What Is A Voluntary Product Accessibility Template?
The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) is a prototype document that was developed by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) in collaboration with the federal government’s General Services Administration (GSA) to support the evaluation of how accessible electronic information and communication (EIT) products and services align to the Revised Section 508 Standards.
The VPAT template is a self-disclosing document produced by vendors of EIT products and services, and details each aspect of the Section 508 accessibility requirements and how the targeted EIT product or service supports each of the requirement’s criteria. The mainstay for proving compliance with the Revised Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act is the VPAT template.
What is VPAT accessibility?
VPAT Accessibility is the practice of using a VPAT template to make EIT products and services sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible, especially for people with disabilities.
Although voluntary, VPAT accessibility is necessary for vendors that want to offer their EIT products and services to the federal government, its agencies, and organizations that get funding from the federal government. Even if a vendor's EIT products or services are better than those provided by their VPAT-compliant competitors, they are automatically excluded from federal procurement processes if they are not VPAT compliant.
Writing a VPAT
When you hear people talk about writing, creating, or developing a VPAT, what they actually mean is completing the VPAT conformance accessibility report (ACR).
My review of the demonstrations by VPAT compliance experts regarding how to fill a VPAT revealed that a VPAT ACR is simply a representation of how an EIT product or service meets the applicable Section 508 Technical Standards.
Accordingly, therefore, the EIT product or service owner first tests his or her product or service against the Section 508 Standards so that the findings of the assessment provide the necessary data and information for completing the VPAT ACR.
To do this, he or she has to download the appropriate version of the VPAT from the ITIC website. If the vendor wishes to sell his or her product to the U.S. federal government or any of its agencies, the Revised Section 508 VPAT is what should be downloaded.
He or she could, alternatively, download the VPAT International (INT) version, which includes all the Revised Section 508 requirements as well as those for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 and 2.1, and the European Union EN 301 459 requirements.
The next step in completing the VPAT ACR is to carefully read the instructions included with the VPAT template, but make sure to remove them once the VPAT ACR has been entirely filled out. The instructions pages must not be included in the ACR that is submitted.
All the sections of the VPAT template should be accurately and completely filled out, including the company name, name of the product or service, report date, contact information, additional notes, and the VPAT evaluation methods that were used. You can learn how to fill a VPAT from this VPAT example.
Understanding the different columns in the VPAT template is necessary for accurate filling out of the template. The first column is for the criteria; the second column is for conformance level; and the third column is for remarks and explanations.
Remember to perform a final check after filling out all the columns on the VPAT template to ensure that everything is correct. Once this is done, ensure that the VPAT ACR is accessible.
Need Help With Writing Your VPAT ACR?
If you need help with writing a VPAT ACR for your EIT product or service, make your inquiry with a VPAT compliance expert by clicking here or calling (626) 486-2201.
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