Oct 01 2012

Updated Market Research Guidance

Category: Market Research Tips & Techniques — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:21 am

GSA’s Section 508 program recently updated their guidance document,
Guidance on Conducting Accessibility Market Research.

Buyers in Federal Agencies are required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to conduct Market Research. Market Research is a means to gauge the state of the Electronic and Iinformation Technology (EIT) industry in meeting requirements with products and services and a method for identifying products that claim to meet Section 508 requirements. Market Research is absolutely essential and needs to be documented in writing to ensure accessibility and compliance with Section 508 when the planned purchase is for an EIT product or service.

Conducting Market Research is easy, if information is available. There are several existing paths to achieve quality Market Research. One option is to use Accessibility Resource Center, which contains a list of EIT Vendors and links their webpages containing accessibility information. This document also provides guidance on using the internet to conduct searches.

Check out our newest guidance document and, as always, please send us your comments here on the Accessibility Forum 2.0 blog.

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Sep 26 2012

Justice Department Releases Section 508 Report Based on a Survey of All Federal Departments and Agencies

Category: Government Performance — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:44 am

On September 12, 2012, Justice Department issued a press release announcing the release of its “Section 508 Report to the President and Congress: Accessibility of Federal Electronic and Information Technology.” The report, authorized under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, provides findings based on a survey of federal agencies on the accessibility of their electronic and information technology (EIT) and the procedures used to implement the requirements of Section 508.

Section 508 requires federal agencies to make their EIT accessible to people with disabilities, unless certain exceptions apply. EIT includes telecommunications products (such as telephones), information kiosks and transaction machines, websites, multimedia, and office equipment, such as copiers and fax machines, computers, software, firmware and similar products and services. Specifically, Section 508 requires federal agencies to ensure that EIT they develop, procure, maintain, or use allows employees with disabilities and members of the public seeking information or services to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that available to people who do not have disabilities. Section 508 also requires the attorney general to report and offer recommendations periodically to the President and Congress on the state of federal agency compliance with Section 508.

In 2010-2011, the Department partnered with the General Service Administration to create survey instruments and solicited answers from federal agencies about their implementation of Section 508. The survey requested data in four important areas: procurement, general processes for implementing Section 508, administrative complaints and civil actions, and website compliance.

For more information, you can visit the Department’s Section 508 home page at www.ada.gov/508.

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Sep 21 2012

New release of the BuyAccessible Wizard (4.2) is now available.

Category: Announcements, BuyAccessible — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:13 am

New release of the BuyAccessible Wizard (4.2) is now available.

This new release includes a revision to the market research process within the BuyAccessible Wizard. Users are now directed to the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) which is a directory of vendor websites with links to their product or service accessibility information. The ARC approach allows government purchasers to have access to a vendors accessibility information on their websites with the most up to date market research data.

The new market research interface also provides additional guidance on how to conduct your own market research.

If you have any questions about how to use this updated interface, please don’t hesitate to ask questions through the Questions/Comments link in the Wizard.

For more information on the BuyAccessible Wizard, you can read these past Accessibility Forum 2.0 blog posts.

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Sep 07 2012

Quick Links can help with end of the year solicitations

Category: Quick Links — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:00 am

This time of year, many government acquisitions professionals are rushing to do procurements. Did you know about the Quick Links that provide quick and easy pre-packaged Section 508 solicitation documentation for a number of standard EIT deliverables? In addition to providing solicitation documentation, these links identify typical applicable Section 508 provisions to help agencies in generating Government Product/Service Accessibility Templates (GPATs) and vendors responding with Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs).

In your rush, don’t forget that any attachments you include in your solicitation need to be accessible. A document scanned to PDF isn’t accessible unless you make it so!

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Sep 04 2012

Chief Information Officer Office (CIO) Section 508 Responsibilities

Category: Acquisition Process, Roles and Responsibilities — BuyAccessible Team @ 1:11 pm

What are the CIO office responsibilities regarding Section 508 implementation?

  • CIO office staff may need to determine the current technical requirements for IT systems.
  • They may also need to participate in Section 508 testing, compliance monitoring, measurement, and disclosure activities.

CIO office may coordinate with the Requiring Authority’s (Program/Project Management Office(PMO) /Statement of Work (SOW) developer) to:

  • Identify applicability and accessibility technical requirements
  • Determine testing, inspection and acceptance criteria for deliverables
  • Determine proposal evaluation factors
  • Participate in technical evaluation of proposal

The CIO office may also coordinate with PMO/Testing Specialists to conduct delivery inspection, testing and acceptance

This post is part of a blog series on: Section 508 Roles and Responsibillities.

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Aug 17 2012

Contracting Officer (CO)/Contacting Officers Technical Representative (COTR) Section 508 Responsibilities

Category: Acquisition Process, Roles and Responsibilities — BuyAccessible Team @ 12:02 pm

What are the CO’s responsibilities regarding Section 508 implementation?

The CO must ensure the Statement of Work (SOW)/solicitation document is accessible. For example, a scanned document is not accessible to someone who has to use a screen reader such as JAWS.

The CO must ensure the Requiring Authority has included Section 508 technical requirements, conducted market research, and documented Section 508 due diligence.

The CO must coordinate with the Requiring Authority (COTR/Program/Project Management Office (PMO)) to:

  • Confirm that the Section 508 applicability and accessibility requirements are included in the SOW
  • Ensure that requirements, inspection and acceptance criteria and evaluation factors are appropriately represented in the solicitation
  • Determine proposal evaluation factors
  • Participate in proposal evaluation

The COTR is responsible for managing the contract once it is awarded and may be involved in the technical evaluation process. The COTR may also be the one who develops the SOW.

This post is part of a blog series on: Section 508 Roles and Responsibillities.

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Aug 10 2012

Internal Department/Agency EIT Development Section 508 Responsibilities

Category: Acquisition Process, Roles and Responsibilities — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:31 am

Internal IT developers are responsible for ensuring compliance with Section 508 for the products and services that are created within the Department/Agency environment. This means they need to determine when Section 508 applies, what accessibility requirements are applicable, and identify testing, inspection and acceptance criteria for internal deliverables. (i.e., software development, Intranet development, internal IT maintenance and services)

The BuyAccessible Wizard can help determine applicable Section 508 technical provisions. The Wizard’s Acceptance criteria output and the Quick Reference Guide have additional information that is useful.

Agency IT Developers should coordinate with the Program Management Office (PMO) to:

  • Identify 508 applicability and accessibility requirements
  • Determine inspection and acceptance criteria for deliverables

Agency IT Developers should also coordinate with the PMO/Testing Specialists to conduct delivery inspection, testing and acceptance.

This post is part of a blog series on: Section 508 Roles and Responsibillities.

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Jul 26 2012

What to do about Sole Source

Category: Acquisition Process, Agency Shared Practices — BuyAccessible Team @ 10:11 am

There has been some confusion regarding Sole Source solicitations and Section 508 compliance. The FAR is very clear that Section 508 should be considered in ALL solicitations, with the following exceptions: National Security, EIT acquired incidental to a contract, “back office”, and Undue Burden (FAR Subpart 39.2 Electronic and Information Technology). Undue Burden can only be claimed after the agency has conducted accessibility market research to determine that it would create a significant hardship on the agency. Commercial non availability, which can also be the basis for a Sole Source justification, is like undue burden in the sense that it can only be claimed after accessibility market research has been completed and approval has been received from the agency.

Claims for both Undue Burden and Commercial non availability MUST be documented and included in the contract file, see FAR 39.203(c)(2) and 39.204(e)(2)(i). There is no requirement to include this information in solicitation documents, but we highly recommend doing so as a good business practice. If Sole Source contracts do not include proof of conformance to Section 508 requirements or documented claims for either Undue Burden or Commercial non availability in the contract file, they could result in an administrative complaint by a user or a legal action by a vendor excluded from bidding on the contracts. Section 508 requirements along with other technical requirements define acceptance criteria for the Sole Source deliverable.

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Jul 19 2012

Department/Agency Section 508 Roles and Responsibilities Blog Series

Category: Acquisition Process, Roles and Responsibilities — BuyAccessible Team @ 11:56 am

We are starting a new blog series called, “Department/Agency Section 508 Roles and Responsibilities.” Each post will be discussing different roles and responsibilities with regard to the implementation of Section 508. This is the first blog in the series: Requiring Authority (Program/Project Management and Office/Statement of Work developer)

Who is the Requiring Authority?

  • Program/Project Management Office (PMO)
  • Statement of Work (SOW) developer

What are the requiring authority’s responsibilities regarding Section 508 implementation?

  • Determine the Section 508 applicability by answering the question, “Does Section 508 apply to my solicitation?”
  • Identify the accessibility requirements by answering the question, “What Section 508 technical and functional provisions apply to the type of product or service that I want to purchase?”
  • Conduct market research to determine the availability of an accessible product or service. This market research should be documented to show Section 508 due diligence.

The BuyAccessible tools may be used to perform all of these functions. Going through the Buy Accessible Wizard process can help determine Section 508 applicability, select relevant Section 508 technical provisions, and document market research. The Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) with links to accessibility information for many IT vendors can also assist with the accessibility portion of market research.

The Requiring Authority (PMO/SOW developer) should coordinate with:

  • IT Specialists to identify 508 applicability and accessibility requirements
  • IT/Testing Specialists to identify inspection and acceptance criteria for deliverables
  • Program Management to determine proposal evaluation factors
  • Contracting Officers to ensure that accessibility requirements, inspection and acceptance criteria, and evaluation factors are appropriately represented in the solicitation
  • Testing Specialists to develop test plans and conduct delivery inspection, testing and acceptance

Our continuing blog series will discuss roles and responsibilities for:

  • Contracting Officer/COTR
  • Department/Agency Chief Information Officer (CIO) Office
  • Department/Agency IT Developers
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Jul 10 2012

Updated Guidance on Conducting Accessibility Market Research

Category: Market Research Tips & Techniques — BuyAccessible Team @ 1:06 pm

GSA’s Section 508 program recently updated their guidance document, Guidance on Conducting Accessibility Market Research

Buyers in federal agencies are required by law and regulation to conduct market research. Market research is a means of ensuring that what we want to purchase is in fact actually available. For ensuring accessibility and compliance with Section 508 when the planned purchase is for an Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) product or service, market research is absolutely essential and needs to be documented in writing.

Conducting market research is easy, if information is available. There are several existing paths to achieve quality market research. One option is to use BuyAccessible.gov, which contains a set of free web-based tools that helps in the acquisition of EIT products and services. This document also provides guidance on using the internet to conduct searches for accessibility information.

Check out our newest guidance document and, as always, please send us your comments here on the Accessibility Forum 2.0 blog.

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