Friday 26 October 2018

Ireland: Supreme Court to hear Minister’s appeal over interpreter contract


26/10/18

Supreme Court to hear Minister’s appeal over interpreter contract
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform over a decision overturning the award of a contract for supply of interpreters for the State’s immigration service and Legal Aid Board.
The appeal will address what criteria must be met before the courts can interfere with the award of a contract following a tender process governed by public procurement regulations.
The Minister had applied to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal last June on proceedings brought by Word Perfect Translation Services Ltd, which tendered unsuccessfully for the interpreters contract.
The contract was awarded to another firm, Forbidden City Ltd, trading as Translation.ie. Word Perfect, which supplied interpreters to State bodies over several years, lost out by some 15 marks out of a possible 1,000 and it made several complaints about how the tenders were evaluated.
The Court of Appeal found two “manifest errors” in the tender evaluation process left it with no option, particularly given the closeness of the contest, but to set aside the award of the contract.
The request for tenders for interpretation services was published in October 2015 by the Office of Government Procurement.
The Court of Appeal found that the evaluators committed one manifest error insofar as the quality assurance plan was concerned in wrongly treating Translation.ie as having supplied a “narrative” in the manner required by the tender when Translation.ie had not done so.

"lack of an interpreter"


Oct 25, 2018

[…] The case brought under the Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979 was adjourned due to a lack of an interpreter for the Turkish-speaking defendant. […]

Friday 19 October 2018

GP communication issues could lead to 'preventable deaths' in Darlington


19/10/18

GP communication issues could lead to 'preventable deaths' in Darlington
[…] Researchers found that translation and interpretation services commissioned by NHS England and employed by GP services in the area were often inappropriate and failed to acknowledge the variation of regional dialects spoken in the town.
Sajna Miah, who assisted with the report, said Darlington's large Bangladeshi population spoke a different dialect, for example, than the Bangladeshi interpreters used by GP surgeries.
She said a failure to adequately match interpretation services to local needs could lead to communication breakdowns with potentially severe consequences, citing the example of one young man who recently had surgery cancelled due to an failure in interpretation.
Ms Miah said nationally commissioned services should be adapted to suit the varied needs of each town, adding: “Every town has different needs and 70 languages are spoken in Darlington. […]