Always wanted to know how to tender for the Commission, but were afraid to ask?
Did you know that for DG Translation, as an individual translator, you have the same position as a big translation company? DGT does not differentiate and many of its best external contractors are individuals, either self-employed persons or dynamic teams of two or three professionals.
Of course DGT is a public administration, and it will be necessary to take part in an open call for tenders. Yes, we use taxpayers’ money. And yes, we must be transparent, we must observe fair and equal treatment with every candidate. Reading our specifications may appear repellent at first sight, but you should read them again! We also reply to your questions during the weeks when the call is open, and we do that in three languages, almost in real time, and all questions and replies are made public on our website.
We are ready to pay for quality: we apply a quality/price ratio of 70/30, in favour of quality. Our translation jobs are published on a portal and our contractors are informed by email or sms (not yet by Tweet) of every job corresponding to your language combination. And for every job done for us, you will receive a quality note with feedback.
But before going that far, you must convince our selection board with an excellent offer.
Maria Felicia Negru has been the Head of the External Translation Unit in the Directorate General for Translation of the European Commission since April 2012. Before assuming her current position, she had been head of a translation unit in the same institution. She has a University degree in Linguistics and a DESS in Business Administration obtained in Paris. She is particularly interested in linguistics, management and current affairs.