Attachment D - Accessibility Requirements.docx

ACCESSIBILITY OBLIGATIONS FOR BIDDERS

The successful Bidder (referred to herein as the “Vendor”) must comply with the Commonwealth’s established standards for accessibility as described herein.

Overview The Commonwealth is legally obligated under multiple federal laws, its own Constitution, state statute and Governor-issued Executive Orders to ensure non-discrimination and equal access to state information technology systems and services for people with disabilities. Information technology systems and services must be accessible to users with all levels of ability, including for example, state employees that use IT to perform their job duties, and public users of online state resources. The Commonwealth’s Enterprise Accessibility Standards and Web Accessibility Standards (MA Standards) include the principles of Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Authoring Guidelines, version 2, level AA (WCAG2), and the concept of usability for individuals with disabilities. Adherence to the MA Standards for accessibility is required in the acquisition, deployment, and maintenance of information technologies.

Bidders should thoroughly review the detailed accessibility obligations below. As a brief summary, Bidders and the Vendor must:

Prior to contract execution

· Provide a report on the accessibility of software that Vendor is delivering to the Commonwealth, preferably using the most recent version of the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT).

· If Vendor is delivering a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering, provide access to the offering for accessibility testing.

· Cooperate with the Commonwealth on assessing accessibility compliance and entering into a mitigation letter if necessary.

After contract execution

· Build accessibility into every phase of the project.

· Collaborate with the Commonwealth on accessibility issues.

· Test for accessibility before delivery and include testing reports with all deliveries.

· Cooperate with the Commonwealth’s accessibility testing.

· Work to resolve any issues identified in testing and in the mitigation letter.

Definitions “Accessibility Audit Testing” is accessibility testing conducted on the Commonwealth’s behalf by a third party testing vendor engaged and paid for by the Commonwealth (an “Accessibility Testing Vendor”), as opposed to accessibility testing conducted by Vendor.

The “AT/IT List” is the Assistive Technology (“AT”)/Information Technology (“IT”) Environment List, which may be attached to the Solicitation or available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/. The AT/IT list includes the operating systems, browsers, and assistive technologies that need to be taken into account when testing IT systems for accessibility. It describes what is likely to be used; it is not meant to be a recommendation for procuring new AT/IT.

“End User Deliverables” are any software, documentation, and other interfaces or materials, and any configuration, implementation, or customization thereof, used by end users (which may include internal end users, such as Commonwealth employees and contractors, and external end users, such as Commonwealth residents) and delivered by Vendor under the Solicitation. End User Deliverables include, without limitation: any configuration, implementation, or customization of Third Party Software or vendor software; and any updates, new releases, versions, upgrades, improvements, bug fixes, patches or other modifications to software.

“MA Standards” are the Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Standards and the MassIT Web Accessibility Standards Version 2, available at www.mass.gov/accessibility/.

A “Mitigation Letter” is a Commonwealth issued acquisition approval letter that becomes part of a contract for information technology products and services, typically attached as a contract exhibit. A mitigation letter allows the procurement of products and services that are not fully compliant with MA Standards at the time of the award, subject to stated obligations for both the Bidder and the Commonwealth to ensure that barriers to accessibility are addressed prior to use or on a mutually agreed timeline.

“Solicitation” refers to a Request for Response (RFR), Request for Quotes (RFQ), or other request for services to which these terms apply.

The term “software,” as used in these accessibility requirements, includes without limitation commercial off-the-shelf software (“COTS”) and software as a service or other cloud-based software (“SaaS”).

“Third Party Software” is software not published by Vendor.

A “VPAT”, the Voluntary Product Accessibility Template®, is a reporting template created by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) to meet reporting requirements of Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and EN 301 549 of the European Mandate 376. The template and guidance on completing it can be found at https://www.itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat.

Accessibility Obligations Compliance with Commonwealth Standards Vendor is responsible for addressing accessibility problems in any software published by Vendor and delivered under this Solicitation and in any implementation, configuration, or documentation delivered or performed by Vendor.

Vendor shall ensure that all End User Deliverables adhere to the current version (as of the date of this Solicitation) of the MA Standards and interoperate with the environments listed on the AT/IT List. Vendor shall measure accessibility compliance using the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Authoring Guidelines, version 2, level AA (the WCAG2 Standards), as defined at http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php, in place of (1) Technical Standards – Applications of the Enterprise Information Technology Accessibility Standards, and (2) Sections 1 through 5 and Section 8 of the Web Accessibility Standards.

Vendor must ensure that accessibility and usability are addressed at every stage of the project. At the commencement of any project under this Solicitation, prior to beginning any significant design or implementation work, Vendor’s project manager shall meet with the Commonwealth’s project manager and appropriate resources to review the MA Standards, the AT/IT List, and any accessibility guidance provided by software vendors, in order to discuss their impact on the project. On an ongoing basis, Vendor must incorporate accessibility testing into all test plans, and include users of assistive technology in end user testing.

All administrator and end user documentation and any training materials (whether in a classroom or online) delivered by Vendor under this Solicitation must comply with the MA Standards.

Vendor shall coordinate with the Commonwealth in the identification of all prospective attendees at Vendor training who require accommodation and shall cooperate with the Commonwealth in its provision of such accommodation.

VPAT and Mitigation Letters Prior to bid response evaluation, Vendor must provide VPATs for any existing Vendor and third-party software with which end users will interact. With respect to software for which Vendor cannot provide satisfactorily detailed VPATs, Vendor shall provide any alternative accessibility testing information or test results to which it has access.

Upon request, Vendor must provide the Commonwealth with accessibility-related content in the technical reference manual or program documentation.

If the Commonwealth determines that accessibility issues exist but can be resolved or mitigated after Contract execution, the Commonwealth may at its discretion file a request for a mitigation letter with EOTSS’s Director of IT Accessibility. A mitigation letter is not a waiver of accessibility obligations, but rather a plan for resolving or mitigating identified issues within a reasonable time following contract execution. Any mitigation letter shall become part of the Contract resulting from this Solicitation.

For SaaS software, Vendor will provide the Commonwealth with an updated VPAT for each product whenever software is updated.

Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) The Commonwealth may establish an Accessibility Advisory Committee (AAC) for this project to assist with assessing accessibility issues and how they are addressed. Factors to consider in establishing an AAC include the cost of the project and the number of internal and/or external users. The Commonwealth and Vendor will collaborate and communicate throughout the project with the AAC. The AAC shall be comprised of at least one representative from each Vendor and the Commonwealth, and representatives of certain agencies designated by the Commonwealth such as the Massachusetts Office on Disability, Executive Department disability coordinators, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, and Massachusetts Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

The AAC shall be invited to the project kick-off meeting, and other project status meetings as reasonably necessary. The AAC must also determine an AAC meeting schedule appropriate for the project. The purpose of AAC meetings is to prioritize accessibility defects identified by the Vendor and/or the Commonwealth, discuss any questions relating to accessibility testing and accessibility requirements, and to ensure that any concerns raised by a member of the AAC or a third party regarding accessibility of the Services are discussed, identified and addressed.

Testing Accessibility testing must be incorporated as part of Vendor’s overall quality assurance process. Vendor shall test end user software for accessibility during any or all of unit testing, integration testing, final acceptance testing and system testing. Vendor must document applicable standards evaluated, and document testing methodology.

Vendor Testing of End User Deliverables Vendor shall test every End User Deliverable against the MA Standards, and for interoperability with the AT and IT environments listed in the AT/IT List. Vendor shall resolve any problems identified in such testing prior to delivering the End User Deliverable to the Commonwealth. Vendor shall deliver their test results to the Commonwealth at the same time it delivers the End User Deliverable for acceptance.

Vendor may use its internal resources or may hire its own third party accessibility testing vendor to conduct testing.

Vendor Testing of Third Party Software All Vendor proposed third party software must comply with MA standards.

If Vendor is recommending or providing Third Party Software in response to this Solicitation, Vendor is responsible for working with the Commonwealth and the publisher of such Third Party Software to identify and resolve accessibility issues.

While Vendor is obligated to test any configuration, customization, or other modification it makes to Third Party Software, Vendor is not responsible for testing out-of-the-box, non-configured third party software for which accessibility testing has already been conducted and test results have already been provided to the Commonwealth in the form of a satisfactory VPAT provided in response to this Solicitation.

If Vendor is configuring, installing, or otherwise working with Third Party Software that the Vendor did not recommend or provide to the Commonwealth, Vendor is not responsible for accessibility issues for such Third Party Software that are not related to Vendor’s configuration, customization, or other modification of such Third Party Software.

Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) and End User Deliverable Acceptance

For software development projects only, Vendor may provide a VPAT. Vendor must also provide a detailed Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) for each deliverable that is developed, updated, configured for the Commonwealth, and when product substitutions are offered. To be considered for acceptance and payment, an ACR must be submitted for each End User Deliverable.

The ACR must contain the following information:

Accessibility test results based on the MA Standards.

Documentation of features provided to help achieve accessibility and usability for people with disabilities.

Documentation of core functions that cannot be accessed by persons with disabilities.

Documentation on how to configure and install the ICT item to support accessibility.

When an End User Deliverable is an authoring tool that generates content (including documents, reports, videos, multimedia productions, web content, etc.), provide information on how the deliverable enables the creation of accessible electronic content that conforms to the MA Standards, including the range of accessible user interface elements the tool can create.

Furthermore, Vendor shall, upon the Commonwealth’s request, provide a fully working demonstration of the completed End User Deliverables to demonstrate conformance to the MA Standards. The demonstration shall identify where such conformance is and is not achieved.

Commonwealth Accessibility Audit Testing The Commonwealth will conduct its own Accessibility Audit Testing of the End User Deliverables following delivery by Vendor.

The Commonwealth shall hire a third party Accessibility Testing Vendor to conduct Accessibility Audit Testing for this project. The Accessibility Testing Vendor will test each End User Deliverable against the MA Standards, and for interoperability with the AT and the IT environment described in the AT/IT List. Vendor shall cooperate with the Accessibility Testing Vendor.

The Accessibility Testing Vendor’s testing will be in addition to Vendor’s own accessibility testing.

Failure to Comply; Repeat Testing Following Vendor’s and Commonwealth’s testing described above, the Commonwealth will conduct Accessibility Audit Testing on the End User Deliverables to determine compliance with the MA Standards and interoperability with the environments listed on the AT/IT List. If any End User Deliverables fail the Commonwealth’s initial post-delivery Accessibility Audit Testing, excluding accessibility issues that the Commonwealth has determined pose a very minor inconvenience to disabled users but do not interfere with their use of the software, Vendor shall provide a credit to the Commonwealth for any repeat Commonwealth Accessibility Audit Testing that is needed. Such credits shall not exceed 5% of either (1) the total fixed price due Vendor under the initial contract resulting from this Solicitation, or (2) the total not-to-exceed amount of the initial contract resulting from this Solicitation if entered under a time and materials basis.

Additional Terms for SaaS Vendors For SaaS offerings, the Commonwealth reserves the right to test for accessibility, directly or by a third party Accessibility Testing Vendor at the Commonwealth’s expense, prior to scoring and selecting a vendor. Bidders must cooperate with the Commonwealth and the Accessibility Testing Vendor, including providing appropriate access to the applicable cloud products for such testing. The results of any such accessibility testing, the VPAT or other accessibility documentation provided by the Vendor, and the cooperation of the Bidder, will be taken into account in scoring and selecting a Vendor.

In connection with its accessibility testing as permitted above, the Commonwealth shall have the right to configure the applicable cloud product in accordance with the technical reference manual or program documentation for the Commonwealth’s accessibility needs.

Prioritizing and Remediating Accessibility Issues Vendor shall collaborate with the Commonwealth and the Accessibility Testing Vendor to prioritize accessibility defects based on severity.

Vendor shall be responsible for curing each instance identified by the Commonwealth or by its own accessibility testing in which the End User Deliverables fail to comply with the MA Standards or interoperate with the environments specified on the AT/IT List. Accessibility issues which pose a very minor inconvenience to disabled users but do not prevent them from using the software may not need to be remediated. Correction of accessibility issues may require, among other things, writing new core code, shutting off inaccessible features, providing users with third party software in addition to their assistive technology, or providing disabled users with an alternative pathway to the inaccessible feature or the business process that it automates.

Ongoing Maintenance If the Vendor has agreed to perform maintenance for the Commonwealth, Vendor’s obligations above apply to its performance of maintenance. During the maintenance period, unless otherwise agreed in writing by Vendor and the Commonwealth, Vendor must ensure that the system continues to interoperate with the environments specified on the AT/IT List, including any changes to the AT/IT List that occur during the maintenance period, and must collaborate with the Commonwealth and any pertinent Third Party Software vendor and Accessibility Testing Vendor to correct any problems identified regarding interoperability.