P19-186 - Transcription Services

Address:
York University
Procurement Services
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M3J 1P3
 
Description:
6.1       Objectives
The objective of this RFP is to engage one (1) qualified Proponent to provide transcription services for meetings, interviews and field notes across various projects within the department on as required basis.
The School of Health Policy & Management in Faculty of Health department at York University offers qualitative research projects, meetings and field notes via audio tapes and video that require transcription. A recorder(s) is used to transcribe interviews, meetings, or fieldnotes. The transcriptionists are anticipated to be able to type at least at 80 wpm, as timeliness is imperative. Accuracy is integral, should adjustments need to be made, the Selected Proponent will assume that responsibility. Once complete, the transcripts will be filed numerically in the proper folder using a storage software. The School of Health Policy & Management in Faculty of Health is currently using Igloo storage software; however, any equivalent Canadian based software can be used to deliver/receive files to/from the Selected proponent. 

6.2       Deliverables
The Selected Proponent shall meet all required logistical/operational requirements, including but not limited to the following:

6.2.1.  Equipment
The Selected Proponent must have access to necessary equipment to provide complete transcription services as required. York reserves the right to refuse, at its sole discretion and notwithstanding any prior approval, any personnel of the Selected Proponent providing service in the performance of this contract. York will document in writing the reason(s) for any rejection of personnel.

6.2.2.  Transcription

• The Selected Proponent shall have the capability of providing audio to text and video to text.

• All transcriptions must be reviewed, proofread, spell-checked, demographically checked, and correctly formatted.

• The Selected Proponent will assume all responsibilities of uploading and downloading transcripts in the proper files on the Igloo or equivalent software.
• The Selected Proponent shall establish a secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) website for use in transferring documents to and from York. Any website or software used to transfer the files to the staff, must house their data in Canada.Igloo is preferred.
• York shall review, approve and accept all work ordered and received. All materials for review shall be delivered to York via Igloo or another Canadian based software, or other agreed upon delivery method. If corrections are needed, the Selected Proponent shall submit the corrections within one business day of notification from York. Corrections shall be made at no additional charge.
  • Selected Proponent must maintain a 95% accuracy rate. If over ten percent (10%) of total monthly transcriptions requires retypes or corrections, York shall work with the Selected Proponent on a resolution and take any necessary measures allowed to resolve the situation. As two recordings in many cases will be provided, both recordings need to be listened to prior to writing “incomprehensible”.
  • If Selected Proponent finds that a recording is inaudible, the Selected Proponent shall send the recording to York, who will verify that the recording is inaudible. If the recording is audible, the Selected Proponent will be contacted to download the recording and prepare a transcript.
  • Contractor must title all transcriptions correctly and organize and file them so that there are no duplicates or missing transcripts. It is Selected Proponent’s responsibility to organize any numerically missing and duplicate files.

• Deliverable deadlines shall be agreed upon by York and Selected Proponent prior to order placement.
• The Selected Proponent shall maintain an electronic library of all transcriptions for audit purposes for one year from date of acceptance.
  • The Selected Proponent shall log all transcriptions. The specific data to be logged will be determined by York.
  • The Selected Proponent shall have the capability to generate reports from the log as requested by York. Reports shall be delivered to York via the SFTP site or email as requested by York.

• The Selected Proponent must comply with all provisions of any legislative changes or administrative rule changes enacted or adopted during the term of the contract at no cost to York.
• The Selected Proponent shall be held responsible for the security of its premises and assumes all risk.
• The Selected Proponent acquires no title or rights to any of the data it receives and transcribes for York.
• The Selected Proponent shall provide a method for recording dictation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  • Dictation method may include a toll-free telephone number dedicated to York, hand-held dictation device, PC microphone, or other approved method. The Selected Proponent must provide a mechanism to give priority to records that are needed immediately (i.e., a dedicated line).
  • Must have capability of single speaker dictation and multiple speaker recordings.
• All recordings must be able to be paused, rewound, and fast-forwarded.
• The length of time a recording is maintained, the destruction of a recording; and any other use of the recorded data shall be determined by York.
• The transcriptionists must understand and apply correct English grammar, spelling and punctuation skills.
• The Selected Proponent shall have an established system for quality assurance and quality control to ensure the accuracy of dictations and transcriptions, required reports and bill documents.
• The Selected Proponent shall track all security events and shall report such security incidents immediately, with the following understandings:
  • The York shall not consider as security event, for the purpose of reporting, external activities (port enumeration) typically associated with the “foot printing” of a computing environment so long as such activities have only identified but have not compromised the logical network perimeter, including but not limited to externally facing firewalls and web servers;
  • The Selected Proponent shall reasonably use its own vulnerability assessment of damage potential and monitoring to define levels of security incidents and responses for the Selected Proponent’s operations. However, the Selected Proponent shall immediately notify the York contact of any security event which would constitute a security event including any “breach of the security of the system”, in a preliminary report within one (1) business day with a full report within five (5) business days of the time the Selected Proponent became aware of the event; and
  • The Selected Proponent shall likewise notify the York in a preliminary report within one (1) business day of any unauthorized acquisition including but not limited to internal user access to non-test records reported to the Selected Proponent’s privacy manager or other appropriate personnel; and any use, disclosure, modification or destruction of confidential information by an employee or otherwise authorized user of its system of which the Selected Proponent becomes aware with a full report of the event not less than five (5) business days of the time it became aware of the event.
• If data acquired (including but not limited to access to or use, disclosure, modification or destruction of such data) is in encrypted format, but the decryption key which would allow decoding of the data is also taken, the parties shall treat the acquisition as an unauthorized acquisition for the purpose of determining the appropriate response.
• If there are two researchers interviewing the same person, the transcript shall not cost more.
• If an individual has an accent, the transcript shall not cost more, as the work is done hourly.

1. Executive Summary and Qualifications
2. Methodology
3. Timetable/Workplan
4. References/Past Experience
5. Financial Consideration  
6. Section 9.0 – Acknowledgement

1. Mandatory Requirements
2. Executive Summary and Qualifications
3. Methodology
4. Timetable/Workplan
5. References/Past Experience; and
6. Financial Evaluation