Purpose

Award of contract in relation to the Interpretation & Translation Services. The contract will be awarded to a successful provider, following a Procurement exercise

Decision

For the reasons set out in this report, the Corporate Director has decided to:

1)    Award a contract for the provision of Interpretation & Translation Services to DA Languages Ltd, for a period of 12 months, commencing 2 February 2026, with no options to extend, with an estimated contract value of £475,000.00 (excluding VAT).

Alternative options considered

Do nothing – this is not considered a viable option to the Council, primarily because the high demand for these services across the authority, not having a compliantly procured contract in place for these services would not only pose a risk to the Council from a procurement compliance standpoint, but also impact on the ability to deliver some services to all of its residents.

Alternative procurement route – although the chosen route, to direct award a contract via a compliant public sector framework, is permissible and will demonstrate some value for money, a competitive procurement exercise will be undertaken during the lifetime of this contract in order to demonstrate value for money, however, there is insufficient time to undertake this exercise prior to the expiry of the existing contract.