And the one thing localisation expert Katja Virtanen wishes every procurement team would do before launching an RFP
Public sector organisations face a localisation challenge that most private companies never have to deal with.
They must make information accessible to all citizens. They often operate under legal language requirements. They serve diverse communities. And unlike private companies, they must follow strict procurement rules designed to ensure transparency and equal treatment of suppliers.
As a result, choosing a localisation provider is rarely a simple purchasing decision.
Yet according to Katja Virtanen, Senior Director of Public Sector and Interpreting at LanguageWire and a specialist in public sector procurement, many organisations make the same mistake before they even begin evaluating suppliers.
"They focus on comparing providers before they have fully explored what they actually need and what is available."
Katja’s observation from years in the field is that organisations often fail to ask the right questions before buying, meaning they end up locked into contracts that don't fully meet their needs. This costs them both time and money, and they might miss out on the services that would best meet their quality needs.
How public sector organisations hurt their bottom line
One of our customers followed the process and asked all the right questions when they first launched a tender.
However, they did not fully explore what they actually needed before starting the procurement process.
They signed a four-year localisation contract before covering all the bases. Only later did it become apparent to Katja that they were using a popular CMS for which LanguageWire already had a connector. There was never a discussion about the organisation's actual localisation workflow, only the mandatory procurement requirements.
"Once a four-year contract is signed, organisations have very limited flexibility to change what they purchased."
According to Katja, this is a big missed opportunity and one that can have a significant impact on the public sector's bottom line.
"Focus is often on the word rate, but the total costs, including tech costs or hidden costs from possible correction rounds, are ignored."
In this case, the organisation ended up manually copying and pasting translated content into its CMS, even though a connector could have automated the entire process.
A connector moves content automatically between systems. In practice, this means you request a translation directly from within your CMS, the content is sent for translation, and when it is completed, it is automatically returned to the correct pages on your localised website. There is no need to manually copy and paste content, rebuild pages, or manage multiple language versions by hand.
Four years is a very long time in today's rapidly evolving technology landscape. While nobody can predict every future innovation, Katja believes many public organisations overlook these discussions altogether.
Virtanen's advice: Talk to the industry and don't be afraid to explore new ways of meeting your localisation needs
Katja Virtanen's advice for getting the most out of your localisation setup is simple:
"Talk to the industry, carry out an extensive RFI, write down your needs and expectations, instead of just tendering the cheapest price with heavy minimum requirements."
Returning to the customer example above, a proper discovery phase could have saved the organisation both time and money. They would have uncovered how much manual work a connector could eliminate before signing the contract.
Technology isn't all or nothing
Many public organisations are cautious about exploring new technologies, often for good reason.
Their content is frequently legally binding and must be error-free. Some translations are highly confidential and cannot make use of Translation Memories. Some even need to be completed on the customer's own premises using their own hardware.
There are also organisations, particularly within defence and law enforcement, where modern technologies or AI are simply not permitted.
However, there are still many ways the public sector can benefit from technology and automation in localisation. The connector example above is just one of many examples.
Explore your options during procurement
Public sector organisations are facing growing pressures. Governments are expected to communicate in more languages and formats than ever before to serve increasingly diverse communities.
This includes everything from legal documents and municipal websites to public service interfaces, council meeting minutes, official announcements, and digital service forms.
Healthcare providers translate patient information, treatment guides, and social services material into multiple languages. During emergencies such as pandemics or natural disasters, authorities must be able to distribute accurate information quickly across many languages. They must also be able to attract international investment and participate in EU collaboration.
As a result of these growing pressures, many public sector organisations are starting to actively look into AI as an option.
Some go into technical dialogues before launching their RFPs.
"I'm happy every time I see this," Katja says.
She encourages all public sector organisations to approach the market with an open mind so they can build solutions that reflect both today's technology and their own operational needs.
"What is needed is dialogue with industry stakeholders to know where the industry is heading and what tech advances and other things should be taken into account in the procurement process."
How to ask the right questions
According to Katja, the main challenge is: “How do you define the criteria so that you actually get the quality you want to pay for?”
Public sector organisations are required to establish clear selection criteria for quality, and those criteria must be transparent and non-discriminatory. In other words, every supplier must be treated equally.
But these types of strict assessments do not always produce the best long-term outcome.
For example, you might require ten translators with a certain academic degree or a minimum number of translated pages. But does that really guarantee future quality?
Katja argues that previous translation experience alone says very little about whether someone is the right fit. Quality depends on the situation, audience, purpose, and content type. Traditional procurement criteria cannot always demonstrate whether a translator has the right expertise for a particular public sector niche, nor whether the provider can consistently deliver the level of quality you actually need.
Assessing a provider’s quality assurance tools and methods should be as relevant as focusing on a single translator's previous experience.
So how do you ask the right questions?
You cannot avoid the formal procurement process. But alongside it, you can engage with the industry and explore what is possible before finalising your requirements.
Katja recommends discussing topics such as:
Technology such as Translation Memories, Termbases, and CMS connectors. These not only automate repetitive work but also improve consistency across languages and content types.
AI-powered workflows. AI does not have to be an all-or-nothing decision. It can become one controlled step within your localisation workflow, governed by human experts and supported by translation memories and terminology management.
Non-text workflows such as DTP, subtitling, voice-over, and multimedia localisation. Rather than manually recreating translated brochures, videos, or other assets, many of these processes can now be streamlined or automated.
"The biggest challenge is the art of carrying out a transparent public procurement process that truly caters to the public entity's needs."
The right questions lead to the right partner
Public procurement will always require structure, transparency, and careful evaluation. Those principles are essential.
But as Katja's experience shows, successful localisation procurement is about making sure the localisation solution reflects the realities of your organisation, your workflows, and the technology available today.
The organisations that achieve the best long-term results are often those that spend more time asking questions before the RFP is published. By understanding what's possible first, they are far more likely to set the criteria so that they find a solution that delivers value throughout the life of the contract.
Download the public sector localisation procurement checklist
Before you publish your next RFP, make sure you've explored all the options available.
Download our free one-page checklist featuring the key questions Katja Virtanen recommends discussing with localisation providers before finalising your procurement requirements.
Download the Public Sector Localisation Procurement Guide
