Usually, services will be provided to help you without any significant delay in service delivery. Please ask your local DSHS office or your medical provider for more information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome to DSHS Facilities, Finance and Analytics Administration's Frequently Asked Questions! Below you may search by topics such as information for bidders and question about our Language Testing and Certification Program, and Background Checks.
Invoicing occurs twice per month; one regularly scheduled invoice process and a second supplemental process to catch late authorizations from local offices.
Per WAC 388-03-153, written test score is valid for two years from the date of your score report letter. If you lost your letter, please send us an email.
DSHS currently certifies social service interpreters, medical interpreters, translators, DSHS active/potential bilingual employees, and licensed agency personnel in Chinese-Cantonese, Chinese-Mandarin, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. For all other languages, The Department authorizes social service interpreters and medical interpreters (screening test).
Please log in to your LTC Gateway profile to schedule a test. Once you are logged in, click the blue 
button to go to the online appointment system.
If you don't have the Schedule Test button on your Gateway profile, that means there is missing candidate information. Please make sure that all required fields (*)in the Candidate Details tab, your primary address and email address are filled to enable the schedule test button.
Please refer to the LTC website’s Test Registration Information page for more details.
Test scores will not be released over the telephone to anyone, including the test candidate. A score report letter will be mailed to you once your scores are available. However, if you have not received your test score two (2) months after your test date, you should contact our office to check the status of your test score.
You may talk directly with the local office worker or supervisor. Alternately, you may submit your problem or complaint in writing to that office. Other options include contacting Interpreter Services and Customer Service at 1-800-562-3022. For issues regarding translated documents, contact the office/program/administration as indicated on the document.
Invoices enter the U.S. Postal Service two or three business days after the invoice deadline date. Delivery times by the U.S. Postal Service vary, depending on the provider's geographical location and speed of mail delivery.
Instead of a certificate, interpreter who pass the screening test and complete the required orientation and ethics training will be issued an authorization letter.
LTC Gateway is the database system that stores candidate and credential holder profile information.
The system also provides the process for candidates to schedule tests, take the written tests, record test scores, complete orientations, and request new credentials.
Credential holders’ renewal requirements are completed in the Gateway system.
If your score report letter states that you have met all test requirements and are now considered provisionally certified or authorized as an interpreter, a certificate/authorization letter will be mailed to you within a month after you have completed:
- Two hours of new interpreter/translator orientation, and
- Two hours of interpreter/translator professional ethics training.
DSHS announces procurement opportunities on the Washington Electronic Business Solution (WEBS) online system. The same information is posted on the Procurements page. Please follow the instructions in the announcement.
The Examination Manual provides detailed information on certification and testing.
To set up a profile, please go to Secure Access Washington (SAW). You can use your existing SAW account if you already have one or create a SAW account if you don’t have one yet.
Please make sure to save the SAW login username and password you used to submit your candidate access request to Gateway. This is the only account you can use to login to Gateway.
For detailed instructions, please refer to the LTC Gateway User Manual.
Important note:
When setting up your Gateway profile, make sure to complete all the required
information (*)on the Candidate Details, Addresses, and Email tabs.
No, you get the same certificate as those who have passed sight translation and consecutive interpreting (Level 1) but not simultaneous interpreting. However, your simultaneous test score will remain in our database. When simultaneous interpreting is needed for social service settings, users of simultaneous interpreting will contact LTC to obtain information on who is qualified for such assignment.
The words procurement and solicitation generally refer to the same process of inviting companies to bid on opportunities to provide goods and services to DSHS. The actual document outlining the goods and services may be called any of the following: Procurement, Solicitation, Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Quotation (RFQ), Request for Qualifications and Quotation (RFQQ), or Request for Information (RFI), depending on the purpose of the procurement.
The document that is sent by the bidder to DSHS in response to a solicitation is called the bid, the response or the proposal.
No. The co-payment or participation that the service recipient (client) pays to his/her provider is a set amount. If the dollar amount of the service is less than the co-payment, the client need only pay the actual amount of service.
Certified languages are those in which interpreters go through conventional modalities of testing. The written and oral test instruments cover both English and a second language (target language). Those who meet the minimum proficiency requirements are issued a certificate.
Due to resource restrictions, it is not feasible to develop language-specific test instruments for each and every language in such a linguistically diverse state as Washington. Therefore, a screening test was developed for all non-certified or screened languages. Interpreters in screened languages go through a totally different modality of testing. Unlike the certified languages, the written screening test is not language specific. The oral screening test utilizes the target language spoken by the interpreter to test his or her linguistic and interpreting skills. This includes any language, even any dialects within a language. Since the scope of the screening test is not as comprehensive as a conventional certified test, those who meet the minimum proficiency requirements are issued an authorization letter in lieu of a certificate.
Currently, no translator test is available for screened languages.
The error message means you are using the wrong SAW (Secure Access Washington) account. If you have more than one SAW account, try to log in to each account. You can only access Gateway with the SAW account you used when you first registered and were approved for access.. The correct SAW account will have Language Testing and Certification Gateway on your list of services from DSHS.
Important Note:
Secure Access is for SAW-related issues ONLY. Please do not email Secure Access for Language Testing and Certification (LTC)-related issues. LTC is always your first point of contact if you have any questions regarding Gateway and test/credential information.
The best way to reach us is by email at dshsct@dshs.wa.gov.