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.
October 12th, 2012 9:54 am
Once an agent determines that the service they are looking for must be accessible, are there any requirements for them to find the most accessible product? Many products out there boast some degree of accessibility, but many also have “Supports with limitation” disclaimers. After discovering that a product or service must meet the accessibility guidelines, what more does an agency need to do in order to ensure they are purchasing the most accessible product, if they even have to at all?
Thanks
October 12th, 2012 10:52 am
Yes, Federal agencies do have further responsibility. If the first product or service that they find doesn’t meet the Section 508 requirements, then they have to search to see if any better ones are available. They are responsible for verifying the information provided by the vendor. If Federal agencies accept something that does not fully meet Section 508 requirements, they must justify that decision.