HBEX26: Request for Proposals for Verbal Telephone Interpretation Services

Covered California (the state’s health‑benefit exchange) issued a competitive RFP (HBEX 26) seeking a single vendor to provide statewide verbal telephone interpretation services for its call‑center. The work includes handling high‑volume calls in 13 mandatory languages (English, Spanish, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Vietnamese) and additional languages as needed, with strict performance metrics for answer times and abandonment rates. The contract is capped at $3 million and a per‑minute rate ceiling of $1.00, runs from mid‑July 2013 through the end of 2014, and offers two optional one‑year extensions. LanguageLine Solutions was identified as the intended awardee, subject to a five‑day protest period.