B08_ATCH_2_508.pdf

This is an ICT Accessibility Requirements Statement documenting Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act compliance standards for electronic software and related digital products.

The document establishes mandatory accessibility criteria for software components that transmit information or have user interfaces. Software must conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A and AA Success Criteria, with specific word substitutions when applying WCAG to non-Web software (substituting "software" for "Web page" and "document" for "page" as applicable). For non-Web software requiring multiple steps to complete activities, all related software must conform to WCAG 2.0. Electronic content must comply with Section 508 standards (E205), with exceptions for non-public-facing official business communications including emergency notifications, administrative decisions, program announcements, benefits notices, acknowledgements, surveys, templates, forms, educational materials, and intranet content designed as Web pages.

Software-specific technical criteria require interoperability with assistive technology (502.1), documented accessibility features that cannot be disrupted (502.2), and programmatically determinable object information including roles, states, properties, boundaries, names, and descriptions (502.3). Applications must expose focus and selection mechanisms, support modification of user-settable attributes through assistive technology, provide event notifications for state changes, and allow user preferences for color, contrast, font type, font size, and focus cursor (503.2). The requirements apply to Chapter 5 of the Revised 508 Standards where mandated by scoping requirements and reference documents. Organizations should incorporate this accessibility requirements report into solicitation documents (SOO, SOW, PWS) and consult the Section 508 Refresh Toolkit for procurement guidance.