What is VPAT and its importance?

[Cristina Parker]

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), is a document prepared by a vendor or product developer.

A VPAT is a document template used to create a report on how accessible a communication technology (ICT) product and information is. ICT products include mobile applications, software, hardware, website, or documentation.

The generated reports help the procurement community assess the level of accessibility conformance during the proposal evaluation and market research stages.

Once the VPAT is complete, it becomes an Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR). The Accessibility Conformance Report is used by state and Federal agency contracting officials, private sector buyers, and buyers at educational institutions to assess ICT for accessibility.

It is proposed to help buyers make a preliminary assessment of a technology product's conformance based on the reported accessibility guidelines and standards.

Why do you need a VPAT?

Why is having VPAT and ACR important?

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that U.S. Federal Government agencies ensure that any communications and information technology they develop, maintain, procure, or use meets certain accessibility standards.

Many educational institutions and state governments also have adopted this standard. To effectively market your ICT product to the state government, federal government, or vendors, educational institutions need to create an accurate VPAT.

The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) is the industry group that maintains the VPAT. As specified by its title, a VPAT is voluntary verification made available by vendors to purchasers.

While a company has no legal instruction to create an ACR, purchasers under state and many federal laws must ask for an ACR. A vendor not wishing to complete an ACR will be required to offer an ACR attestation or select not to respond to the solicitation.

Accessibility Conformance Reports focus on the standards relevant to specific organization requirements and laws. These standards include:

• Section 508 Amendment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) versions 2.1/2.0- The most commonly recognized accessibility guidelines in the United States.
• EN 201 549- the European Union’s “Accessibility requirements suitable for public procurement of ICT services and products in Europe.”

VPAT service provider

Acadecraft is a leading organization for VPAT certification worldwide. The team holds expertise over Section 508 and WCAG 2.0.

Their certified experts determine accessibility standards and evaluate products functionality to suit the client’s needs. Acadecraft platform is armed with all relevant resources to make accessibility compliance services and products.

They also follow an efficient methodology to produce ACR. You receive round the clock support and solutions for higher ROI.

Wrapping Up

The VPAT was developed to make it easier for procurement departments and provide a standard reporting format to have conversations regarding your products accessibility.

Not having an ACR (completed VPAT) will exclude you from many solicitations in both the private and public sectors. Having an ACR with noted defects does not prohibit you from consideration.

An exact ACR pursues a variety of actions and allows the purchaser to compare your product to the competition, including undergoing an exception process, deciding to purchase your product, or working with you to remediate the product so that it meets requirements.

And finally, you should realize that the VPAT is one component of a robust internal accessibility program that will involve testing by accessibility experts, in-depth conversations with your third-party vendors, testing with assistive technology users, and regular review to make sure the information provided is up to date.

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