Government’s employment and benefits department has indicated its interest in buying and implementing tech tools that could automatically provide native translation for service users that speak languages other than English
The Department for Work and Pensions is exploring the possible use of new forms of automation technology that could translate content and services for citizens.
The benefits agency has issued a commercial planning notice outlining its interest in deploying a “front of house translation tool”. Before inviting bids from potential suppliers of such a system, the DWP “is undertaking market research to understand capability in machine translation, language processing and multilingual content support, to improve the accessibility, consistency and efficiency of our citizen communications”, the notice says.
Prospective providers are currently invited to respond to department’s request for information exercise to help inform its research – and any potential tender exercise in the future.
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The notice adds: “The purpose of this engagement is to: understand market capabilities; explore emerging translation technologies; assess approaches to data security and privacy; identify products suitable for short proof of concepts; [and] inform future procurement strategies and requirements.”
While the document stresses that the “RFI does not commit the DWP to undertaking any formal procurement activity”, it also stipulates that the department currently expects to issue a contract notice inviting bids from budding suppliers in January.
The DWP’s consideration of tech tools that could potentially automatically translate English into other languages comes as the Home Office undertakes similar explorations of whether artificial intelligence-powered technology could be used in UK immigration and border operations to automatically transcribe and translate languages other than English for the benefit of authorities.
