Language Access in the California Courts

Description

The Judicial Council of California (the Council), chaired by the Chief Justice of California, is the policy making agency of the California judicial system. The California Constitution direct the Council to improve the administration of justice by performing various functions from trial court funding and adopting rules of court, to conducting surveys and assisting with program management.

On January 22, 2015, the Judicial Council adopted the Strategic Plan for Language Access in the California Courts and formed the Language Access Plan (LAP) Implementation Task Force (Task Force or ITF). Among other responsibilities, the Task Force was charged with assisting California’s Superior Courts with the implementation of the LAP’s 75 recommendations. Effective March 2019, after the sunset of the Task Force, the Language Access Subcommittee was formed, under the Advisory Committee on Providing Access and Fairness (PAF), to ensure the continuation of efforts to achieve and maintain access to justice for California’s Limited English Proficient (LEP) court users. The Court Interpreters Advisory Panel (CIAP) assists the council in performing its duties through promoting access to spoken-language interpreters and interpreters for deaf and hearing-impaired persons.

The Judicial Council seeks the services of a Contractor with experience to assist the Language Access Services Program with several projects that supports the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Language Access in the California Courts (Language Access Plan or LAP), including new products for the council’s online Language Access Toolkit and Judicial Resources Network (JRN) intranet site (which hosts language access and Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) webpages for judicial officers and court staff).

Questions regarding this RFP must be directed to the Solicitations Mailbox, solicitations@jud.ca.gov and must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time, April 18, 2022.

Proposer must submit their Technical and Cost proposals in a separate email to the Solicitations Mailbox, solicitations@jud.ca.gov. Proposals must be received no later than 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time, May 6, 2022.

Submission acceptance will be based on the date and time the emails are received by the Judicial Council. Both emails must be received no later than the due date and time or the proposal will not be accepted.

Further details regarding the solicitation are set forth in RFP Number: CFCC-2022-01-SB and related documents are provided below.