1 This Presentation is printed on recycled materials

U.S. General Services Administration General Services Administration Policy, the Procurement Process, the Buy Accessible Wizard, and Purchasing Section 508 Compliant Products & Services Helen Chamberlain Office of Governmentwide Policy IT Accessibility & Workforce Division

3 Why is Section 508 Important?  Section 508 creates binding and enforceable provisions and incorporates these provisions into the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR).  Section 508 technical provisions need to be used in all electronic and information technology (EIT) acquisitions of products and services.

4 Why is Section 508 Important?  It eliminates barriers for people with disabilities  Supports Federal initiatives  Benefits everyone  Achieves legal compliance  Promotes positive public image  Facilitates public access to Federal information It’s the law!

5 What does Section 508 Apply To?  Section 508 applies to ALL contract vehicles and procurement actions, including micro-purchases.  All EIT that is “procured, maintained, developed, or used”

6 Who does Section 508 Apply To? Section 508 applies to the Federal Government and the US Postal Service

7 What Are Agencies Required To Do?  Agencies are responsible for Section 508 compliance, not industry  Agencies must determine if and how the Section 508 Standard applies, not industry  Agencies must conduct market research to determine Section 508 requirements, not just pick a product  Agencies must reflect their Section 508 requirements in acquisition solicitations

8 Section 508 Policy  Section 508 Refresh  FAR  Procurement  Section 508 Due Diligence  OMB Directives  Buy Accessible Wizard Tool  Section 508 Assessments

9 How Long can you wait for Section 508 Compliance?

10 How Well Are Federal Agencies Implementing Section 508?

11 How Well Are Federal Agencies Implementing Section 508?

12 Buy Accessible  What is it?  Who should use it?  Why Use it?  What will it do for me?  How do I learn to use it?  Market Research

13 What is the Buy Accessible Wizard?  The Buy Accessible Wizard is a web-based tool that:  Guides users through the acquisition process, gathering data and providing information about electronic and information technology (EIT) and Section 508 compliance  Compiles a running summary documenting the process and its results  The Buy Accessible Products and Services Directory  Access to vendor provided accessibility information  The Buy Accessible System makes compliance with the requirements of Section 508 as easy and thorough as possible

14 Who Should Use the Wizard?  Requirements Officials – responsible for providing requirements for the procurement  Technical specialists (IT) - determine IT requirements  Procurement officials – responsible for monitoring procurements and regulations  Contract officers – responsible for the contract award process  Micro purchasers (IT) with government purchase cards  Anyone else involved in the procurement process

15 How Can the Wizard Help Your Agency?  Standardize the process you use for each acquisition.  Document your procedures to demonstrate due diligence  Maximize market research. Use vendor-supplied accessibility information about the commercial availability of accessible EIT products and services prior to solicitation.  Tailor your solicitations. Ensure there is specific Section 508 language in each solicitation that includes EIT.  Require accessibility information.  Document accessibility as a factor in source selection  Document accessibility as a factor in inspection and acceptance

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17 Market Research Why do it?  It’s FAR Requirement  It’s used to gauge the state of the EIT industry in meeting your requirements with products and services  Method for identifying products that claim to meet section 508 requirements

18 The New and Improved Buy Accessible

19 New Wizard Release 3 Functionality  Enhanced Reporting and additional support for the critical task of solicitation documentation  Significant Usability and Security enhancements  Buy Accessible System Release 3 has security Certification and Accreditation (C&A) from GSA  For Registered Agencies, Wizard R3 provides management support for:  user authentication  user partitioning for data visibility, i.e. establishing data sharing groups  aggregate data management and reporting

20 Getting Started……  Anyone can be a “Guest” user  Agencies may also become “Registered Users” to utilize secure database storage and manage their own Wizard users (GSA hosted secure database) Benefits of becoming a Registered User:  Individual user ID and passwords  Save Wizard sessions to resume or re-use  Share data with other users as appropriate  Repository of Section 508 compliance documentation  Management reporting over summary results  A BAW Demo is next

21 It’s the BLOB!!!!!! No, it’s the new Section 508 Blog Stop by and take a look!

22 Thank you  Contact Information  Terry Weaver  Helen Chamberlain  Bill Hetzner  Jim Kindrick

Buy Accessible Wizard Demo 23

24 Being a Buy Accessible Registered User vs. Guest User  First decide if your agency wants to register with GSA or use the Wizard as a guest  If you want to register your agency you need to:  Identify an individual (or set of individuals) who will act as the Wizard administrator  Decide who the Wizard users in your agency are and get them registered

25 More Decisions for Registered Users  Decide if the Wizard user base should be organized into separate groups  Based on geography location – e.g. DC office, St. Louis office, …  Based on functional division – e.g. IRS, OCC, OTS, Mint, …  Based on contracting office

26 Then you need to:  Identify an individual who will act as the administrator for each group  Decide if and what use metrics the administrator will track / report on (and to who)  Identify the kind of aggregate acquisition reports your agency would like to produce

27 New Features Solicitation Documentation:  Government Product/Service Accessibility Template (GPAT) –Specific requirements and vendor information  Detailed Solicitation Checklist items –Program Need, Product Requirements, Service Requirements, Evaluation Factors, and deliverable Acceptance Criteria  Summary Solicitation Checklist and documentation reporting options  Suggested language in Solicitation Template

28 New Features  Enhanced Reporting: Supplemental Guides for post-solicitation support  Evaluation Guide: GPAT with market research commercial availability results  Acceptance Guide: generally accepted inspection and test methods for conformance  Design Guide: qualified development resources

29 Simplified Search Easier access to vendor provided information  Usability enhancements for accessing the Buy Accessible Products and Services Directory  Simplified keyword and category display  Refine search by category –Select category displays sub-categories or launches search  Search results for market research review  Market research documentation

30 Secure Wizard Data Storage Registered agencies manage users and aggregate user data, Users save Wizard data to agency-specific database at GSA  Guest user login screen  Registered user login screen  Registered user ‘MyBuyAccessible’ console with saved sessions and shared data from group members  Agency administrator console  Agency administrator use(r) metrics

31 BAW Quick Links

32 Section 508 Quick Links for the BAW  Expedient ways to:  Identify applicable provisions for deliverables from the Section 508 Standard  Enhance accessibility market research  Develop solicitation language.  Designed to make it easier for a user to consider applicable provisions.  It is the “sole responsibility” of the department/agency to determine applicable provisions, not the vendor.

33 Section 508 Quick Links  Will identify deliverables (from a list or keyword) and present one of the following:  1. Technical provisions from the Standard that typically apply to that deliverable, listed as “yes”  2. Technical provisions that may apply to that deliverable, listed as “maybe”  3. Functional Performance Criteria will apply for all deliverables  4. Information, Documentation and Support provisions will also apply for all deliverables 33

34 Be Our Guest for a Test Drive  We invite you to test drive the Buy Accessible Wizard Release 3  To access the Buy Accessible Wizard Release 3 go to: and use the Guest User login