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Today’s blog is the last installment of our short series on the different services we provide to our range of clients. Appropriately enough for the first full week of November, we’ll be looking at a subject that tends to come up at this time of year, and has been a main feature of the news lately: the challenges of government work.
The federal government of the United States of America spends more on language services than any other body does; in fact, the US government buys more goods and services, tout court, than any other institution in the world. A government contract or two can be just the thing to move a small business from the red into the black, and help it stay there… assuming that small business satisfies all eligibility criteria and submits winning proposals, but that’s another series of blogs in itself! The tangible rewards of these contracts are considerable, and are matched by the demands that lead to them. Language providers are, in a sense, ambassadors for the clients we serve, as we’re responsible for a brand’s successful foreign language representation. When that “brand” is the government of the world’s leading superpower, the pressure to deliver top performance is immense. What follows is a sampling of what we’ve learned about giving government clients the service that will solidify a business relationship with them, and keep an LSP performing up to the standards required by the District of Columbia, during the proposal process and after acceptance.
Research: As when proposing services to a client in any field, it’s necessary to bone up on the client’s needs and past experiences, in order to offer your business to them in the most compelling package. Fortunately, government agencies tend to make their needs quite clear from the outset; as mentioned above, the US government buys more services than anyone else, and logic entails that the US government has an enormous number of potential vendors to deal with. Those tasked with hiring for the government will leave no doubt as to what they require, and when, and what the budget is. The more info an LSP has to fit itself right within these parameters, the better.
Preparedness: Government translation, like legal translation, mandates high levels of preparedness and accountability. Documents to be translated are apt to relate to national security, or issues of international conflict (a vast share of the government’s language needs, as with government spending in general, comes under the heading of the Department of Defense). Depending on the nature of the project, the standard verification of identity and non-disclosure agreement may not be enough. Do all of those involved with the project hold the necessary certifications? Are they able to pass a criminal background check and drug test? Can they be granted a security clearance? Do they have US citizenship or residency? A translation team for a government project must be assembled with extra care to satisfy all of these requirements, and far enough in advance that all members of the team can clear every hurdle.
Here is as good a place as any to mention information security. Government contracts are liable to come with strict protocols for information storage and transfer, and any request for proposals will include questions about how your business secures its data, and moves it about safely. You may need to invest in bringing your business up to technological specifications
Readiness and flexibility: These points follow directly on the previous one. Assuming you have everything it takes to get your proposal accepted by the government, and you win a government contract, you’d better be dead certain you haven’t made any promises you might not be able to keep! A contract between provider and client ought never to be taken lightly; when the client is the US government, the consequences for failure to deliver can be severe. As an example, consider the recent furor over the operational difficulties of the healthcare.gov website, and don’t let this happen to you.
The government requires much of its service providers, including near-constant availability, access to the project at all stages, and willingness to make changes or adjustments at once and without complaint. The strong tree bends with the wind, they say (or something like it), and everyone on the team must be willing to adapt themselves to the government’s requirements for the life of the project.
Short version: don’t write checks you’re not prepared to cash, and if it does happen that you can’t cash them, be able to explain exactly why!
Patience: If all of this makes it sound as if what the government wants, it wants right here and right now, know that “right now” can just as easily mean “at a future point yet to be determined”. A look at the news on any given day is enough to show what a complex and lumbering entity the US government is, how many moving parts there are, and how long it can take for anything to happen. Adjusting to the government’s timeframe can involve a great deal of “hurry up and wait”, so it’s best to learn to love it. The compensation and long-term benefits of doing excellent work for the government can make a whole lot of exasperation much easier to put up with!
