Strategies for Procuring Accessible IT - State Agencies

OIT Technology Accessibility Program (TAP)

May 28, 2024

Agenda

• Overview of Colorado Accessibility Laws & Rules
• Getting Started with Accessible Procurement
• Vetting Vendors
• Compliance Reports
• Selecting Vendors
• Accommodations Planning
• Checking the Checklist!

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Colorado Accessibility Laws and Rules

• HB21-1110 (the original statute) states that all Colorado government entities must provide equitable access to their digital technologies. Entities must be compliant with the state standards by July 1, 2024.
• SB23-244 allows OIT to establish rules
• Rules for accessibility compliance
• Sets the standards for compliance to WCAG 2.1 guidelines,
• Provides definitions for clarity including “single digital product” and “active use”
• Sets a requirement that entities provide a public accessibility statement
• Sets standards for when a product and government entity is in compliance
• Provides options for when a product cannot come into full compliance
• HB24-1454 provides an optional grace period for entities that cannot meet the rules for compliance by July 1.

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Getting Started with Accessible Procurement

There are things you can do now to introduce accessibility into your procurement process:

• Process Audit: Perform an analysis of your current procurement processes to identify gaps
• This is the essence of the Checklist procurement tab
• Contract Language: Update your boilerplate contract language with accessibility requirements
• Use the State Contract Templates from DPA’s State Purchasing and Contracts Office.
• Engage Existing Vendors: Talk with existing vendors about their accessibility
• Use the vendor checklist to help guide the conversation.
• Start engaging by using the Vendor Letter Template
• Conformance Reports: Request an accessibility conformance report when vetting new products.
• Include this request in your RFI/RFPs(RFx), too
• Vetting Products: Create a procurement vetting and review process to identify issues and risk
• Leverage OIT’s solution engineers for product vetting. They’re trained for this!

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Continuing to Improve Processes and Tools

As you continue with process improvements you can fold in additional practices and tools.

• Employee Training: Make sure all individuals handling purchasing activities are informed and trained on:
• OIT vetting processes for procuring technology and using state contract templates through DPA
• Can check for and address basic accessibility requirements for all purchases
• Vendor Accessibility Packet:
• Develop an accessibility packet for your vendors to fill out during the RFx or procurement process.
• Include question from OIT’s vendor accessibility checklist
• Request an accessibility conformance report. You can have vendors use the current ITIC VPAT 2.5Rev WCAG (November 2023) (downloadable Word file).
• Educate your Vendors:
• Share the State Contracts Office website for vendor guidance and resources
• Provides information on the state requirements including statutes, rules and WCAG guidelines
• Example of other state vendor sites: Texas Department of Information Resources

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Vetting Vendors

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What Purchases Should You Address for Accessibility?

All of Them!! All technology should be vetted by OIT as required by SB22-191.

This means all of these purchase types should go through OIT for vetting before you purchase:

• Formal contract purchases
• Purchase Orders
• P-card purchases
• Things you purchase with the change in your couch cushions.

Make it easy on yourself and have OIT vet your products first!

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Working with OIT to Assess Vendors & Products

OIT’s solution engineers are trained to assess accessibility of vendors and their products. They will ask questions from the vendor checklist and, if able, will engage with vendors to discuss those questions and answers in more depth.

How do you get a product vetted?

• Reach out to your IT Director to start the process and discuss what your need is and/or what problem you are trying to solve.
• If there is a specific product you know you want to have vetted, have your assigned Solution Engineer review the product (Accessibility, Security, Product Use, etc.)
• Based on the assessment you will have information on how you should use the product (security, data usage, procurement and accessibility) and what your risk is for using the product
• Approved solutions can then move through your agency’s procurement process!

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Asking Vendors About Accessibility

You can also use the Vendor Checklist to ask existing and new vendors questions about the accessibility of products and services including their organization’s accessibility practices and systems. This is about creating an understanding of the willingness and capabilities of the vendor and their product(s). It’s all about partnership!

A few key questions to ask include:

• Is your product currently WCAG 2.1 compliant?
• Do you have a completed Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR)?
• Do you have an accessibility team or developer roles who specifically address accessibility?
• If your product is not compliant, do you have a committed plan or roadmap to achieving compliance and by when?

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Compliance Reports

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Requesting an Accessibility Compliance Report

Request an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR), such as a completed Voluntary Accessibility Product Template (VPAT), from vendors. Once you have a report from the vendor, you will want to perform a high level review and validate that the information is complete, accurate and understand where the product does and does not meet requirements.

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Note that compliance reports are not confirmation of compliance but are a starting point. It’s a pulse check on the products possible accessibility and a conversation starter.

Reading a Compliance Report

If your procurement team members are reviewing solicitations from vendors, and they do not know how to read a compliance report, it’s time to teach them. You can begin with our training guide, “Understanding an Accessibility Compliance Report”.

Quick tips:

• Make sure to check that all information, including the conformance rating and remarks for every success criteria, in the report has been filled out.
• Ideally, you want all criteria to be at the “fully supports” conformance level. When a criteria indicates “partially supports” or “does not support” discuss those items with the vendor.
• If you see a lot of “partially supports” items that are “showstoppers” , a lot of “does not support” items, this should be a red flag.

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Selecting Vendors

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Reviewing Vendor Accessibility Information

• Review the vendor’s initial answers from the vendor checklist and any additional reference materials provided.
• Validate that all information including the compliance report is complete and accurate.
• Use web accessibility evaluation tools to spot check the vendor website and/or product.
• Use a high level risk assessment tool to assess level of risk.
• Follow up with the vendor on any questions or concerns you have. You can continue to use the vendor checklist to help guide the conversation.

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Making an Initial Decision

Once you have completed your review, it’s time to decide whether you want to work with that vendor. This can be nuanced and will depend on the documentation provided as well as discussions with both the vendor and your internal stakeholders.

Here are a few considerations:

• Was the compliance report incomplete?
• Are there a large number of partially or non-compliant criteria?
• Are the non-compliant or partially compliant criteria showstoppers to use of the product?
• Is the vendor willing to fix those issues in a timely manner? Will they give a timeline and roadmap for fixes?
• Is the vendor willing to work with you as a partner to meet compliance in a reasonable timeline?
• Will you need to plan for a lot of accommodations? Can the vendor assist with this effort?

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Working with Vendors on Accessibility

Working with your vendors should be a partnership. Vendors should be committed to providing a quality product that includes being accessible and they should be willing to work with you to achieve compliance.

• If you can, provide training to vendors on how to respond to RFx in relation to accessibility. (help them be prepared!)
• If you don’t have an accessibility compliance report yet, ask the vendor if they are willing to have their product tested to provide a compliance report or third-party attestation.
• Ask whether the vendor will provide a roadmap and timeline for accessibility fixes.
• Plan for periodic check-ins with the vendor to discuss issues, fixes, timelines and roadmap
• Weigh your options and risk. Sometimes a product is vital to your organization and best meets your needs. Working with the vendor on accessibility is your best bet.
• Work with the vendor to develop an accommodation plan.

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Accommodations Planning

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Planning for Accommodations

Accommodations can be planned for and provided when an area of a product can’t be made compliant immediately. Develop an Equally Effective Alternative Access Plan to “describe how those affected by the inaccessible product can continue to participate in professional, academic, or other activities”. - University of Iowa

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When you can’t procure a product that is fully accessible you may need to provide documentation of Undue Burden with an accompanying accommodation plan. Work with your vendors where you can to assist with accommodations for areas that are the responsibility of the vendor (ie - not customized by your agency or OIT).

• Make sure to include an accessibility statement page (or link to page) with information on how to request accommodations.

Learn more about how to implement an accommodations plan and accessibility statements.

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Checking the Checklist!

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Procurement: Completing Areas of Your Checklist

Once you have identified roles and developed processes for procuring digital products you can check the majority (if not all) of the boxes in your agency’s IT Accessibility Adoption Planning Checklist: Procurement. Note that many of the checklist items are about aligning with OIT and DPA contract processes.

This is where you should be thinking of how to capture accessibility issues and needs throughout the procurement process:

• Do we have the correct boilerplate contract language for accessibility??
• Do all staff who have purchasing authority understand the rules and processes for procuring technology?
• Do you have processes in place to revisit the accessibility of vendor products on a regular cadence (yearly is recommended at minimum)?

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Accessibility Rules Compliance Series

Meeting links, recordings and slide decks available in the IT Accessibility Planning Guide Rules page

• May 8, 10:00 a.m. - General Rules Compliance for State Agencies
• May 14, 11:00 a.m. - Planning, Prioritizing and Operationalizing
• May 22, 10:00 a.m. - Accommodations Planning and Accessibility Statement
• May 28, 10:00 a.m. - Strategies For Procuring Accessible IT
• June 5, 10:00 a.m. - Single Digital Product and Active Use
• June 11, 11:00 a.m. - Fundamental Alteration, Undue Burden and Direct Threat

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Resources

• Procurement Toolkit (web page)
• Vendor Checklist Questions (web page)
• High Level Accessibility Risk Assessment Matrix (Google Sheet)
• Vendor Letter Template
• Alternative Product Accessibility Template (APAT) (Doc)
• How To: Document Undue Burden, Fundamental Alteration or Direct Threat
• How To: Equally Effective Alternate Access Plan (EEAAP)
• Accessibility Statement Example
• Plain Language Guide to the State Technology Accessibility Rules
• OIT-TAP Accessibility Portfolio (Doc)

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Questions?

If you’re thinking it… most likely someone else is as well.

Reach out to the Technology Accessibility Program at OIT_Accessibility@state.co.us.

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