| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Agencies that ask for too much info Thread poster: Susana E. Cano Méndez
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| Work for the EU without an agency | Sep 25, 2015 |
I confirm what Philippe said: Work for the EU without an agency. You stand a great chance of being accepted if you work without an agency.
And your rates will be much higher. That's what I will do after my retirement. At the moment I'm an EU official and I'm not allowed to participate in these calls for tenders.
[Edited at 2015-09-25 07:41 GMT]
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Inga Petkelyte wrote:
[They have won several tenders and then offered me a fraction of my rates, with alll the hassle of working through their own system.]
Interesting.
Thank you, Inga.
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Yasutomo Kanazawa wrote:
If this agency has asked for your bank account number, why didn't they go as far to ask you to send them a copy of your passport? 
I know what you mean... but this was the last straw for me.
Thanks, Yasutomo.
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Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
I confirm what Philippe said: Work for the EU without an agency. You stand a great chance of being accepted if you work without an agency.
And your rates will be much higher.
Thank you, Maria. Your opinion is very helpful.
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| Not for this tender | Sep 25, 2015 |
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
I confirm what Philippe said: Work for the EU without an agency. You stand a great chance of being accepted if you work without an agency.
And your rates will be much higher. That's what I will do after my retirement. At the moment I'm an EU official and I'm not allowed to participate in these calls for tenders.
[Edited at 2015-09-25 07:41 GMT]
I read the tender. You must provide 5 or 6 language combinations, they ask for 2,500,000 words documented experience in the field, and many other things.
| | | | | "not only companies but also freelance translators can participate in this call for tenders" | Sep 25, 2015 |
"Question no 17:
I would like to know if this tender is for companies or for individuals.
Answer no. 17:
Please note that not only companies but also freelance translators can participate in this call for tenders.
Please note, however that in order to be valid the offer must comply with the requirements listed in the tender ... See more "Question no 17:
I would like to know if this tender is for companies or for individuals.
Answer no. 17:
Please note that not only companies but also freelance translators can participate in this call for tenders.
Please note, however that in order to be valid the offer must comply with the requirements listed in the tender specifications."
http://cdt.europa.eu/CDT%20Call%20Documents/CONSUM15/FAQ%20CONSUM15.pdf
I also checked the tender documents. I found the above statement in the question and answer sheet provided. However, it's true that the Translation Center wants offers to cover at least six lots (= six language combinations). But freelancers may submit joint offers together with other freelancers or subcontract.
I think, in this case the best solution is to subcontract. A possibe scenario would be the following one: One freelancer A, who has experience in translating documents in the fields of Public Administration, Law or Mediation/Consumer Protection and has translated at least 4000 pages (= 4 years) from German and French into English, asks another freelancer B, who has translated at least 1000 pages from Dutch into English, to fill in a declaration of intent in which he/she declares his/her intent to collaborate with A, as well as another freelancer C, who translates from Spanish into English, to do the same and so on until there are declarations of intent for the 4 languages that A does not cover.
[Edited at 2015-09-25 12:30 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-09-25 14:53 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Replacement of translators not allowed without the prior agreement of the Translation Center | Sep 25, 2015 |
"INFORMATION ON TRANSLATION STAFF
The Contractor undertakes to provide the Translation Centre with the name(s) of the translator(s) responsible for each assignment carried out and shall, on request, also provide the detailed curriculum vitae of the individual(s) concerned.
Any change in the translation team indicated in the offer must be brought to the attention of the Translation Centre for acceptance and evidence provided of the educational and professional qualifications of those ... See more "INFORMATION ON TRANSLATION STAFF
The Contractor undertakes to provide the Translation Centre with the name(s) of the translator(s) responsible for each assignment carried out and shall, on request, also provide the detailed curriculum vitae of the individual(s) concerned.
Any change in the translation team indicated in the offer must be brought to the attention of the Translation Centre for acceptance and evidence provided of the educational and professional qualifications of those concerned. Any change in the list of translation staff indicated in the offer is prohibited without the prior agreement of the Translation Centre."
This is from the contract. So agencies are not allowed to use translator A during the bidding procedure and then later give the work to translator B without proving to the Translation Center that translator B has the same qualifications as translator A.
By the way, in reading the contract, I also found out that former officials of the European Union are not allowed to participate in these tendering procedures. So I won't be able to participate even after my retirement. All I can do is give you some advice on how to participate.
[Edited at 2015-09-25 12:57 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 21:40
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| What a weird idea! | Sep 25, 2015 |
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
former officials of the European Union are not allowed to participate in these tendering procedures. So I won't be able to participate even after my retirement. All I can do is give you some advice on how to participate.
Why on earth are they doing that? The people with the best knowledge base are excluded from putting that knowledge to good use? Bizarre!
agencies are not allowed to use translator A during the bidding procedure and then later give the work to translator B without proving to the Translation Center that translator B has the same qualifications as translator A.
I had heard that this was to be a new requirement. Maybe some agencies are just overlooking that fact still, pretending they haven't noticed a change.
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Sheila Wilson wrote:
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
former officials of the European Union are not allowed to participate in these tendering procedures. So I won't be able to participate even after my retirement. All I can do is give you some advice on how to participate.
Why on earth are they doing that? The people with the best knowledge base are excluded from putting that knowledge to good use? Bizarre!
Probably to avoid that a former official having knowledge on how these tenders work in the inside might be in a better position to win a tender than his/her colleagues.
| | | | | Complicated then | Sep 25, 2015 |
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
"Question no 17:
I would like to know if this tender is for companies or for individuals.
Answer no. 17:
Please note that not only companies but also freelance translators can participate in this call for tenders.
Please note, however that in order to be valid the offer must comply with the requirements listed in the tender specifications."
http://cdt.europa.eu/CDT%20Call%20Documents/CONSUM15/FAQ%20CONSUM15.pdf
I also checked the tender documents. I found the above statement in the question and answer sheet provided. However, it's true that the Translation Center wants offers to cover at least six lots (= six language combinations). But freelancers may submit joint offers together with other freelancers or subcontract.
I think, in this case the best solution is to subcontract. A possibe scenario would be the following one: One freelancer A, who has experience in translating documents in the fields of Public Administration, Law or Mediation/Consumer Protection and has translated at least 4000 pages (= 4 years) from German and French into English, asks another freelancer B, who has translated at least 1000 pages from Dutch into English, to fill in a declaration of intent in which he/she declares his/her intent to collaborate with A, as well as another freelancer C, who translates from Spanish into English, to do the same and so on until there are declarations of intent for the 4 languages that A does not cover.
[Edited at 2015-09-25 12:30 GMT] [Edited at 2015-09-25 14:53 GMT]
Yes, I saw that, but it seems rather complicated to qualify for that option (at least for me).
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Hi Alvaro, from your profile I can see that you are a qualified lawyer-linguist and that you translate from at least two languages into Spanish. You seem to meet a lot of the requirements asked for in this call for tenders. The most important thing now is to be able to submit proof of all the legal translations you did in the past. You then have to find some more translators for other source languages and you can either enter into a contractor-subcontractor relationship with them or you submit ... See more Hi Alvaro, from your profile I can see that you are a qualified lawyer-linguist and that you translate from at least two languages into Spanish. You seem to meet a lot of the requirements asked for in this call for tenders. The most important thing now is to be able to submit proof of all the legal translations you did in the past. You then have to find some more translators for other source languages and you can either enter into a contractor-subcontractor relationship with them or you submit a joint offer in which case all partners assume joint and several liability.
The positive news about these constructions is that the selection criteria for technical and professional capacity will be evaluated in relation to the combined capacities of the tendering group as a whole, meaning that if an experience of 10.000 words is required and you yourself only have an experience of 4.000 words, the experience of the other participants in the group will be counted towards fulfilling this selection criterion (if they have an experience of 6000 words, the 10.000 words criterion is met).
[Edited at 2015-09-25 17:22 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-09-25 17:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 16:40
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| About bank account number | Sep 26, 2015 |
Susana E. Cano Méndez wrote:
Good evening, dear colleagues.
How do you feel about agencies that ask for too much information and then lead you to a webpage where you have to provide your bank account number?
I don't think that number is confidential. It will be of no use to any scammer. Simply, when you send a check to pay someone, your bank account number is no the check.
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jyuan_us wrote:
I don't think that number is confidential. It will be of no use to any scammer. Simply, when you send a check to pay someone, your bank account number is no the check.
Hello, jyuan,
This only seems to apply to US, since here in Spain Police tell us not to provide this kind of information to unknown people. Also, in Spain checks are not used (almost) anymore.
Have a good week-end.
| | | | Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 21:40
Lithuanian to Portuguese
+ ...
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
The most important thing now is to be able to submit proof of all the legal translations you did in the past.
Indeed, that is the biggest challenge. I have to say a "no" on various occasions, for:
1. local courts, one of my major clients for legal translations with hundreds, at times, of translated pages per order, would not bother to answer requests to issue a certificate/declaration. I believe, this is not limited solely to Portugal and it would be interesting to hear experiences with courts in other countries;
2. most of agencies are reluctant to issue such declarations either. I was lucky to have some that did, yet others promise and that's all they do;
3. the request normally is "X pages per A to B" translations and most of us work in several language combinations and often both ways. Ah, and yes - not only fom A to B but also in a specific field. Once I calculated that a translator should have been translating for 4 years full time from A to B in the Y field in order to be eligible. How many, I wonder, are there freelance translators that would meet this criterium?..
The above automatically eliminates a good lot of skilled professionals and thus, agencies have clearly more chances to consider participation in tenders. On the other hand, translators planning their career might concentrate more on the target translations and build their portfolio for the future.
(The agency mentioned in my previous post asked nicely and I did provide all the docs for their tender. Such a sweatheart of me... )
| | | | | references can also be obtained by freelancers | Sep 28, 2015 |
Inga Petkelyte wrote:
Maria S. Loose, LL.M. wrote:
The most important thing now is to be able to submit proof of all the legal translations you did in the past.
The above automatically eliminates a good lot of skilled professionals and thus, agencies have clearly more chances to consider participation in tenders. On the other hand, translators planning their career might concentrate more on the target translations and build their portfolio for the future.
(The agency mentioned in my previous post asked nicely and I did provide all the docs for their tender. Such a sweatheart of me... )
If agencies can get these references from their clients why can't individual translators get them? These references are necessary to prove that the translator in question is truly specialized in the fields of Law, Public Administration or Dispute Resolution. It's true that there are only a few truly specialized translators on the market, who fulfil these criteria, but this is the kind of translators the Translation Center wants to work with. Otherwise it would have used different selection criteria.
By the way, I just wanted to add that for this call for tenders it's even better if you translate from and into different languages, because this way you can cover several of the required six lots.
[Edited at 2015-09-28 17:33 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-09-28 17:48 GMT]
[Edited at 2015-09-28 17:50 GMT]
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