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OpenACR is a digital native Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). The initial development is based on Section 508 requirements. The main goal is to be able to compare the accessibility claims of digital products and services. A structured, self-validated, machine-readable documentation will provide for this.
https://gsa.github.io/openacr/
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Section508.gov - Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) #311

Open mgifford opened 2 years ago

mgifford commented 2 years ago

The most prominent VPAT link from search: https://www.section508.gov/sell/vpat/

https://github.com/GSA/Section508.gov/blob/main/_pages/acquisition/2018-05-29-sell-vpat.md

Possible changes to first paragraph:

A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT™) is the most commonly used Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). The VPAT™ was designed to support a broad range of information and communication technology (ICT) products. The VPAT was developed by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) to provide a common format for vendors to make accessibility claims for software, hardware, electronic content, and support documentation. For the US Federal government, these align with Revised 508 Standards for IT accessibility. ACRs allow agency contracting officials and government buyers to assess ICT for accessibility when doing market research and evaluating proposals.

The GSA has developed a new ACR format which is based on the VPAT™ template. This is a machine-readable format called OpenACR, which is designed to overcome some of the challenges that are caused by the older format. Watch for contracts from the GSA that ask for an OpenACR formatted report, rather than a VPAT™. RFP's that ask for a VPAT™, can submit an OpenACR HTML report instead. The the HTML report was modelled on the latest VPAT™.

Changes to the 2nd:

Government solicitations which include ICT will specify accessibility requirements, indicating which provisions are required to ensure the deliverable is accessible. The new OpenACR format is now recognized as the best way to address the accessibility requirements defined in the solicitation.

Changes to the 3rd:

We recommend that vendors generate an OpenACR for any ICT that’s intended to be marketed to the Federal government. Legacy VPAT™ may not be valid in the future. Use OpenACR to make specific statements in simple recommended language to demonstrate how the features and functional characteristics of your product meet the Revised 508 Standards.

Changes to the Bullets:

  • To see the legacy VPAT™ template and documentation from the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) website.
  • Include a link to your OpenACR reports from your Accessibility Statement. For many products, this might simply be a link to a git repository where it can be kept under version control.
  • Your product description page should also clearly link to the relevant OpenACR report

Todo:

mgifford commented 2 years ago

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