| answer text |
<p>The sourcing strategy for language services, which resulted in the award of a contract
to Applied Language Solutions in August 2011 (subsequently acquired by Capita Translation
and Interpreting (CTI)) contained several high-level objectives, namely to:</p><ul><li>Improve
the quality and consistency of service standards;</li><li>Improve value for money;
and</li><li>Improve contract monitoring arrangements.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Milestones
were set by the Ministry of Justice relating to relevant stages of the sourcing and
procurement process, namely:</p><ul><li>Issue of Pre-Qualification Questionnaire;</li><li>Supplier
Conference;</li><li>Invitation to Participate in Dialogue;</li><li>Invitation to Submit
Outline Solution;</li><li>Invitation to Submit Detailed Solution;</li><li>Invitation
to Submit Final Tender;</li><li>Selection of Preferred Bidders; and</li><li>Contract
Award.</li></ul><p> </p><p>These objectives and milestones were met, leading to contract
award in August 2011.</p><p> </p><p>It has previously been estimated that the contract
enabled the Ministry to spend £48m less than it would otherwise have spent under legacy
arrangements which were regarded as costly and inefficient.</p><p> </p><p>CTI performance
initially fell short of contractual requirements and measures were implemented to
address root causes which delivered improvements and increased fulfilment rates. These
are set out within the published Criminal Court Statistics (<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics</a>
).</p><p> </p><p>Ineffective trial rates attributed to interpreter availability have
been consistently low over the contracted period. Published statistics for ineffective
trial rates show that a lack of interpreter was the reason for 0.4% of trials being
relisted in the magistrates' court in 2012 reducing to 0.3% in 2014, and 0.1% in the
Crown Court throughout the course of the contract.</p><p> </p><p>Robust contract monitoring
and management arrangements were in place throughout the life of the CTI contract,
including performance reporting and provision of comprehensive management information,
monthly contract management meetings, and application of an improved performance management
(key performance indicators and service credits) regime.</p>
|
|
