Interpreter Services Provider Guidelines

Reporting/Monitoring Requirements

All Contractors are required to submit Interpreter Referral Service Quarterly Progress Reports to the ACCES-VR Service Delivery Unit (Central Office) and to each ACCES-VR District Office Manager where services are provided, summarizing service in the corresponding Region/ACCES-VR Central/District Office(s).  Failure to submit reports in a timely fashion may result in suspension of payments and/or the cancellation of the contract.  The Contractor will be responsible for timely and accurate submission of all reports and invoicing to ACCES-VR.

Interpreter Referral Service Quarterly Progress Reports are due on the fifteenth day of the month following each quarter:

  Quarter Due
June - August September 15
September - November December 15
December - February March 15
March - May June 15

Interpreter Referral Service Quarterly Progress Report form.

Annual Contractor Performance Review Criteria

ACCES-VR will review contractor performance every 6 months for the first year and thereafter, annually for the remaining 4 years of the 5-year contract period. Please see Contract Performance Review Criteria below for a complete description of annual contract performance review criteria.

Contractor performance will be discussed throughout the contract period at district office review meetings.

Performance will be assessed as follows:

  • Frequency  of Contractor-cancelled assignments;
  • Frequency  of interpreter(s) no shows;
  • Frequency of unfilled assignment request for reasons other than short notice;
  • Compliance with the requirement that Certified Interpreters provide at least 60% of the annual number of hours;
  • Consumer/staff/ interpreter satisfaction survey feedback results;
  • Timeliness in submitting Interpreter Referral Service Quarterly Progress Reports; and
  • Completeness of payment submissions (voucher, invoice, and signed interpreter time sheet); and
  • Annual reconciliation of billing and payments.

NYSED reserves the right to reassign the designation of “primary”, “secondary” and “tertiary” contractors based on the results of each annual contractor performance.

Contract Performance Review Criteria

Certified or Pre-Certified Interpreters

  • Did the provider arrange for Certified Interpreters at least 60% of the time for On-Site interpreting and 100% of the time for VRI?  Information will be obtained from invoices and timesheets submitted throughout the year.
  • Did the provider obtain consumer/customer feedback on quality of service provided?  Vendor will be asked to provide results regarding feedback.
  • Did the vendor provide a roster of available interpreters, which includes with their current certification, individual hours of experience, continuing education completed and any special or unique interpreting skills?  This may include:
    • Technical/ scientific interpreting experience;
    • Bilingual interpreting;
    • Medical;
    • Low functioning deaf interpreting;
    • American Sign Language (ASL);
    • Signing in Exact English (SEE);
    • Pidgin Signed English (PSE), or
    • Signed English.
  • Does the vendor have a plan to maintain and advance pre-certified interpreters to certified interpreters?  Vendor will be asked to provide ACCES-VR with a copy of the plan.

Capacity

  • Did the provider evidence the capacity to match consumer/customer needs in a timely and professional manner?  ACCES-VR will review the number of interpreting hours requested and the number of hours vendor was able to provide.  Vendor will provide a reason why interpreting hours were unable to be filled.
  • Does the vendor have an operational plan for ensuring appropriate services in a timely manner, including the matching of interpreters to consumers and the provision of certified interpreters within the Region/ACCES-VR Central/District Office(s)? 
  • What is the vendor’s back-up referral service plan, when RID/NAD interpreter resources are limited, to meet the 60% minimum requirement for certified interpreters as outlined in this RFP?  

Reporting Requirement

  • Were invoices, vouchers and timesheets submitted within the required timeframes?
  • Were signatures provided on all timesheets?
  • Were quarterly reports submitted timely District Office and Central Office?

Video Remote Interpreting (VRI)

  • Review the ongoing compatibility with ACCES-VR’s equipment and software and the successful application of VRI as outlined in Attachment B.  
  • How was the overall video quality of the remote interpreting?  Information will be obtained from the consumer survey conducted by the vendor and vendor feedback provided to ACCES-VR. 

Contractors will be evaluated starting on the 1st Quarter of the succeeding year, with a potential for impact on their primary, secondary or tertiary designation as noted below:

Impact of Annual Performance Measures

At the end of each year of the contract, each contractor’s performance will be evaluated by the ACCES-VR Regional Coordinator.  Contractors will be rated as follows:

Satisfactory – no corrective action needed
Needs Improvement – corrective action plan required
Unsatisfactory – corrective action plan required

Contractors that are required to submit a corrective action plan must show improvement within six months or risk a reduction in their contract designation.  NYSED reserves the right to lower a primary contractor designation to secondary and a secondary designation to tertiary.  For tertiary contractors that fail to show improvement, NYSED reserves the right to reduce the amount of their contract award by 50%.  Without limiting NYSED’s other rights of termination, contractors that fail to show improvement to Satisfactory within twelve months may have their contract terminated.

The Quarterly Reports will be reviewed by ACCES-VR Service Delivery (Central Office) – all reports.  The District Office Managers will review the Quarterly Reports for contractors serving their District Office in conjunction with their respective ACCES-VR Regional Coordinator.  The District Office Managers will discuss any areas of concern with the contractors and obtain feedback from the contractor.  Both parties will work to agree on any corrective action steps that need to be taken to address the areas of concern.

Vendor Surveys

Contractors must send consumer satisfaction surveys to obtain consumer feedback regarding the services provided, using the ratings of Excellent, Satisfactory, Needs Improvement and Unsatisfactory, in the following areas:

  • Overall Quality of Service;
  • Quality of the match with the interpreter(s) assigned;
  • Timeliness of the interpreter;
  • Interpreter’s sign language proficiency.

Please carefully review Appendices B (Budget), C (Payment and Reporting), and D (Program Work Plan) of your contract for more information on meeting contractual, reporting performance, and fiscal obligations of the contract.  See satisfaction survey.