VPAT compliance is an informal term that refers to meeting VPAT/ACR documentation requirements as set out in policy or mandated by law.
For example, under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, U.S. federal agencies must procure accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT) products and services. As a result, any vendors selling to federal agencies are required to supply an ACR to demonstrate the accessibility of their product or service.
Why an ACR and not a VPAT?
An ACR is simply the result of a filled in and completed VPAT.
VPAT stands for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template. ACR stands for Accessibility Conformance Report.
So the VPAT is the template we fill in and the ACR is the report once the product details and accessibility table are filled in.
To supply an ACR to procurement agents, the responsible party for the product or service can potentially fill out the VPAT themselves. However, what is almost always preferred is the ACR is issued by an independent digital accessibility company (like Accessible.org).
This is because it is more likely that the ACR will more accurately reflect the accessibility status of the product or service due to:
- an independent company is unlikely to be bias (vs. the product manufacturer)
- an independent company is much more likely to have the expertise necessary to properly evaluate the product
The first step in filling out the VPAT will be to gather the relevant product or service details and fill in the details section.
What happens next is the feature show of the VPAT movie: we need to audit the digital asset.
An audit is a formal, thorough evaluation that involves multiple methodologies including screen reader testing, keyboard testing, visual inspection, and code inspection.
After we’ve completed the audit, we’ll have an audit report and transfer the information that results into the accessibility table of the VPAT.
Once the details and accessibility table sections are filled out and completed, we have an ACR that will be issued to the client.
One important note is that an additional step can be added, depending on the client’s preferences and/or any potential compliance requirements: after the audit report, we can provide the client a time period to resolve outstanding issues identified in the audit report and review the remediation efforts from the client.
This add-in can aid the client in presenting a cleaner ACR, if not an ACR showing full conformance with the desired technical standard.
If your organization needs help with filling in a VPAT, we are happy to help. Just send us a message and we’ll respond ASAP.