For over 20 years, K International have been providing a translation service to the UK Government. The service now covers all areas of linguistics and is open for all Government to use under the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) approved contract 05/GEN/25.

Our team of translation experts are available to provide help on all projects that involve language or media. We have provided a help-desk that can be contacted on 01908 572600, info@k-international.com or via our contact us page.

This page gives the story of our history with the UK Government and examples of some of the projects that we have worked on together.

So far this year...

Our business strategy continues to allow the Government to communicate in foreign languages both at home and abroad.

As 05/GEN/25 grows we enable more Government Departments to make savings on their spend on translation and media services. The latest addition has been the Scottish Prison Service.

After the completion of a large multilingual and multimedia project in the early part of 2008. The Scottish Prison Service said, "K International have been instrumental in assisting us to deliver information". The project involved producing a DVD of their induction material making it available in 11 different language variations.

In Northern Ireland we have been awarded a contract to provide low cost Telephone Interpreting to the Health Service. This has enabled them to provide instant support in 140 languages all over Northern Ireland.

The scope of 05/GEN/25 has been expanded to include County Councils and NHS primary care trusts, many of which are now using it. As the agreement is OJEU compatible it allows these agencies to use our services without the expense of running separate tendering exercises.

2007

In the first 6 months of 2007 the OGC approved framework for translation services 05/GEN/25 grew by 400%. The drivers behind this were the costs savings that are now open to the Government when publishing material in alternative languages to English. Although costs savings were experienced across all Government, key successes were;

• the Department of Communities and Local Government saving 15%,
• National Probation Service saved £26,000 on one project,
• HM Prison Service saved 15% and considerably increased service levels, and,
• the Borders and Immigration Agency saved 12%.

The agreement was highlighted by the OGC as one of the best cost saving exercises of 2007. Peter Fanning (Chief Executive of the OGC) said that this agreement, "offers the best overall value from using collective buying power and transaction costs". The transaction costs of dealing with thousands of translators are now covered in K International's cost per word.

In an open letter to all Local Authorities in the UK the Department for Communities and Local Government highlighted that this agreement had a cost saving potential of 50% and savings were available as individual tendering costs can be avoided.

05/GEN/25 was expanded to include all 74 NHS trusts in the London area and later on offered as a solution to all of the trusts in the UK. This was done in partnership with Deloitte acting as the NHS' procurement consultants. Savings were also experienced as collaborative procurement made the average transaction and unit cost considerably lower than in previous years.

As the service grew new products were developed for the Government including, Braille, Large Print, Easy-Read and Telephone Interpreting.

Before 2007

2006. Contracts awarded this year include, The Environment Agency, 32 NHS Northern Ireland Trusts, and HM Prison Service. In September 2006 the OGC and Home Office administered the delivery a large contract that would consolidate all of the UK Government’s language requirements making it much more efficient for all Government bodies to procure a translation service that was designed specifically for their needs. This was awarded to K International. Since then K International in partnership with the OGC and the Home Office have been expanding this contract and introduced many Local and Central Government departments to the benefits of this arrangement.

2005. Awarded a tender to supply the Department of Work and Pensions with interpreters all over the UK with 4 hours notice. Also awarded a contract to supply the Greater London Authority with audio projects and developed a service in conjunction with HM Prison Service to allow them to translate urgent tape transcriptions.

2004. Development began to expand the typesetting studio to include audio dubbing and video recording. This reflects the business strategy to be able to help our clients to communicate their message to anyone in any media – regardless of language.

2003. Awarded a contract to supply NHS Broadmoor Hospital with translation and interpreting services.

2002. Awarded a contract to supply the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with translation and design services, producing mainly Welsh language documentation for various projects that they administer.

2000. The typesetting studio has become a market leader in innovation regarding manipulation of foreign text. They are recognised as market leaders particularly in right to left languages.

1999. Awarded a contract to supply the National Health Service (NHS) with translation services.

1997. Awarded multiple tenders to supply, Home Office Marketing Communication Unit, The Electoral Commission, DETR (later to become the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and then the Department for Communities and Local Government) and The Lord Chancellors Office (Child Protection Unit) with translation services.

1996. The business was moved to the new city of Milton Keynes occupying Carina Building. This location was chosen ahead of London, as it provides an abundance of office space for us to expand into as the company moves forward. MK is also easily accessible having both excellent rail/road links to London.

1994. Awarded a tender to supply the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) with translation services. This involved the rapid turnaround of asylum claims for the IND and associated government departments. This involved the translation of 15,000 documents a year most of which turned around within 5 days, some sooner.

1993. Awarded a tender to supply HM Treasury with translation services. This tender was the beginning of a UK Government system to translate documentation and the beginning of our company’s business partnership with HM Government. From this point forward all employees had to be positively vetted for security purposes.

Invested in electronic typesetting facilities within our business. This included the addition of Multilanguage machines that could manipulate text in any language. This service was expanded to offer our clients typeface design, documentation management, design, print management and consultancy on the production of foreign language documentation.

1986. K International was founded to provide translation services to local authorities mainly in and around the London area. This service grew quickly and our services were expanded to include interpreting and design services.