Section 508 Roles - EIT Vendor
If you manufacture, build, design, create, teach, or resell an EIT product or service than you are an EIT vendor. If as an EIT vendor you want to do business with the Federal government, then you must know how to demonstrate that your EIT conforms to the Section 508 Standards.Vendors can use this site to:
- Facilitate how you sell Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) products and services to the government;
- Provide an easy way to showcase accessibility information about your products and services for government buyers;
- Learn where to register with the BuyAccessible Product and Services Directory so that buyers can easily find your accessibility information.
The Section 508 standards, which are part of the Federal Acquisition Regulations, help Federal agencies determine whether or not a technology product or system is accessible. Section 508 uses the Federal procurement process to ensure that technology acquired by the Federal government is accessible.
If YOU want to do business with the Federal Government, then your EIT product or service must be accessible as defined by these Standards.
Government requiring and procurement officials will research and evaluate your products based on these Standard’s acceptance criteria. These criteria will be specified in the solicitations you see. The contractor must indicate whether each product or service is compliant or non-compliant the technical requirements in the solicitation as extracted from Standards.
In your response to a solicitation, you may need to provide language to show not only your understanding of the regulations and requirements but also how well your product or service complies with the Standards.
A tool to assist you in this process is the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT). The purpose of the VPAT is to assist Federal contracting officials and other buyers in making preliminary assessments regarding the availability of commercial "Electronic and Information Technology" products and services with features that support accessibility. Vendors use this form to self-report and document their products' 508 compliance. Federal contracting officials and other buyers can then evaluate a vendor's report of product's accessibility against the standards.
Vendors can use the BuyAccessible Product and Services Directory (PSD) to register to advertise your accessible EIT products and services government buyers. Review, modify or enhance existing data and add new register new EIT products and services.
Resources for Vendors doing business with SSA:
Click hereSSA Guide to Completing A VPAT (tells vendors how to properly complete a VPAT for quality assurance purposes)
SSA Guide to Applying Section 508 Standards (gives vendors a high level understanding of how SSA interprets the existing 508 standards and how we will evaluate their products for conformance to applicable standards)
