Section508.gov - Building Accessibility into Your Procurement Process

[mgifford]

In search for VPAT https://www.section508.gov/blog/Building-Accessibility-into-your-Procurement-Process/

https://github.com/GSA/Section508.gov/blob/main/_posts/2018-04-20-blog-how-read-vpat-.md

In How to Buy the Most Accessible Products - 1. Research, research, research! change:

Technology companies spend more on research and development than any other industry in the US. Given the rapid advancements in technology today, it’s important to research vendors to understand what their products offer. You should also request an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), like OpenACR (link to OpenACR page), from vendors to show how their products meet relevant Section 508 standards and accessibility guidelines. If an OpenACR is not available, you may choose to accept a legacy Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT™). Section508.gov has great resources to help you in this step of your procurement process.

In 2 Include clear accessibility requirements in your solicitations, in the 2nd paragraph add this sentence:

Additionally, the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) hosts a one-stop shop to help employers and purchasing teams build accessibility and usability into their IT procurement processes. This is a great guide will be updated. BuyIT! details eight steps in the planning, solicitation and post-award phases to ensure that employers have clear requirements. Communicate these requirements to vendors to ensure your organization buys the solution that’s most accessible for all.

Then change Planning sub-bullet:

Step 4: Evaluating Proposals & ACRs

and in the last sentence:

PEAT also provides some useful tips on how to communicate with vendors about accessible technology, to help solidify your commitment to accessibility and build collaborative relationships with vendors. In addition to these resources PEAT provides about procurement with accessibility, OpenACR is a new initiative which is yet to be incorporated.

TODO

• [ ] Find out what the Vendor Accessibility Resource Center (VARC) is.
• [ ] Add link for Step 4
• [ ] What do you do for procurement officers where there is a VPAT & also OpenACRs in the mix?
• [ ] Plain language

[mgifford]

See https://github.com/GSA/Section508.gov/pull/229