UNECA is seeking a qualified service provider to deliver professional English and French captioning, transcription, translation, and subtitling services for both live events (meetings, webinars, conferences) and pre-recorded media.

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

This notice is placed by UNECA. The accuracy, reliability and completeness of the contents of furnished information is the responsibility of The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. You are therefore requested to direct all queries regarding this EOI to The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa using the fax number or e-mail address provided below.

• Title of the EOI: Provision of English and French Captioning Services for three (3) years
• Date of this EOI: 07 October 2026
• Closing Date for Receipt of EOI: 16 October 2026
• EOI Number: EOIUNECA24775
• Beneficiary Country/Territory: Ethiopia
• Commodity/Service category: Professional Services
• Address EOI response by fax or e-mail to the Attention of: Mrs.Tigist.Adbaru / Mrs.Rachael Chironga
• Fax Number:
• E-mail Address: [email protected] ; [email protected] 
• UNSPSC Code: 82110000

DESCRIPTION OF REQUIREMENTS

As part of its commitment to multilingualism, accessibility, and inclusive communication, UNECA seeks to engage a qualified service provider to deliver professional English and French captioning services for both live
and pre-recorded audiovisual content.

The selected contractor will provide high-quality transcription, translation, captioning, and subtitling services that comply with international accessibility standards and United Nations editorial requirements. The services shall ensure that audiovisual materials are accessible to persons with hearing impairments and are available to a broader multilingual audience. The contract shall be established as a Long-Term Agreement (LTA) for a maximum contract duration of three (3) years.

Interested firms will be invited to the tender at a later stage.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS / INFORMATION (IF ANY)

Qualifications of the Service Provider

The Service Provider should demonstrate:

• At least five (5) years of experience providing professional captioning and subtitling services.
• Proven experience supporting international organizations, governments, or similar institutions.
• Demonstrated expertise in English and French language services.
• Experience with live captioning for conferences and virtual meetings.
• Availability of qualified linguists, captioners, translators, and quality assurance personnel.

The successful Service Provider shall provide captioning services under the following categories:

Transcription and Captioning

The contractor shall:

• Produce verbatim or edited transcripts, as requested.
• Generate synchronized closed captions and open captions.
• Caption live meetings, conferences, webinars, and virtual events.
• Caption pre-recorded videos for publication on digital platforms.
• Include speaker identification where appropriate.
• Accurately capture non-speech elements when required (e.g., applause, music, laughter, background sounds).
• Ensure proper punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and formatting.

Translation

The contractor shall:

• Translate captions between English and French while preserving the original meaning, tone, and context.
• Apply appropriate UN terminology and institutional language.
• Maintain synchronization after translation.
• Adapt captions to ensure readability without altering the intended message.

Deliverables

Deliverables may include:

• Time-coded transcripts
• Closed-caption files
• Open-caption videos
• Subtitle files
• Caption files in formats including but not limited to:
  • SRT
  • WebVTT (.vtt)
  • SCC
  • TTML
  • STL
  • ASS/SSA
• Word transcripts (MS Word)
• Translation files in editable format

Services may be required for:

• Live meetings
• Hybrid meetings
• Conferences
• Webinars
• Interviews
• Training videos
• Promotional videos
• Documentary productions
• Social media content
• Public information campaigns

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

1) This REOI does not constitute a solicitation. UNECA reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the EOI or solicitation process. Thus, submitting a response to this REOI does not automatically guarantee that your company will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued.

2) UNECA also reserves the right to send the Solicitation Documents to companies who were identified through additional market research or other means to source the UN requirements.

3) Women-owned businesses and businesses owned by persons with disabilities are encouraged to participate

All questions which the vendors have must be sent through the above email address not later than 3 days before the closing date.

NOTE

Information on tendering for the UN Procurement System is available free of charge at the following address: https://www.ungm.org/Public/Notice 

Only the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM) has been authorized to collect a nominal fee from vendors that wish to receive automatically Procurement Notices or Requests for Expression Of Interest. 

Vendors interested in this Tender Alert Service are invited to subscribe on http://www.ungm.org 

Vendors interested in participating in the planned solicitation process should submit the Vendor Response Form of this EOI electronically (through the link available on the next page) before the closing date set forth above.

VENDOR RESPONSE

NOTICE

• Companies can only participate in solicitations of the UN Secretariat after completing their registration (free of charge) at the United Nations Global Marketplace (www.ungm.org).
• As you express interest in the planned solicitation by submitting this response form, please verify that your company is registered under its full legal name on the United Nations Global Marketplace (www.ungm.org) and that your application has been submitted to the UN Secretariat.
• While companies can participate in solicitations after completion of registration at Basic Level, we strongly recommend all companies to register at least at Level 1 under the United Nations Secretariat prior to participating in any solicitations.
• Companies are reminded of the restrictions of employment of former UN personnel that were involved in the procurement process during their last three years of service as per ST/SGB/2006/15, including (a) employing those personnel for one year after separation of service and (b) allowing those personnel to communicate with, or appear before, active UN personnel for matters related to the procurement process for two years after separation of service. Violation of the provisions of ST/SGB/2006/15 may lead to suspension of the registration of the company as a UN vendor.

PLEASE NOTE: You should express your interest to this EOI electronically at: https://www.un.org/Depts/ptd/sites/www.un.org.Depts.ptd/files/pdf/eoi24775.pdf 

In case you have difficulties submitting your interest electronically, please contact [email protected] ; [email protected] ; directly for instructions.

Tender details

• Deadline: 2026-10-16
• Bid closing time: 17:00
• Bid opening: 2026-10-16 17:00
• Bid opening (note): No Specific Opening Date and Time
• Region: Addis Ababa
• Publishing entity: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
• Buyer TIN: 0005465438
• Published on: Capital (Oct 11, 2026)
• Posted at: 2026-10-12T06:26:27.000Z
• Source: Qelal Tenders