Agency suing for $ 9,000,000 after client terminates contract claiming 6+ errors per 1000 words
Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:24
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Jul 12, 2018

"Krupp’s company alleges Public Services improperly invoked a contract clause dealing with “unsatisfactory performance.” For instance, the procurement document specifies that translators cannot make more than six minor errors for every 1,000 words — defined as a grammatical error, typo or lack of clarity."

Agency claims these were not grammar errors or typos, but failure to comply with the client's style sheet because they were not given enough time to learn client's prefere
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"Krupp’s company alleges Public Services improperly invoked a contract clause dealing with “unsatisfactory performance.” For instance, the procurement document specifies that translators cannot make more than six minor errors for every 1,000 words — defined as a grammatical error, typo or lack of clarity."

Agency claims these were not grammar errors or typos, but failure to comply with the client's style sheet because they were not given enough time to learn client's preferences.

Full article:

https://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/bagnall-head-of-translation-company-seeking-3m-plus-in-second-federal-government-suit

[Edited at 2018-07-12 18:03 GMT]

[Edited at 2018-07-12 18:03 GMT]
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dkfmmuc
dkfmmuc  Identity Verified
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A summarization would be fine Jul 13, 2018

Dear colleague,

it seems that the content is hidden behind a pay-/advertisement wall.

Therefore it would be fine if you could post a short summary of the content.

Best regards

Gerd


 
Samuel Murray
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No paywall Jul 13, 2018

dkfmmuc wrote:
It seems that the content is hidden behind a pay-/advertisement wall.


There is no paywall. There is, however, an adblocker wall, but all that is required to view to content is to whitelist the URL in your browser. No payment necessary. How to do this would depend on which browser you're using and which adblocking addins/extensions you are using.

Basically, a government department cancelled it's contract with an agency due to errors in the translations (which exceeds the maximum allowed by the contract), and the agency believes that the government department cancelled the contract for no good reason. The agency claims that the "translation errors" are style errors that are are due to the fact that their translators were not yet familiar with the government department's style guide.

The question is a tricky one: how soon after a translator starts working for a client can the client assume that the translator will follow the client's style guide? Immediately, or only after a few weeks?


Mahmoud Afandy
 
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 04:24
Member (2002)
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER
Not blocked for me Jul 13, 2018

I'm using Ublock and Firefox and it wasn't blocked at all for me, so I didn't even notice.

dkfmmuc wrote:

Dear colleague,

it seems that the content is hidden behind a pay-/advertisement wall.

Therefore it would be fine if you could post a short summary of the content.

Best regards

Gerd


 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 09:24
French to English
Not easy Jul 13, 2018

(With Adblock and Chrome, I have full access to the article. )

The title of the article by James Bagnall is: "Head of translation company seeking $3M-plus in second federal government suit", not $9M, although, yes, 3M for breach of contact and 5.9M for damages, so I see where you get the total.

What do I think of it? I don't really know as we can only rely on what a journalist has reported. It's second or third-hand information. On the basis of that information, a clau
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(With Adblock and Chrome, I have full access to the article. )

The title of the article by James Bagnall is: "Head of translation company seeking $3M-plus in second federal government suit", not $9M, although, yes, 3M for breach of contact and 5.9M for damages, so I see where you get the total.

What do I think of it? I don't really know as we can only rely on what a journalist has reported. It's second or third-hand information. On the basis of that information, a clause in the contract specifies that if there are 6 errors of the type described in 1000 words, then there is "unsatisfactory performance". Was there "unsatisfactory performance"? He who asserts must prove so that would have to be established as a fact in order for the claim to be successful.

It is reported in the article that:

"The Masha Krupp Translation Group launched a $3-million suit late last month against Public Services and Procurement Canada for breach of contract and appears to be seeking a further $5.9 million in damages. This after the department cancelled a translation services deal awarded in 2017 by the Courts Administration Service — the agency that supports four federal superior courts, including the Court of Appeal. (Public Services negotiated the contract on behalf of the CAS)."

And further on...

"In its statement of claim, the Masha Krupp Translation Group said it performed as spelled out in the contract but had been unaware of “certain stylistics and department preferences” at the CAS. “In many cases, the ‘errors’ or ‘quality control’ issues identified by CAS were not in fact errors or quality control issues at all,” the company alleged, adding that it “was not given adequate time to learn through its transition into the role.”

Was the agency aware of the style and other preferences?
Was the agency given enough time?

Stab-in-the-dark comments would be that:
- if the agency had not been made aware of the style requirements, then it cannot be expected to comply with them
- if the agency had been made aware of them and had agreed to them, it would have to adhere to them and if it does not, or if it is not possible within the agreed time limit, then it would be logical to inform the client that this is a problem; if they failed to do so, then they might have a tough job defending their claim;
- same reply as above with regard to the time factor.

Either way, depending on the nature of the style requirements and how they were expressed and communicated, it might be a difficult claim to substantiate.

With the information in the article, it is impossible to judge. The article goes on to suggest that there is a possibility that the CAS did not respect the required procedure for backing out of the contract and there is also the suggestion of having done so to favour another service provider. These matters seem to be in the background and may be more important than they appear, or totally irrelevant. In any event, they are not, as I understand it, part of either claim. We probably only have a small part of the picture here.










[Edited at 2018-07-13 20:26 GMT]
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Joe Ly Sien
 


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Agency suing for $ 9,000,000 after client terminates contract claiming 6+ errors per 1000 words







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