Offering your terminology services
To offer the Translation Bureau your terminology services in official, Aboriginal or foreign languages as a self-employed individual, freelancer or firm, you must follow the steps below:
- Meet the eligibility criteria
- Obtain your Canada Revenue Agency business number and your procurement business number
- Apply for registration in the Translation Bureau’s directory of linguistic services suppliers
Note: Reliability or security clearance
Suppliers themselves cannot request reliability or security clearance. They must be sponsored by a federal department. Only after they have been registered in its directory of suppliers can the Translation Bureau sponsor them if it finds that they need such clearance.
1. Meet the eligibility criteria
You must ensure that you meet the following eligibility criteria:
Eligibility criteria: Terminology services in official languages
To offer your services as an individual, you must:
- be a certified member in good standing of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ) or a provincial or territorial professional association affiliated with the Canadian Translators, Terminologists and Interpreters Council (CTTIC) and have a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field in the case of legal, technical or scientific specialties
- provide representative samples of terminology records in the official languages
- be prepared to attend, at your own expense, a two-day information session on the Translation Bureau’s work methods
To offer your services as a firm, you must:
- retain the services of at least one person who is a certified member in good standing of the Ordre des traducteurs, terminologues et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTTIAQ) or a provincial or territorial professional association affiliated with CTTIC
- retain the services of at least one person who has a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field in order to be registered in legal, technical or scientific specialties
- provide representative samples of terminology records in the official languages
- be prepared to ensure that at least one person from the firm attends a two day information session on the Translation Bureau’s work methods, at the firm’s expense
Eligibility criteria: Terminology services in Aboriginal or foreign languages
To offer your services as an individual, you must:
- have a university degree and have taken university courses in at least one of the official languages and in a language other than an official language
- be recommended by a national or international terminology organization
- provide representative samples of terminology records in the source and target languages
- be prepared to attend, at your own expense, a two-day information session on the Translation Bureau’s work methods
To offer your services as a firm, you must:
- retain the services of at least one person who meets the criteria outlined immediately above
2. Obtain your Canada Revenue Agency business number and your procurement business number
If you meet the eligibility criteria, you must obtain the following required numbers:
Canada Revenue Agency business number
The business number (BN) is a numbering system that streamlines the way businesses deal with the federal government. If you have a Goods and Services Tax (GST) number or a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) number, you already have a business number. The first nine digits of your GST/HST number constitute your business number (such as 123456789RT0001). This number is required to obtain your procurement business number (PBN).
To obtain your BN, you have to complete form RC1 Request for a Business Number (Canada Revenue Agency).
For more information on the business number:
- Registering your business (Canada Revenue Agency)
- Contact the Canada Revenue Agency at 1‑800‑959‑5525 (for service in English) or 1‑800‑959‑7775 (for service in French)
Procurement business number
To obtain a procurement business number (PBN), you must register with the Supplier Registration Information (SRI) system, a database of registered suppliers who want to do business with the federal government, or call 1‑800‑811‑1148 (and select option # 2 for assistance regarding the SRI).
3. Apply for registration in the Translation Bureau’s directory of linguistic services suppliers
After obtaining your business number (BN) and your procurement business number (PBN), complete and submit the registration form for the Translation Bureau’s directory of linguistic services suppliers online, or print it and send it to the Translation Bureau Procurement Centre by email (in scanned format), by fax or by mail.
Note
Remember to attach the supporting documents required according to the services being offered. (Meet the eligibility criteria)
If you are offering your services as a firm, you must provide the name of and the supporting documents for each candidate on your team.