Two Ottawa firms garner $6M in translation deals

(Stock image)

Published on June 27, 2012

Published on June 22, 2012

OBJ Staff

Two local translation companies have been awarded a combined $6.1 million in standing offers from Parks Canada.

Fox Translations Ltd.'s offer is for $3.2 million and The Masha Krupp Translation Group Ltd. is for $2.9 million, according to records published on procurement site Merx.

The firms were among five companies across the country awarded standing offers from the federal department for the same contract.

Parks Canada says it requires translation, editing and updating services, with each standing offer for two years with the option to extend by up to three additional one year-period.

According to Parks Canada, it requires translation of 6.4 million words a year (from English to French) and 1.6 million words a year (from French to English.)

Contractors required a secret clearance and at least five years of experience to qualify.

Fox Translations has more than 15 years of experience translating some 20 languages, and lists clients such as Health Canada, Library and Archives Canada and Transport Canada on its website.

The Masha Krupp Translation Group Ltd. is 20 years old. Clients listed on its website include the City of Ottawa, the Hospital for Sick Children and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

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Watchdog: - June 28, 2012 at 09:48:34

It astounds me that anyone would pay this amount of money for translations services. Watchdog thought that we were trying to save money. Our leaders need to prioritize how we spend this precious dollars that they receive every year. Can 6 million dollars be spent on affordable housing, pay down on the debt, and a host of other needier causes; you bet. But oh no, we need to translate useless documents into a almost dead language. If one were to do some investigation, one would find out that the working language of most countries is English. English ranks righ up there with Hindi, Mandarin, etc.. Why is it that most Indian people (from India speak English)? They are taught it in school. NOT French! The official language of the air is English; NOT French! See a pattern here? Not to worry the governments will raise your taxes once again to pay for nonsense like this and there is nothing you can do about it except sit back and get hosed...

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