Bowne in translation deal with Department of Justice


25 Sep 2003

The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has signed an outsourcing deal with globalisation giant Bowne Global Solutions to provide interpretation and web portal scheduling services to the Department in the processing of asylum seekers in Ireland.

The one-year contract which commences this month will see Bowne provide the Department of Justice with a dedicated interpretation team comprised of a management team and four full-time, on-site interpreters who speak Arabic, French, Romanian and Russian, with a fall-back option of 800 interpreters who speak 100 languages and dialects on a 24 hour service.

Bowne will manage the contract from its European headquarters in Dublin and will use a proprietary internet portal to schedule interpreters and keep track of all time and costs.

The contract is specifically to manage the interpretation needs of the Offices of Refugee Application Commissioners (ORAC), Refugee Appeals Tribunal and the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA).

Bowne is one of the world’s leading providers of multilingual solutions for products and documents, marketing and communications, regulatory compliance, training and e-learning and globalisation strategy. The company is supported by innovative technologies, such as its Elcano translation portal. Governments and businesses have come to rely on Bowne to handle much of their translation, localisation, technical writing and interpretation needs.

According to Bowne’s European vice president Brian Kelly, the company has built up a body of experience working with the public sector and government agencies. “Most recently we provided interpretation services to the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Dublin. We also provide interpretation services to An Garda Siochána and the United States Department of Justice,” he said.

By John Kennedy