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Helpful tips about a VPAT document
A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a document created by the developer or vendor of an information and communication technology (ICT) product or service. It describes how well the product or service complies with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act's accessibility standards.
A VPAT document assists ICT product or service buyers to make informed decisions before purchasing the product or service. It specifically assists them in:
- Consider the level of accessibility compliance of products or services.
- Compare the compliance for similar products.
- Choose the product or service that best meets the accessibility standards as well as the functional and legal requirements of the organization.
- Plan for equally effective accessible products or services when the desired accessible products or services are unavailable.
Why have a VPAT document
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires the federal government and all of its agencies to make information and communication technology (ICT) accessible to people with disabilities. It requires all products, services, and technology used by federal employees to be compliant.
That means if your product, service, or technology is used by anyone who is directly or indirectly funded by the federal government, you are federally funded by extension, and the regulations may apply to you. This demonstrates that if your organization or company is not Section 508 compliant, or if you are not providing a VPAT document that properly outlines the compliance of your products or services, you are very likely losing business opportunities.
How a VPAT document helps
A VPAT document can help your organization or company to provide a comprehensive analysis of your compliance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act's accessibility standards.
The document answers your "what is VPAT accessibility?" questions succinctly by outlining key accessibility requirements. It also provides a framework for you to outline the level of compliance and provide explanatory remarks.
The document can be an important part of the RFP process for any organization, public or private, where accessibility is important. Because many organizations are increasingly using the VPAT document to evaluate vendor solutions and services during their procurement processes, it is beneficial for your company to understand how these organizations conduct their accessibility assessments as well as what constitutes a good VPAT document.
A VPAT audit performed by VPAT testing professionals such as ADA Compliance Pros can provide you with insights to help you improve your Section 508 compliance as well as refine your VPAT document. They can also provide you with an example of a VPAT document.
How often to renew your VPAT
To avoid losing business opportunities, ensure that your VPATs are constantly refined. As a start, make sure your VPAT is 2.0 or higher. This is due to the fact that Section 508 was updated in 2017, and accessibility for ICT products or services such as websites and mobile apps is now measured using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 criteria. That means that VPAT documents created prior to 2017 may be out of date if the product or service has since been updated.
However, there is no set time for renewing your VPAT document; in general, you must renew it every 12 months. Significant features are released at this time. By this point, the user interface would have undergone significant changes that would necessitate updating your VPAT document.
A VPAT document that is more than 12 months old is generally considered unrepresentative of the current product unless the product has not been updated in 12 months.
Need help with your VPAT renewal?
Having the right partners assist you with VPAT renewals allows you to focus on your core business while the partners work to identify areas of your VPAT that require renewal. Click here to contact ADA Compliance Pros, who have been extremely helpful in assisting various types of businesses in maintaining their VPATs. They can also be reached at (626) 486-2201. You can also see an example of VPAT by clicking here.
The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template
I recently met a very promising young entrepreneur who has set up an amazing business helping parents track the movement of their children as they make their return trips to school. This is quite unique due to the anxiety caused by waves of attacks on school-aged children felt by their parents.
During our chat about the innovation and how it was receiving momentous support by parents, I enquired of him how he had secured the risks the business had in light of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. It was at this point that I realized the young man was oblivious to what Section 508 is all about. I didn’t want the boy’s innovative business idea to be limited due to ignorance of the law. So I educated him a little about VPAT accessibility.
What is a VPAT?
When I mentioned VPAT accessibility, the young man's first query was, "What is a VPAT?" It was at this period that I remembered something a close friend of mine once said: while VPAT compliance professionals mistakenly believe that VPAT certification is a well understood notion, the truth is that some businesses, particularly micro-enterprises, are unaware of the VPAT ecosystem. That made me start my discussion on the VPAT from the very basics.
A VPAT can be thought of as a simple public declaration of your business's Section 508 compliance. The Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) developed this document template to make it easier to report the degree of compliance for information and communication technology (ICT) goods to interested parties, typically U.S. Federal government agencies. The ITIC owns the template, but a completed copy may be downloaded and printed from their website.
It suffices to note that a VPAT is a report on the overall degree of compliance of an ICT product or service rather than an up-and-down declaration of conformity with Section 508. Because of this, it's crucial that the assertions made in the VPAT certification be detailed and in-depth.
What is the need of a VPAT?
The federal government and its agencies are required under the Section 508 Standards to conduct research to determine the level of Section 508 compliance relative to all competing items before making procurement decisions. As a result, the guidelines improve accessibility for the federal government and its agencies' procurement procedures. In actuality, this means that your legal duty as a company is to make sure that your product's present level of compliance with Section 508 is appropriately reflected in your VPAT certification rather than to deliver a fully compliant product. Insofar as the procurement process is concerned, accurate depiction of your product's level of Section 508 compliance is sufficient to satisfy your requirement.
Here are some reasons to demonstrate why VPAT accessibility is needed in the procurement of ICT products and services:
- Helps buyers of ICT make informed decisions
VPAT certification helps buyers of ICT products and services make informed decisions before purchasing the product or service.
The VPAT compliance report enables buyers to understand the level of accessibility associated with the offered product or service so that it can help them compare the compliance of similar products or services.
It also helps the buyers choose products or services that best meet the accessibility standards and the functional and legal requirements adhered to by the procuring institution. The VPAT certification also assists buyers to plan for equally effective access when an accessible product is not available.
- Helps the government agencies evaluate conformity of ICT to Section 508
VPATs provide invaluable support to federal government agencies during the evaluation of conformity of vendors’ products and services, while enabling businesses to self-report their compliance and the compliance levels of their products and services.
- Enhanced transparency of businesses
While the federal government agencies have been able to evaluate and analyze the conformity commitments of businesses working with them, the businesses have benefited through the VPAT certification’s positive impact on their levels of transparency. . That has strengthened their corporate objectives and missions.
- Empowerment of consumers
VPAT compliance has empowered consumers to make informed purchase decisions. That has been through access to the compliance and functional details of the offered products and services before the actual purchase.
Secure VPAT accessibility for your ICT now
Don’t be left behind in securing the benefits that come with VPAT accessibility and certification. ADA Compliance Pros can help you with all the information you need about VPATs. Reach out to them by clicking here orcall them at (626) 486-2201.
What is a VPAT?
VPAT, which is an acronym for Voluntary Product Accessibility Template, is a self-disclosing generic document template that businesses use as a prototype when generating accessibility conformance reports (ACRs), which show compliance with the Revised Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act, for their electronic information and technology (EIT) products or services.
ACRs clearly state the accessibility standards that a company’s products or services meet. It also provides warnings to users of the products or services about any accessibility challenges they may encounter while using the products or services.
What is VPAT certification?
VPAT certification is the evaluation of how accessible a particular EIT product or service is according to Section 508 Accessibility Standards. It involves detailing the various aspects of Section 508 requirements and how the EIT product or service offered by a vendor supports them.
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VPAT certification gives potential customers of EIT products and services a sense of the impact the products or services might have on people with disabilities.
Buyers of EIT products and services rely on accurate VPAT certification to determine how accessible the EIT products and services offered for procurement are and where any potential accessibility deficiencies exist. This enables them to make effective decisions about the products and services they can procure so as to best deliver accessibility as envisaged under Section 508.
VPAT accessibility is required by some buyers, especially the federal government and its agencies, before a purchase of an EIT product or service is made.
The importance of VPAT certification for businesses
Compliance with the established accessibility standards, whether they relate to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or Section 508, is a legal necessity. If your business does not comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Section 508, and other accessibility standards, they can attract lawsuits and financial penalties.
Avoiding the consequences of accessibility non-compliance is not the only motive behind businesses prioritizing VPAT accessibility. The following are some more significant advantages that accessibility can provide to a business:
- Working with the federal government and its agencies
If you wish to work for or provide any services to any federal organization, you must be VPAT certified. A business's ability to convince federal agencies to buy its EIT goods and services will be enhanced by a correctly filled-out and complete VPAT.
- Enhancing the quality of products and services
During the VPAT audits that precede VPAT certification, all the features of a product or service are assessed to flag out any existing barriers to accessibility. This is important in helping the business amend the features that have accessibility challenges, which, in turn, enhances the quality of the products and services.
- Tailored compliance services
Due to VPAT certification, a business is able to clearly understand the accessibility issues that it should work on to make its product or service accessible. This is important because it enables the business to undertake targeted work aimed at improving the features with accessibility issues.
These targeted compliance efforts help the business to save time and resources that could have been used if the accessibility challenges were not flagged out during the VPAT certification process.
Need help with VPAT certification?
You can check your EIT product for ADA or VPAT compliance by calling (626) 486-220 to discuss VPAT certification with an accessibility expert. If you want to test your website for accessibility, click here to start a free accessibility check.
