form.
- A specimen certificate of accuracy in the form we issue it. See the certificate.
- A written description of the translation and review process every job runs through. See the process.
- Written confirmation of the current status of any registration, certification, or insurance item your vendor file asks about.
Related
- Capability statementFirm snapshot, NAICS codes, printable.
- Language access rulesWhat the ordinance and the acts ask for.
- PricingHow a job is priced before you commit.
- LanguagesCoverage, and what does not change with the language.
- Quality standardsWhat the review step actually does.
- Request a quoteSend a file and a deadline.
Send the document and the deadline.
Attach the file, name the languages, and give us the date. An itemized written quote comes back same business day, in a form your purchasing office can act on.