Image via Wikipedia
The July 4th weekend is almost here. But before we break out the barbecues and head out for the long weekend, I wanted to share some interesting information I received about US federal government spending on language services.
It is estimated that over 10% of the total spending in the US is done by the various branches of government: State, Local and Federal. That’s a lot of money! Language services is no exception, and the USA Federal government is a heavy-duty buyer. Should translation companies try and get a piece of the pie? Many of them are already working with the government, and many more are trying. It is good business sense. Here are some interesting facts and figures for you to consider:
- According to a CommonSenseAdvisory firm study on US federal spending, the US government spent over US$4.5 Billion on outsourced translation and interpreting services in the last two decades.
- The US Federal government spent about $150 Million in the Federal Fiscal Year Oct 2009 – Sep 2010. Click here to see how this money was spent in the same fiscal year and the names of the companies that were awarded the contracts. Click here to see the names of the GSA-approved suppliers which received contracts in the same fiscal year.
- The GSA (US General Services Administration) website publishes its Language Services – Schedule 738 II, the framework for most of the budget on language services procurement.
- This is most interesting! Would you like to know how much your competition is charging? One of the nice things about doing business with the federal government is that they require complete transparency from their suppliers. Any company that has a contract with the GSA must publish their prices. Just go to the GSA website to check prices.
Lionbridge translation prices from GSA website
- Another good thing about the US Federal government: they have quotas for small businesses and require some of their suppliers to order from small business. So if you are a small translation firm, you may want to lobby some of the names on the list and ask them to get you in as a subcontractor. Sometimes they will have no choice but to say yes.
- You do not need to be a US company to sell language services to the US government, although it certainly does not hurt. So if you are a European or Asian firm you can apply to become a GSA supplier.
Most of the information in this blog post was provided to me by Robert Dorff of the Greenstreet Group, a firm which specializes in helping companies sell to the various branches of government.
Related articles
- GSA Again Seeks Advice On Buying Technology (informationweek.com)
- GSA Releases Federal Publications On Google Books (informationweek.com)
