We recently came across a post from the Accessibility subreddit that takes vendors behind the scenes of what actually happens to your ACR once you submit it. The key insight here:
Yes, your ACR is being reviewed and if it’s not accurate, looks suspicious, or issued by an accessibility company with a bad reputation, you just set yourself way back and there is no purchase forthcoming anytime soon. Here’s the post from accessibleUX:
Note: Once a VPAT is filled in and completed it becomes an ACR.
Too many ACRs/VPATs. Too little time.
I’m the digital accessibility specialist at a university. The majority of my job at this point is reviewing ACRs for software (web, mobile, & desktop) purchases. My queue is currently at 81 ACRs to review. On a good day I can get through about 8. Those 8 will be resolved if they actually had good ACRs. A lot of what I get is a bad ACR or no ACR at all. In the case of a bad ACR or no ACR I was performing a risk assessment which involves asking requesting department and vendor reps a series of questions via Teams. Considering I get on average about 8 new ACR review requests a day, that was taking too much time so now I’m just treating them as high risk and asking the vendor to make a written commitment to provide an acceptable ACR prior to contract renewal next year. I have one person who can help me when they don’t have other work and my boss posted an ad for student workers to help me but there haven’t been any applicants yet.
Once we get on top of the rockslide we’re climbing, I want to find a more efficient solution for testing rather than risk assessments. I know of plenty options for automated testing for web and mobile but what about desktop apps?
For those of you who want buyers to select your product or service, here are two key lines:
On a good day I can get through about 8. Those 8 will be resolved if they actually had good ACRs.
What this means for sellers:
The specialist can process 8 reviews daily, but only if the ACRs are good. Bad ACRs require back-and-forth communication, meetings with departments and vendors, and risk assessments—eating up time they don’t have. With 81 in queue and 8 new requests arriving daily, they’re already underwater.
This means good ACRs get same-day processing while bad ACRs sit indefinitely. Your poor documentation isn’t just slow to process; it may never get processed as the specialist must focus on the ACRs they can actually complete.
Considering I get on average about 8 new ACR review requests a day, that was taking too much time so now I’m just treating them as high risk and asking the vendor to make a written commitment to provide an acceptable ACR prior to contract renewal next year.
What this means for sellers:
The specialist has stopped doing time-consuming risk assessments for bad ACRs. Instead, they’re automatically classifying them as “high risk” and requiring written commitments for acceptable documentation before contract renewal. This means your product is now flagged in their procurement system, requires special contractual obligations, and has conditions attached to renewal. You’ve shifted from being a vendor who needs better documentation to one carrying a high-risk designation and legal commitments you’ll need to fulfill next year.
Key Takeaways
This Reddit post was never intended to be a lesson for product and service owners (they’re actually seeking advice from other accessibility professionals on how to deal with desktop software). However, there are several valuable takeaways that can help sellers move past the ACR phase of procurement faster:
- Good ACRs are your fast pass: Quality documentation gets reviewed same-day while bad ACRs join an 81-deep backlog that grows by 8 daily—yours may never get reviewed
- Bad ACRs now get automatic high-risk classification: Overwhelmed specialists have stopped doing risk assessments and instead flag poor documentation as high-risk by default, triggering procurement red flags
- Your ACR quality is binary—good or blocked: There’s no middle ground anymore; you either have documentation that can be processed quickly or you’re stuck with contractual commitments and renewal conditions
- Independent, reputable assessments matter: ACRs from trusted accessibility firms get processed faster because specialists know they can rely on the testing methodology and accuracy
- The hidden cost of bad ACRs compounds: You’re not just losing the current sale—you’re getting flagged in the procurement system with obligations that follow your product through renewal cycles
If you need help with filling in a VPAT, we’re here for you. We work quickly and we’ll help you fix issues so that you receive the cleanest ACR possible (optimally showing WCAG 2.1 AA conformance) to deliver to the procurement agent.
Send us a message below or contact us and we’ll be with you right away.
